I get really pissed off with BREASTFEEDIN when....

[drosophila]

I start to take something that is good for me and then read the warning - not to be taken when breastfeeding or pg'. I started to take a suppliment Vit A, C and E with selenium cos apparently it reduces the risk of some cancers (there is a lot of cancer in my family) and bugger me but it warns against taking it due to Vit A. Anyone shed any light on this????

Excess Vit A in early pregnancy is advised against - no reason as far as I know why it would not be perfectly safe in breastfeeding. Call the manufacturers' helpline and ask!

Vitamin A is in many foods, anyway.

Mostly that's just written on the label because the company does not want to pay for the research needed to get the product licensed for breastfeeding mothers. Most of the time the product is perfectly safe - it just isn't licensed.

drosphila - I have just looked this up for you on kellymom.com

It says the RDI (Recommended Daily Intake) for a bf mum is 1,300 ug of Vit A per day.

The max. upper limit for a bf mum is 3,000 ug per day. This is the absolute upper limit and should not be exceeded when bf.

What is the ug of the Vit A tablet you are taking ?

I take a multivitamins (to boost my immune system) that has 800 ug and says this is 100% of RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance). It is well within the kellymom. recommendation so I know it is safe.

RDA's in the UK seem to be much LOWER than RDI's in the USA.

celery - good point. It is also beacuse they don't want to be sued IF something goes wrong (

(sorry, it's the ex-lawyer in me...I always think about commercial orgs. and their paranoid attitude to litigation !! ).

Thanks guys. These warnings are on everything and it drives me nuts. I will have a look at the bottle.