HV said thats if a baby is BF or on cows milk at 1 year, they need vit supplements.

[ThomasTankEngine]

However if they're on formula, they don't.

Surely this can't be right????

horses arse, generally speaking
the theory is the formula has added vitamins.
Cos breastmilk is just mummy coca cola of course

bollocks. It's standard for formula fed babies to move onto cows milk at 12 months.

bollocks.

Now don'tmince your words, guys.

Seriously though, why would she say that?

Is it standard advice for HVs these days?

Absolute shite.
They talk some shit these people do.

that's crap. most babies aren't on formula after a year anyway.

Sometimes HVs are wrong.

Do I win a prize for mn understatement of the day?

Thomas - she said that because she's ill-informed/prejudiced/stupid/willfully ignorant/evil or any combination of the above.

take your pick, really.

i personally think there's a case to be made for a vit d supplement in winter, but that's a sunshine thing anyway. the rest, well, only you know what the baby is eating and yes, babies should all be bf or on cow's milk after a year anyway so it makes no sense.

hvs often talk nonsense. my friends told het categorically that soya milk wuold make her son infertile.

she said this was her personal opinion though!!!!!!

DD1 had her 2 year check the other day and my HV told me that all the government recommend that all under 5's are given daily vitamin supplements including vitamin A, C and D.
I asked her 'isn't Vit D from sunlight?'

She went strangely quiet!

I keep hearing mention of vit drops, but no hcp has ever mentioned it to me - DD is one and weaned/some bf. Do I need to find out??????
Vit D prob ok as whip her out the ouse as soon as the suns out

I was told this and the HV told me it was WHO guidelines.

i've never been told this,and i have had 3 ff babies who went onto cows milk at 10 months(refused to drink formula any more and i figured it was better than no milk atall).surely they only need supplemtents if they dont have a healthy diet?

saying that,i saw my HV on friday and she asked if dd3(almost 11 months)was eating lumpy food yet.she was shocked when i told her she just eats what the other dc eat

What absolute crap! So long as your LO is eating a varied diet including the correct amount of fruit, veg, protein and carbs it is just not necessary. Cows milk has oodles of vitamins and nutrients as does breast milk. (I do have to say that this obviously depends on what mother is eating, whereas cows don't tend to have such unhealthy choices IYSWIM..)

Divastrop she sounds like a peculiar HV. DD was eating the same as us at 8mths and mine didn't question it Thats how it should be.

agree about the vit d (altho have to say I haven't done anything about it) esp if your baby has dark skin but you live in a cloudy country (that would be the uk then )
does anyone give the vit drops then?

i give dd the occasional dinochew but she's 2. (they still say not for under 4, though...)

No.
I can't seriously believe that any reasonably fed baby in Western hemisphere is suffering a mineral or vitamin deficiency.

Who gains by us thinking they do?

With every piece of 'advice' bandied, ask yourself this question.

This sounds like a conspiracy theory Moondog.

Yes,they are conspiring to come between you and your purse.

I thought that used to be the advice but current guidelines was that it was unnecessary, hmmmm. I have bought vit drops and that minadex stuff whenever dd went through a really bad teething stage and i was convinced that she would waste away, but it tasted disgusting, she wouldnt take it and then always bounced back to her healthy self when the teeth were through.

As long as eating good diet i can't see why your baby would need them!! And some hv are wrong and yes they advise a pint of cows milk per day for babies 12mths plus, but if your still bf will be getting enough from you anyway. I would ignore it and go with your own common sense and instinct!! My hv told me that follow on milk also is not needed because as long as baby eating good established diet, ie breakfast,lunch, dinner and healthy snacks then they don't need the extra vits. It's bollocks basically sorry!!!

I had a big row with my HV when dd was one over this issue. She told me that I needed to start giving dd vitamins without even bothering to find out what sort of diet she had.

All I could get out of her was "because she's one now".

I was really, really cross about it. I think she made an assumption because the clinic were I was weighing dd was one in a deprived area. It's so disrespectful to assume that none of the mothers in that area are capable of providing their children with an adequate diet.

It isn't crap, though, is it? HVs are always getting things wrong, but it is correct that if a baby is having formula milk at 12 months, there is no need to give vitamin supplements because the vitamin supplements are added to the formula during the manufacture - check the ingredients list.

There is evidence that children in the UK do not get outside often enough to make Vitamin D, esp if they are black or brown skinned (or even Mediterranean) and esp if they live in the north and esp if they have a modern lifestyle which means they are in the car a lot or inside, at home or at nursery.

There's not much evidence of a lack of vits A & C, but for some reason these vits are packaged with the D in the children's multi-vits... A & C won't do any harm, though.

The mother's own diet will not affect the vitamin content of her breastmilk unless she is severely deficient - but the amount the baby gets will depend on how often he is breastfeeding, obviously. Typically breastfeeding toddlers in the UK do not breastfeed very often.

This is why current guidance is to give vit supps to babies not using formula over 6 mths, and if the baby has moved from formula to ordinary cows milk at a year, then the vit supps should start then.

HVs do get things badly wrong, but in this case, the HV does not deserve the ordure you are piling all over her!