vitamin drops... do you use them? are they needed?

[missytequila]

i thought breastmilk was supposed to give baby all she needed.... am very confused...

baby is 6 months by the way..started weaning but not managing much

don't think they can do any harm
Well kid is meant to have a lot of different vits in them.. part of the Wellwoman/Wellman range

I'm watching this with interest as when I weaned DS (now 17 months) he was exclusively breastfed and I was told by the HV that he needed vitamin drops.

I did buy some (abidec) but dropped them in the bath on day 2 and didn't get round to buying anymore.

He has always eaten a wide variety of fruit, veg, dairy etc so I figured he couldn't need them that much

Never used them. BF two children past 1 yr. Figure as long as they're getting a reasonably balanced diet, getting out in the fresh air/daylight and are still BF on demand there's no real need. (Neither of mine ate much when we started weaning until about 7-8 months either).

didn't use them, don't think they are necessary.

Also don't worry about weaning, its very early days yet...he will start eating more when he is closer to 1 year.

Breastmilk will be main nutrition for a few months yet...

Apparently they are recommended for all children under 5 who have less than 500 mls of formula / day - so that includes 2 yr olds (for example) that have plenty of cows milk... I guess the age range is to do with the amount of growing that goes on during that period. Even if you have a pretty balanced diet there are some vitamins that are hard to get / absorb well from foods - particularly B and D vitamins. Lots of recent research suggests that these are incredibly powerful in preventing a range of different illnesses in adulthood. I don't know why the composition of breastmilk isn't sufficient. My son was being seen by a dietician at one stage because we had some other issues and she was very very pro BFing but recommended the vitamin drops even though he also has a very balanced diet. I think it is D that is best absorbed from the sun but in the northern hemisphere winter (and particularly if you have darker skin) we don't generally get as much as we need from our diet.

I now use formula and DS is a bit borderline on the 500 mls thing, so I give him vitamin drops on days that I think his milk intake is low and don't bother the rest of the time when I forget. I don't think that its likely to be a major issue if he doesn't get them, but I also don't think it can hurt and may help lower his chances of getting certain nasty illnesses when he's grown up.

I think it's vitamins A,C and D which children might not get enough of even if they have a balanced diet. Formula is fortified with these which is why you don't need them if you get enough formula.

I've got Abidec too, but whenever I give it to my DD she makes a face like I've poisoned her and dribbles it straight out. Any tips on keeping it in? I don't like the idea of putting it in with other food as I don't want her to go off the other food and she's mostly BLW'd so tricky to mix it in with other food withouth her noticing anyway.

Well, I can only ask myself how children managed to survive all those years before the invention of vitamin drops???

Maybe they are not as indispensable after all?

I don't buy the argument that vitamin drops are "necessary unless you give DC formula" as it makes no sense at all.

Having said that, I guess I'll probably give the drops to DS at some point in the future (he's 5 months now), as I'm a bit of a vitamin junkie myself and I think it probably won't do him any harm (but again, I absolutely don't think I HAVE to).

I was advised by a very good paediatrician to give them from 6 months if still breastfeeding, he recommended Abidec. He also said I should be taking a supplement such as Pregnacare. I'm not usually one for supplements unless specifically necessary, but I trust his advice, I don't want to risk causing dd any problems in the future. I suppose it's hard to ensure babies are getting all the vitamins they need when food intake is possibly a bit hit and miss.

Schoedingersdodo - did you take folic acid when you were pregnant to reduce the risk of neural tube defects? Well this is just the same. A balanced diet can provide folic acid, but often not in the quantities needed when there's really rapid growth of a baby going on.

Babies have been fine forever without lots of supplements etc and without their mums taking supplements when pregnant, but supplements have reduced the numbers of kids born with certain illnesses and the evidence suggests other illnesses can also be reduced if vitamins are taken to supplement a good diet.

"Well, I can only ask myself how children managed to survive all those years before the invention of vitamin drops??? "

Rickets was endemic, mind you. Still, all part of life's rich tapestry.

ReadingTeaLeaves and tokyonambu,

Ok, ok, you are right. I didn't quite explain myself very well.

I think what p... me off is being talked to as if I was stupid. As if the babies NEEDED the vitamins. As you put it, it is just like the folic acid supplements - it's safer if you take them, they are beneficial and everything. It's better if you take them, which doesn't mean you need it.

Maybe that's just a technicality, but I like to have things explained to me clearly (and not to be told that I HAVE to do something as if I was a stupid who can't understand how these things work).

(just for the record, I took folic acid during pregnancy, my ds had injectable vit K right after birth and he will have vit D and iron supplements because I think they'll do him no harm, whereas the lack of vitamins may do some harm)

" As you put it, it is just like the folic acid supplements - it's safer if you take them, they are beneficial and everything. It's better if you take them, which doesn't mean you need it. "

I don't really follow this. Flour is fortified with folic acid in the US, and the result of rates of neural tube defects have been significant. You do need supplementation (in any world in which you don't regard Spina Bifida as just a little problem, easily fixed) because levels of serum folate are rarely high enough and (whisper it) some people do get pregnant without planning it in detail.

The reasons against folic supplementation in flour in the UK are crap, and smack of 19th century opponents of chlorinated water who thought it impeded a man's right to contract cholera if he so chose. Flour's already fortified, with niacin and thiamin (which, to be fair, would be present were it not milled out, unlike folate) so the basic principle seems reasonable. Fortifying flour would be good for adult health and reduce the number of people born with NTDs, and the arguments against it are bad ones.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1123313/

Oh god,

No, supplements should not be seen as the default option. As I said before, we've been surviving reasonably well for thousands of years without them.

They can be useful, they can save lives, but people are not stupid. They just think, like the OP, that it makes no sense to say the baby NEEDS supplements. It would be nicer if people were told WHY supplements are a good idea (and they are!).

(anyway, I think it's a bit of a minefield to fortify things such as flour or water. I understand the reasons why some people don't like the idea, agreeing or not.)

"As I said before, we've been surviving reasonably well for thousands of years without them. "

So you'd see the natural rate of spina bifida as acceptable? OK.

I give them. I don't know if DS needs them but since the public health message is that it's a good idea to give them, I do.

I asked about this on here a while ago and Tiktok said that vitamin D can be an issue but it's hard to know whether any individual child is getting enough, which is why there's a blanket recommendation that all children from 6 months - 5 years have them (unless drinking formula).

The recommendations are based on evidence based research.

Yes, Vitamin D is the key issue here IM(unprofessional)O. We just don't get enough of it in this country and in most cases children do spend less time outside/in the sun than in previous generations.

Formula is already supplemented with these vitamins - too many people seem to see this recommendation as an "attack" on breastfeeding. It's really not.....

(In answer to OP, I did try to give the drops to my DD but they do appear to taste foul and I probably wasn't religious about forcing them down her neck every day )

I read in Annabel Karmel's book that babies who are BF do need a vitamin supplement as Vit B (I think) in breastmilk starts to depleat gradually after 6 months. However, formula is fortified with this. I got some drops from the pharmacist and added them to DS's ready brek in the morning.

or Vit D!