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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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

56 replies

ThomasTankEngine · 03/02/2008 20:56

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

Surely this can't be right????

OP posts:
Tommy · 03/02/2008 22:54

I have never been advised to give vits to any of my 3 DSs. DS1 was on follow on milk for quite a long time but DS2 was breastfed and then went staright onto cows milk (although to be fair, I never saw the HV wiht him after 8 m anyway as she was useless)

Current HV is great and has not mentioned vitamins at all for 12 month fully breastfed DS3
I think it is one of those "things" that people think you have to do without any specific background

Trolleydolly71 · 03/02/2008 23:15

Message withdrawn

colditz · 03/02/2008 23:18

bollocks.

colditz · 03/02/2008 23:20

dairy products are a source of vitamin D, and it's probably in breastmilk too.

tiktok · 04/02/2008 09:25

Colditz - do you really think this is bollocks? Why? There is reasonable research on this, and while we don't need to be scared that our babies and toddlers are going to suffer if they don't have vit supps, there are some (for exanple, some ethnic groups, and some families who don't go outside much, and some babies and toddlers who don't have a great diet) who do benefit from vit supps.

The current 'one size fits all' guidance probably scoops up a lot more babies than it actually needs to, but they won't be harmed at all by the vit supps....and I don't understand people dismissing this as 'bollocks'.

MommaFeelgood · 04/02/2008 09:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

casbie · 04/02/2008 09:40

to OP- only if exclusively BF or exclusively FF.

A balanced diet will not need vit supplements!

hth

PerkinWarbeck · 04/02/2008 09:40

tiktok - DD is approaching one and about to switch to cows milk. where should I be able to get age- appropriate supplements? Is vit D the only one to be concerned about?

MadamePlatypus · 04/02/2008 09:42

tiktok, I am confused about the vit D advise and you seem to be clued up. Where do you find toddler vitamin supplements - with the rest of the vitamins in the supermarket? Do you add them to food or to drink? Do 4 year olds also need vit D?

Are those growing up milks a good idea after all?

My two children are complete cheese and yoghurt monsters and except for today when we are hibernating because of tummy bugs spend atleast an hour outside everyday. Do we all need supplements or am I just being middle class angsty about it all?

MadamePlatypus · 04/02/2008 09:44

Oh - I see I'm not the only poster requiring advice - ever feel jumped on Tiktok?

tiktok · 04/02/2008 10:12

Will try to answer the Qs: the only real research about UK babies and toddlers risking vitamin deficiency is with Vitamin D (you can google if you want, or do a PubMed search and see the medical papers on it. The concern has been with cases of rickets and with Vit D deficiency found on testing. At the same time, there is growing concern that all of us might be going a bit short of it, especially if we live in the North of Europe).

Breastfed babies of normally nourished mothers do not need supplements - there is, of course, Vitamin D in breastmilk.

Beyond 6 mths, babies start to need more Vitamin D and this is naturally enough supplied in the diet - breastmilk plus whatever solids they are having - and from sunlight.

FF babies get extra Vit D in the supplements already added to formula. A white bf baby who is outside most days, bf liberally and moving onto solids, is highly unlikely to need supps, but if they are dark skinned (and therefore need more light to make Vit D) , they may not get outside enough, esp in winter, esp in the North...a nutrition-minded HV should help individuals make these decisions, and when it would continue to be of benefit regarding the age of the child.

You can buy kids vits, and I think they are also available through Healthy Start, but I am not sure about this these days.

I am highly sceptical about Growing up milks. They prob do have added vit d, but they are an expensive, processed product that is there to hook consumers into the formula market. Just my opinion!

Minadex has been around for ages and ages - it's not very expensive but there are probably unbranded 'tonics' for kids that are cheaper. I would guess it has Vit D in it - read the label or the chemist. It's probably quite pleasant to take (check for the sugar content though. It's a syrup, so probably high in glucose/ sucrose) and you can mix it in other foods - but of course you can with kids supps which are usually drops.

tiktok · 04/02/2008 10:13

Breastfed babies don't need supps I said - I meant breastfed babies up to 6 mths. After that time, there are perfectly respectable arguments why some breastfed babies may benefit from Vit D.

MommaFeelgood · 04/02/2008 10:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

belgo · 04/02/2008 10:24

my bf 17 month old dd2 was found to have low iron. It wasn't the fault of bfing, it was because she wouldn't eat the food that she needed to eat - she was refusing practically all solids. In this situation, vitamins and iron supplements were needed.

BITCAT · 04/02/2008 10:45

Well i have never been advised to give vits to any of my children because all but 1 eats very well and always have done. I do give vits to ds2 because he doesn't eat well but i've never given them to my other 3 and all are very healthy and hardly ever poorly, ds1 shrugs of all colds,flus and has only ever had chickenpox and even then only had few spots but no illness!! I think you have to use your own common sense along with some advice from health proffessionals, but ultimately your choice and i think if a child is healthy, happy, full of energy and eating and drinking well then they don't neccessarily need the vits.

MadamePlatypus · 04/02/2008 10:48

thanks Tiktok. , rainy climate.

YeahBut · 04/02/2008 10:51

It's for the vitamin D which is already added to formula milk. We do primarily get this from exposure to sunlight, however, as we are becoming far less outdoorsy as the years go by, many children aren't getting enough atm.
In Holland (where I am) all mothers are advised to give babies and children vitamin D drops from birth, unless they are on formula milk.
Weird but true fact from my Aussie doctor friend - because kids in Australia are being slathered with sunscreen all the time, this is also affecting vitamin D absorption. With the result that rickets is on the increase for the first time in decades.

BITCAT · 04/02/2008 10:51

I agree with tiktok on the follow on milk point they are very expensive and they pray on a parents willingness to do the best for there children, which the milk doesn't really do. I would rather give vits than buy the milk. You can get some reasonable priced vit supplements from asda and tesco, the ones i buy for my ds2 are pastilles 30pk and vit a,c,d and e and are only 98p a bargain!!

MadamePlatypus · 04/02/2008 10:52

sorry, should have read, thanks Tiktok, I think I'll give the supplements a miss as DS and DD have the genes for shivering in a cloudy, rainy, windswept climate.

tiktok · 04/02/2008 10:59

I so agree with using common sense - take advice, read the available info, think about what your kids (and you) are eating and drinking, and what your outdoorsy life is like, and then decide!

Just as it is wrong to totally rubbish the HV's advice, it's also wrong to take it without question or discussion.

Divastrop · 04/02/2008 16:18

arent some vitamins dangerous in large quantities though?

tiktok · 04/02/2008 17:46

Yes - but no one's suggesting using large amounts

Vit supps for babies and kids are not gonna do any harm - clearly, you stick to the recommended dose. They're formulated to be used with a normal diet.

Rachel32 · 04/02/2008 18:28

see Healthy Start website for current guidelines on vitamins.

shorterlink.co.uk/13634

HVs are in a double bind, risk of upsetting people if they advise vitamins, equally likely to cause offence if they don't say anything and people find out about the recommendations from elsewhere.

Worth googling vit D, there seems to be a lot more to it than was thought. Low levels are being linked to chronic diseases.

The Healthy Start vits have got more vit D than other children's vits, also no peanut oil (which is in Abidec).

tiktok · 04/02/2008 19:00

Rachel - good link.

I agree with you about HVs - see my posts earlier. But all the HV has to do is to understand herself about the issues, and then explain them to parents.
Too often, neither of these small tasks is done!

Divastrop · 04/02/2008 20:54

i was remembering a few years ago when ds1(then aged 3) got hold of a pack of the multi-vitamin jelly sweet things and ate them all(30 of them).i rang NHS direct and they had me in a panic,getting me to list the exact amounts of all the vitamins and then saying they were going to ring me back when theyd contacted the poisons unit.

all he got from them was a bad case of the squits,thankfully.

having read this thread,im going to get some vitamin supplements for dd2,who wont drink milk of any kind and wont eat fruit either.on the plus side she is very fair skinned and we dont have a car,so she spends lots of time outdoors