Which vitamin drops do you use for BF babies?

[SquidgersMummy]

Have read vitamin drops are good if EBF - which ones do you use and is it once or twice a day and easy to get it in?

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I have checked Jack, and for vid d to be anywhere near effective it needs to be handled very carefully indeed, making the cost of it prohibitive to most people.

Vit d is not toxic, no, but most vit d vitamins don't do ANYTHING by the time they have been processed, and they cost a blimmin bomb.

I agree, most vitamin D in supplements us ineffective as its not the right kind. Vitamins D3 is effective.

I'll admit to not knowing what it costs as a supplement on its own though... But there's a really high possibility that good vit d could have a huge impact on public health.

Is it really that expensive?

Wellbaby is £4.95 and currently on 3 for 2 at Boots.

Vitamin d 'could' be effective IF it was prepped, stored, transported and taken right.

I doubt that boots brand is the right type.

Oh FGS.

It's not a boots brand. Just sold there.

And if vit D efficacy is so very doubtful why would anybody fund the clinical trials that are running at the moment, hmm? It's not like big pharma is going to benefit is it?

I really don't understand why you're so anti something that's potentially v helpful . Even if it doesn't do any good, its not going to do harm is it? Aside from cost (which you haven't actually answered my question about) what the hell is the issue?

Go to your Hv clinic and buy them there, as the gp said upthread, they're only about £1.70 a bottle. NHS branded drops not hard to give (when I remember!) I have 2 dd's aged 2.9 and 9 months both EBF till 8 and 6 mo the respectively and the advice has changed in the 2 years between dd1 and dd2. I try to give to both girls now even though they have lots of fruit and veg and home cooking (well if you call pasta pesto home cooking!)

My HV told me to give DD vitamins from 1 year as cow's milk isn't as nutritious as breast milk or formula.

There does appear to be legitimate research about vitamin D.

But I would be very interested in the legitimacy of the research into the efficacy/need for other vitamin supplements in normally fed babies.

There is a general lack of knowledge about need for Vit D supplements.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19467505

And this story about a poor couple whose first child died, and second taken into care because rickets was mistaken for child abuse. Mum was breastfeeding, dark skinned (so at higher risk), living in the UK and Vit D deficient.

It is recommended as a matter of course, but in writing rather than verbally. It's in the leaflets on weaning which you should have had off your HV. Or am I the only geek who reads these?

I was never given a leaflet about weaning either, my hv was particularly useless though.

It is in the NHS book that everybody should be given, but its probably one sentence in the whole book which could perhaps be easily overlooked.

There is some evidence that a lot of babies don't get enough Vitamin D because they don't get enough sunlight. Apart from that, it's one more marketing exercise playing on the insecurities of parents.

I think the issue is very high factor sunscreen. We don't actually let sunlight get to out children's skin at all now.

It does make me angry when the marketing people find new things to guilt trip people over. And every time they are stopped they come back with another one. Not allowed to say that follow on milk strengthens the immune system? Then say it gives them a better appetite for solid food. And before we know it it's Kumon!

Interesting thread and I'd love a definitive answer! I've got a 4.5 & 2 yr old and am another one who has never been told that supplements of any kind are required. Forgive my naivete but if vit d3 drops are basically essential for public health then surely the health service/government have a responsibility to ensure that the correct type at the right dosage are available at a reasonable price (or free for those that need it). Instead of people scrabbling for offers on vits that are useless. Oh and I work at a children & family centre (surestart) and no-ones mentioned vit d at all....

Vitamin d is a particular issue in first generation immigrant families from hot countries- particularly if the culture requires bodies to be covered. Where there's lots of sun this isn't an issue, but in this country were we see the sun once every 3 months.....

You can't get anywhere near the required amount of vitamin D from diet Raspberry, and from what I can gather from what I've read it's impossible to get enough vit D during the winter months in this country. Most healthy adults should be OK as they can make vitamin D if they've had enough sun over the summer to last them through the winter months. Its definitely an issue for elderly peoplethough who can't store vitamin D for long enough to make sure they have enough over the winter months, and I think this is where a lot of the studies are focussing?

Seeker I agree about the sunscreen - it is really a big issue with this as many children aren't allowed out in the sun without being covered in factor 50 . Maybe that's what all of this is about - vit D to countreract the use of sunscreen. Hmm.

I'm not sure it's a marketing thing - there are huge numbers of studies into vitamin D at the moment, nothing to do with making money.

Sorry- I don't think that the vitamin d thing is marketing- all the other ones are!

Oh definitely. The follow-on milk thing drives me bonkers!

As does the sunscreen thing. Parents are told to cover up their children in strong sunlight and the marketing companies guilt-trip parents into smothering their child in the highest factor sunscreen they can find.

I have no idea how much vit D is in BM, but if it's sufficient until 6 month I would guess a sufficient amount?

Only guessing here, but maybe that's why they suggest vit D from 6 months - less of baby's nutrition would be coming from BM and maybe they no longer get a sufficient amount when feeds decrease?

Like I said, only guessing - does anybody else know?

FAR too many 'sufficients' in there