Vitamin D supplement for breastfed newborns?

[newroundhere]

I had a search for this but couldn't find any recent threads - apologies if I have missed any.

DS is 8 days old today. I was just having a look on the NHS website and found the following page suggesting that all breastfed babies should be given vitamin D supplements from birth:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/vitamins-for-children.aspx

I had no idea that this was recommended and I'm really surprised that no one has mentioned this to me - either at the hospital or in the midwife visits. Did everyone else just know about this? Does everyone give their newborns vitamin D? Do I need to rush out immediately to get some??

Thanks!

My health visitor told me a few weeks ago that there was no need to give the baby supplements as long as I'm taking vitamin D myself. (It'll probably be your health visitor who mentions it to you - maybe you haven't been handed over to them yet?)

Thanks Orsono - no, I haven't seen the Health Visitor yet, think that comes in on day 10. I am taking Vitamin D so hopefully it should be ok...

My HV told me (11 months ago) that advice was now that all breast fed babies should be given a vitamin D supplement from birth (she told me this at the 10 day visit). This was despite the fact that I took vitamin D myself during pregnancy and afterwards and my own vitamin D levels were always good and all the vitamin D drops themselves saying they are for use from 1 month old. I don't know if this advice varies by area - we are in London.

I bought drops and put a drop on my nipple before the first morning feed (kept them near the sofa).

I had never heard this. I was told at DD's 6 week check that I should be taking a vitamin D supplement if breastfeeding, that was the first time anyone had mentioned vitamin D at all. I'm in London too.

I'm in London too and was told that i should be taking Vit D but baby wasn't mentioned. When I had DS1we were given vitamin drops to give him when he was a bit older but I can't remember if it was at 6 months or a year.

Hmmmm - DH has just asked his Paediatrician friend who has confirmed that general advice is that breastfed babies should be given from soon after birth:

"The Department of Health and the Chief Medical Officers recommend a dose of 7-8.5 micrograms (approx 300 units) for ALL children from six months to five years of age. This is the dose that the NHS ‘Healthy Start’ vitamin drops provide. The ‘Healthy Start’ programme aims to provide vitamins free to people on income support. The British Paediatric and Adolescent Bone Group’s recommendation is that exclusively breastfed infants receive Vitamin D supplements from soon after birth"

Surprised it isn't more well known if this is the case!

I think it's a new recommendation. Didn't do it / wasn't told to for any of mine age 2 to 11. I was advised to take vitamin D myself while breastfeeding though.

That's what I thought. It's from 6 months (op said from birth).

Loraline - its both 6 months + and newborn if EBF:

The British Paediatric and Adolescent Bone Group’s recommendation is that exclusively breastfed infants receive Vitamin D supplements from soon after birth

The new advice was only
Issued by Public Health England in the last few weeks. It confirms that breastfed babies should be given Vitamin D.
Breastfeeding mothers should take it too (and all adults on the winter months). Hope that helps

I looked on the nhs pages when I was pregnant and it still said breastfeeding mothers should take vitamin D and breastfed infants from 6 months. My DS is almost 4 months...so yup, brand new advice. Interestingly my friend who lives in Spain was told to give vitamin D from birth. Her DS is a year old.

I take a vitamin D tablet every day and when I start weaning I'll start mixing vitamin drops into his food.

It's confusing - the NHS website says you should give a breastfed baby a supplement, but it doesn't mention whether the mother can take them instead / as well. I have a health visitor appointment next week so I'm going to ask again!

Depends on the hospital, one said ebf dts should take them, the other said no need!

The difference between the policy in the two hospitals amazed me - I thought policy would be pretty standardised - it really isn't!

Staff at one hospital told me I required 6 days of blood thinning injections - the other said 6 weeks. A bit of a difference.

My ds is 6 months and I was advised to continue to take the same vitamins I took while pregnant while I was breastfeeding, although vitamin d wasn't mentioned on it's own in this conversation.
My hv told me to start giving ds a vitamin d drop from 6 months, I also got a trial bottle of drops in the last bounty pack I received. I just put a drop on a clean finger and ds sucks it.

I'm in Ireland and all babies here are advised to have daily vitamin d for the first year of life- breast or bottle fed.

ame advice for DD1 two and a half years ago so it's been standard over here for a while.

Same, not ame!

Nature & Nurture Baby Vitamins meet all the NHS recommendations for infant supplementation and it's totally free from nasties. Suitable for babies and children from six months to five years old. It uses D3 which is much easier to absorb than D2. It's a nice tasting liquid and you only give a small daily dose so really easy to use. It's also vegan and lasts twice as long as some other leading brands!

Hello ...
Having just come across this thread , I believe I ought to give the current ( from July 2016 ) recommendations from H.M. Government. UK

See here: www.gov.uk/government/news/phe-publishes-new-advice-on-vitamin-d

   Public Health England , PHE  ,  state that all babies  that are exclusively breast fed (  EBF ) should receive supplementation of  340   to  400   IU  ( International Units )   of vitamin D per DAY ! 


               The explanation for this advice , is as follows,  :

Breast milk , in the UK , ( a Northern latitude country ... at high latitude i.e. over 50 degrees North ) has very small amounts of Vitamin D , in breast milk, generally , on average, has only about 25 IU of Vitamin D per Litre of milk. A baby requires somewhere about 300 to 400 IU per day , depending upon weight. To get that , in practically every circumstance, the baby will need supplementation.

             This recommendation has not been  forced upon the government lightly ,    it is the result of much scientific investigation analysed by  The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition ( SACN )  

IF you EXCLUSIVELY breastfeed your baby .... please take notice of this government recommendation.  You will almost certainly need baby drops,  UNLESS you supplement yourself with around  6000 IU  of vitamin D   per day, every day. That supplementation amount  would then boost your own  milk from 25  to  400   IU  of vitamin D per litre. 

            IF       you give your baby SOME formula milk ,    which normally  has been supplemented with 400  IU   of Vitamin D   per litre, then you can work out what you need to give your baby .  

I hope this is a helpful clarification of the often confusing advice given.

      BTBH  

PS. I have posted quite a bit here on Mumsnet about vitamin D ,

If you need more information , have a look at some of the threads I have posted re : Vitamin D , mostly in the 'General Health' category, or get back to me.

btbh.
.