confused - vitamin drops for bf baby??

[bluepanda]

Had a community nursery nurse visit for ds' 8 month check today. She pulled a confused face when I said he had never had any formula and said I should be using it in cereals/ cooking etc because "it is full of vitamins and he will be missing out". More I thought about it, more confused I have become. I thought i was doing best by exclusively breast feeding - ds LOVES food and as I sit here is feeding himself sprouts, broccoli and carrots, he also has meat, fish, eggs and/ or dairy products every day. Sorry, this is turning into a rant... I had been happy he was getting a balanced diet but now I'm worried in case he really is missing out. Any thoughts?? PS he is a very healthy child!

oh sorry - whole point of msg was she said if I was "anti formula" I could consider giving him vitamin drops....

bluepanda - I would ignore your HV. There is iron and vitamins in breastmilk, and this is readily digested by your baby. At the age of 8 months, along with a varied diet (which he is clearly getting) and he is a healthy child, he will be getting everything he needs and there is no need for formula milk or vitamin drops.

Oh dear.

I think the nursery nurse has misunderstood. She's remembering that babies should have formula as a main drink (if they are not breastfed) rather than ordinary cows milk. She's mixed up about breastfeeding, and what they can have in cooking and on cereal...and the result is she has given you some seriously crappy info.

You know better than her.

It wouldn't be hard, from the sound of it

Tell the HV what rubbish the poor lass is spreading round (assuming the HV is better informed!)

I mean nursery nurse rather then HV.

Thanks all. I thought I was up to speed with the advice but what she said threw me and you know when you start doubting yourself. I will carry on in my own sweet way!

sounds like she's heard of the advice that exclusively bf babies should have vit D drops (which include other vits too.)
there's a page in my red book about it saying i should get them, but on talking to the hv she confirmed it was only really needed if baby + mum have dark skin and mother doesn't expose much skin to sunlight. if baby has any formula at all the vits are added in there.

bluepanda - check live threads on mumsnet in this folder for info about vit drops and bf babies. notcitrus is basically right.

She's talking twaddle. Sounds like he's eating a varied and balanced diet so he should be getting plenty of vitamins and minerals. Breastmilk does contain less iron than formula, but it's in a more easily absorbed form so breastfed babies don't normally need iron supplementation. If you or your baby is dark-skinned and/or don't get daily exposure to sunlight (15 minutes or so is fine) then you might want to consider Vitamin D drops, but if that isn't the case then don't worry.

HVs in my area recommend vitamin drops for BF babies after six months. They think they are more clever than years of evolution.

I think vit drops can be useful (I take a multivit and Vit C myself so can understand why you might want to give babies some) but I don't think it is necessary (and I haven't got round to doing it for my 27-week-old twins yet)

I was told to give my dd vit drops as i was bf, as well, I never did as didn't see the point but did see something on a hospital programe the other day about a bf baby developing rickets as app breast milk can be low in vit d. Not entirly sure of facts here but am guessing this is probably a reason they tell bf mums to give their babies supplements.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=breast_and_bottle_feeding&threadid=644812-Vitamin-D-supplements#1313801 7 is a thread with info and links.