should i give dd vitamin drops?

[biskybat]

Just wondering if I should supplement my 15 month old dd's diet with vitamin drops. She is still breastfed but is not a very good eater at all. She is picky (won't touch yoghurt or cheese) and also eats very small quantities. On a typical (good/not teething etc) day she will
eat the following:

breakfast is 1 weetabix or some porridge with full fat milk and a piece of fruit.

lunch is either an omelette (she only eats about a half of a 2 egg one) or a picnic of various bits like chicken, avocado, tomato and bread but she will only eat about 2 pieces of each thing which adds up to about 5/6 mouthfuls.

She might have a snack of an animal biscuit or some baby crisps or some fruit at 3ish.

At dinner time she will take about 5 mouthfuls of pasta/rice if we are lucky but if she has eaten all her food during the day she will quite often refuse to eat dinner.

She is quite titchy at 15 months and only weighs about 19 1/2 pounds. She breastfeeds about 6 times in a 24 hour period (only for 5mins though) She is also going through a phase of spitting things out of her mouth and has been eating very little at the moment. I have tried cutting back on the breastfeeds but it doesn't make a difference to her appetite.

Since it is winter we haven't been getting out in the sunshine either so I am worred that her vit D levels could be low. I am worried that on her current diet she might not be getting enough nutrients and might end up with rickets or something

Should I give her vit drops?

If you're concerned about her food intake, have you thought about asking for a referral from your GP to a dietician?

They might suggest you keep a diary over a longer period (e.g. a week). It's well known that children's intake varies a lot meal by meal or even same meal one day to same meal the next, but provided they are offered sufficient opportunity to eat a variety of healthy food, over a slightly longer period most take in a fairly well balanced diet.

The Food Standards Agency does recommend vitamins for all children aged 6 months-5 years, to help ensure they're getting these vitamins even if their diet isn't particularly varied. Only you can decide whether you think this applies to your child. There are some other thoughts on breasfed babies and vitamin d here and info on the vitamin content of breastmilk here. Often the principle that's applied with a breastfeeding mother is to supplement the mother if there are concerns. How is your diet?

8.84kg at 15 months is well within the normal range for a brestfed baby. Young breastfed toddlers reach their slimmest point when compared with formula fed infants, at 14 months.

Breastfed toddlers can go on getting a large portion of their nutrients from breastmilk. This is a helpful read.

Taken from here: "In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
29% of energy requirements
43% of protein requirements
36% of calcium requirements
75% of vitamin A requirements
76% of folate requirements
94% of vitamin B12 requirements
60% of vitamin C requirements"

thanks for the stats grendle...will have a read and then make a decision. Should have thought of the kellymom website