Baby vitamins - which one tastes best?

[Scarabeetle]

At baby clinic recently I was told to give my baby vitamins while I am weaning. However, my 9 month old DS refuses to take Abidec drops, as they taste terrible.

I haven't tried mixing it in with his food - just giving it straight from the syringe. If anyone could recommend a better tasting vitamin or a smarter way to administer it I would really appreciate it!

Can I ask, what was reasoning to give baby vitamins?
Wondering if I should be giving DS2 vits ...

Abidec is horrible - smells like a rusty nail. Neither or mine took it. I gave up despite having accidentally raised vegetarians.

Both of mine were premature and were prescribed vitamins from birth.

I never managed to persuade either of them to take them.

Dalivit and abidec both taste DISGUSTING !

They are 2 and 6 almost now and thriving, don't seem to have suffered from their reluctance to drink foul liquid.

If your baby's got a decent diet then vitamins shouldn't be required anyway :)

I had read if baby being breastfed whilst being weaned (i.e. no formula), then a vitamin is needed? Is that rubbish?

Sorry for thread hijack

Dds have Boots own vitamin liquid (suitable from 4 months), it just tastes like orange juice. It doesn't have any omegas in it though. I have yet to find one with omegas that they will drink.

I would think that the vast majority of breast fed babies are not supplemented with vitamins . Wouldn't worry about it unless your child is actually ill or extremely restricted in their diet over a long period.

I certainly would not worry about omegas.

mine was prem. he was prescribed abidec and iron and will take them mixed with ebm

Mine spits out Abidec too. Glad we're not the only ones! Have you tasted it? It's foul - in a way I would be worried if she didn't spit it out!!

I keep giving it to her, I reckon she must swallow at least a little bit. Occasionally I have given it one drop at a time on spoons of yoghurt and this seems to go down ok, but I don't really like doing that, guess I don't want to start tricking her when it comes to food, or making her think that yoghurt (which she loves) tastes a bit horrible.

I know it's recommended for BF babies, but I'm not worried to the point where I'm going to force it into her.

I really don't understand why BF babies would need it more than FF babies Surely breastmilk + food introduced at an appropriate time has everything they need? I mean why would we produce a food for them which was deficient? Especially when toddlers are (seemingly) universally fussy. It doesn't make sense!

I'd double-check that your baby really needs vitamins and do a bit of reading, this is a good place to start :)

I'm happy to give him vitamins to boost his immunity particularly in the lead up to winter. I think Vit D is the main concern. The body produces Vit D when exposed to a sufficient amount of sunlight (good luck getting enough in the UK). In the absence of that, it's recommended that you supplement. At the clinic we were told both formula and breast fed babies could use the vitamins. Vitamin D is essential for your immune system.

Hazeyjane thanks for the tip about the Boots one - I bought it & though he won't take it straight off the spoon it tastes much better than the Abidec so I should be able to mix it in with his formula without it backfiring! I ended up having 2 spoons myself. Not bad actually!!

Thanks for all your replies.

This may not be helpful, but I've been giving my daughter Abidec since 6 months (past month), and I find the recommended dose of 0.3ml is so tiny, I just squirt it down the side of her tongue and she barely seems to realise. I do this when she's just eaten lunch, then give her a sip of water to rinse it down. I then finish off with her yoghurt, to take any nasty taste away. I suppose starting them earlier may mean they get used to it, perhaps by 9m they are more strong willed!

blake, thanks for your post - I have a suspicious little DS though... he took it the first time & clearly thought it was horrible, so now clamps his mouth shut when he sees the syringe coming!!

I know this is an old thread, but just in case anyone finds it looking for advice I'd like to recommend Nature & Nurture Baby Vitamins. They use D3, which is much easier to absorb than D2, and meets all the NHS recommendations for infant supplementation. It's suitable for babies and children from six months to five years old. It's a nice tasting liquid and you only give a small daily dose so really easy to use. It's also suitable for vegans and lasts twice as long as some other leading brands!

Wellbaby multi vit was always great and in a tiny amount like abidec, can't find it in many places now though.