Multivitamin drops for BF babies - do I need to bother?

[DollyPopsOut]

Hello

My 3 week old DD is fully BF, and will be with any luck until 6 months. The HV who came last week gave me some Abidec multi vit drops for her and said I should supplement her diet with these for the first few years of her life. Apparently, I should have been giving DD1 (aged 2) the drops as well since birth. I didn't know about them in the past, and BF DD1 exclusively until 7 months when I started solids. DD1 is not BF any more, BTW.

I am less concerned about this for DD1 as she has a good balanced diet but do I need to give them to DD2? I eat well (and copiously ) and I assumed my BM gave everything she needs. If this is not the case, should I start with the drops? The HV seemed adamant but I wondered if anyone on here had any experience of this.

Many thanks

WHAT !!!!!!!!

no way on earth does a BF baby need vitamin drops, nor do children generally need them if they are eating a varied diet and drinking milk, IMHO!!

no way does a 3 week old baby need vitamin drops....

I thought the advice was that they needed nothing extra until 6 months, then they recommend bf babies have vitamin drops. I bf my ds until 1 year and I never bothered with the drops. The thing I was most worried about was iron and they have stores for the first 6 months and once you start weaning you just have to make sure they are getting plenty.
I'm sure someone else will come along with the most upto date advice, but don't worry too much, my ds is very healthy!
xxx

sorry I was a bit slow on the typing, lulamama knows what she is talking about I'll leave you in her capable hands!

the iron stores start to deplete at 6 months, but don;t just suddenly disappear the minute a baby turns 6 months..there are plenty of iron rich foods to give to a baby when you start weaning....if you want to give multi vits, there is no harm,when the baby is older, but not at all necessary at 3 weeks old!

Dolly, this is a very unusual thing for your HV to be doing...I can only think there is some local policy to give these supplements to mothers of bf babies as young as this, as there is certainly no national guidance on it. Is there some reason why she might think your baby needs these vitamins? Is she a student HV and has misunderstood something?

I do think it would be a good idea to call your HV and ask her again - say you have taken other advice on this and you are still puzzled as to why your baby should have these, and can she direct you to any information that explains why so you can look at it and decide for yourself.

The whole vitamins and breastfed babies is very confused. I have just checked the current weaning leaflet from Dept Health and they say 'vitmins after a year' : 'It is sensible to give all babies vitamin drops from the age
of one to five years old" which is different from policy published elswhere. Perhaps you can look up this weaning leaflet on the web (it's on the dept health website) and tell your HV you are confused by the contradictions between what she is saying and what this official leaflet says.

Thanks very much for the swift responses.

She mentioned that there had been incidences of rickets in SE London where we are, but beyond that offered no explanation. I was chatting to her and she has been HVing for 15+ years, but was very forceful in a couple of things she said, and seemed to be suggesting that her word was law. For eg, she gave me an appt for DD2 to have the BCG vacc, and suggested that it was compulsory. Haven't made my mind up about that one, but am going to look into it and not be coerced by her.

I am seeing her again this week as DD at last weigh (2 weeks) was still under her birthweight. I think I won't bother thereafter. She again implied that regular weighing, going to baby clinics etc was compulsory but happily I have enough experience to know better.

Tiktok, thanks for the ref to the leaflets - I'll check them out

Cheers

My ds was 6 weeks prem and we were told by the hospital to give him abidec and iron drops from birth until he was 1 year old. This is something to do with prem babies not receiving as much iron and stuff via the placenta I think. Wouldn't think that if your dd2 was full-term that she would need them though!

re vaccinations...you have to give signed consent, and it is not compulsory

re rickets....i think a well nourished, breast fed baby is not at risk...

nor is regular weighing compulsory!

if you are not comfortable with her forceful 'recommendations' you can change HV'

Was going to ask something similar - someone told me that vitamin drops needed for bf babies after 6 months - is this true? HV has said nothing about it and I'm reluctant to give my baby drops if not needed.

btw bcg is optional, I agreed to it as area of London where I live has a high level of tb.

Well I'm in Canada and they recommend just vitamin D drops for breastfed babies as formula has D added. My first son was born in Dublin and nobody said anything about vitamins. So no recommendations at all until they're older?

There is some guidance about breastfed babies in the UK - if they are not having formula (which has vit supplements already added) at 6 mths, then they supposedly should have supplements. However, this guidance is not consistent, and there is really no strong evidence base for it. Taking your baby outside on most days is a good idea, without being wrapped up so no light can touch his skin; this should ensure he gets the exposure to sunlight needed. HVs should be able to explain this to mothers.

There are areas of Canada in the far north which are cold and dark for much of the year. It may be justified to give vit D supplements, just as they do routinely to babies and children in Norway (where they all breastfeed).

I never thought of that, the weather thing! Would you believe we had a major snowstorm over Easter!

It's the done thing in Switzerland and Germany to supplement Vit AD & E for breastfed babies. My mothers doctor in Germany panicked when she said that in the UK there is no supplementation. So she prescribed some drops for my dd which my mum sent me.

I don't know why the Germans and Swiss do this but the Uk don't.