The nutritionist in Sainsbury's Little Ones magazine - wtf?!

[hunkermunker]

"it's advisable for all breastfed babies to be given vitamin drops containing vitamins A, C and D, year-round".

How have we survived as a race?!

Or perhaps it's all designed to make bf sound difficult - so you'll use the SMA and Hipp follow-on money-off vouchers that come with this pile o' shite magazine?!

My HV told me to start doing this when DC3 was 6 months old - I didn't though!

I'd be interested in knowing her professional credentials; nutritionist is an unprotected title.

Oh, hang on, she's "from the British Nutrition Foundation."

Sara Stanner, Science Programme Manager

So not "even" a nutritionist?

Yeah, I read that and thought . Neither of mine have vitamins, are rarely ill (touch wood). I thought we got vitamins from eating a varied diet. And that babies got it from milk.

OMG.

Don't get me started on the 'Junior' mag nutritionist who said that night waking at 6 months was probably due to the quality of the reader's milk!

yep, i read that and thought

the food standards agency advises vitamin drops to be given so they arent just making it up:

Once your baby is over six months, you should start giving them vitamin drops containing vitamins A, C and D. However, if you are giving your baby infant formula, you don't need to start giving them vitamins until they are having less than 500ml of formula a day. This is because infant formula already contains added vitamins and minerals

But wouldn't they be getting vitamins A,C from food and D from, er, sunshine? Doesn't seem to make sense.

My 3 bf babies were all prescribed vitamin drops here in France, tis standard practice here.

It's standard practice in several Asian countries to prescribe vitamin drops for babies from 5 months, irrespective of method of feeding (voice of experience speaking).
I guess the only reason ff babies in the UK aren't encouraged to take it is because formula already has them mixed in. I didn't see it as a dig at breast-feeders or vice versa.

I think it is because we tend to keep our babies out of the sun now dont we - so quite possibly they are not getting enough vitamin D. Saying that I never could remember to do it

I guess breastmilk will adapt over time.

This piece didn't say anything about only giving vitamin drops to babies over 6mo - "all breastfed babies" is all it says.

Is this one of those outdated bits of info dating from the time when BM was considerd to be the inferior type of baby milk?

I read that and as I had BF two winter babies wondered why no health professional had ever mentioned this to me. So I decided it was a load of crap.

Funny how my Bf babies never needed this "advice" . Is there a body to report this to? It's not directly pushing formula so not code-breaking but it does suggest that breastmilk is somehow wanting (unlike miraclous formula )

The Sainsbury Little Ones magazine is full of dubious advice ala the unthinking tripe the permeates the baby magazine world.

Even the recipes make me want to laugh - my dcs won't touch those complex concoctions with unnecessarily expensive ingredients with a barge pole.

Put it in the bin where it belongs and keep the moneysaving coupons.

"Nutritionist" doesn't mean anything - you can call yourself that if you like, and most advice to take vitamins is sponsored by the people who sell the vitamins, funnily enough.

But... that said - I've had children in 3 different countries (not France!), in all of which it is standard practice to give babies vitamin drops every day from 4 to 12 months. D iirc, which is apparently not present in breast milk - I can't remember why they don't need it for the first 4 months. I'm surprised to learn this is not standard for UK babies.

Surely this would only be necessary if the mother were malnourished?

Dear God, how has any mammal species survived through the ages? That's why wooly mammoths died out...they had no vitamin drops in their mothers milk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vitamins may or may not be necessary, but I don't think I'd take healthy living advice from the British Nutrition Foundation - did anyone else look at the list of member companies? British Sugar, Tate & Lyle, Cadbury, Nestle, Pepsico...

I'm really confused by this. My initial reaction was the same as the OP's. I have never been told this - 2 BF babies, born in different parts of the UK in 2005 and 2008, with a variety of good and not so good health visitors. But apparently, this is what we should be doing, according to the DirectGov web page on weaning your baby:

"Six months after birth ? if your baby is breastfeeding ? you should give them vitamin drops containing vitamins A, C and D. If your baby is bottle-fed with infant formula, extra vitamins are already added, so as long as your baby is drinking 500ml (one pint) of formula a day, vitamin drops are not needed."

Is it too much to hope that the health professionals have taken the pragmatic view and chosen not to push this particular piece of advice?

this previous thread gives the reasons for supplementing with vitamin drops

white people get enough vitamin D even in the winter if they get 15 minutes of day light on their faces. So taking the kid on the school run is enough. I think it is all the exposure most people need for a week because vit d is stored in fatty tissue.

It is women who are dark skinned and/or cover entirely and/or stay indoors alot with the curtains drawn due to their religion who may not be making enough vit D or exposing their babies to enough sunlight to make enough vitamin d.

Muslim women in Saudi Arabia and the UAE probably are at higher risk of vit d dificiency than white women in the UK exposed to normal amounts of daylight in the winter. Try not to just go from the car to office to the car to the house so much in the wintertime.

You don't need direct sunlight. just good light.

gah.

and what is wrong with giving a child some juice? (vit c)

as for vit a - it is available in butter and margarine. too much vit A is a bad idea. it damages the liver. Vit A is also stored in fat tissue so you don't excrete it quite as easily as you do vit C which is water soluble so need topping up more often.

If you want ot be on the safe side, cod liver oil. -

Then again it is about bioavailability, isn't it. Getting these things from food or bm makes a lot more sense than getting it from vitamin drops.

Actually

I read this too in the NHS book 0-5. I did ask my HV. She sort of said, well perhaps you should.

However, never got round to buying the vitamin drops! (I've had a second child and forgot again.)

I think that formula has lots of added vitamins.

However, I too saw the sainsbury's mag and felt that it was a bit of a knock at BFing pas 6 months