Anyone else giving their BF baby vitamins?

[Elilly]

My ped recommended giving DS vitamins as he is exclusively BF. Is anyone giving their less than 6 month olds vitamins if you are exclusively BF?

[hez]

We did it for about a week or two. He hated them and I wasn't fully convinced he needed them. The entire reason for us was the fluoride. Once we let DS start on the sippy with a little water in it after meals, we bagged the vitamins completely. There's more than 1/2 a bottle in the cupboard that I need to pitch.

ETA: Thinking back, I think the other reason my ped wanted us to do it was the whole Vitamin D thing. Here's why I wasn't convinced we needed to: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vi...vitamin-d.html HTH!

No the pedi hasn't said anything about it.

Melinda

[Rachels]

NO. Look at that sentence: "The ped recommended giving vitamins as he is exclusively bf." It suggests that breastfeeding your baby is substandard and not as good for him as giving formula, and that's just wrong. Your milk is made to meet his needs. The vitamins it provides are virtually completely absorbed. Unless you live in a country that's dark for much of the year, literally, in which case there might be some vitamin D questions, there is simply no reason to give vitamins to a healthy, breastfed infant-- especially one less than six months old.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02


"When you know better, you do better."
Maya Angelou

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbo...pphire_24m.gif Two years and counting!

[sntm]

I was not convinced that this was necessary.

The only reasonably valid arguments have been for iron, Vit D, and fluride. The vast majority get ideal amounts of iron in breastmilk (since it is better absorbed) and introduction of iron from other sources may interfere with the absorption of iron in breastmilk by deactivating the lactoferrin. Vitamin D was never supposed to be acquired by ingestion -- you get it from mild amounts of sun exposure (10 minutes a day of indirect sun on average) and unless you are dark-skinned, living in the high north, and wearing fully-covering garments (like burkhas), it should not be a serious worry. Fluoride (if my recollection is right) works to prevent tooth decay only at the site, so it has to come in contact with teeth to work. I'll check on that, but I'm pretty sure that is correct. So, taking it before teeth are present should not do any good.

There are rare cases where vitamins might be necessary, but not enough IMO to justify blanket recommendations. I would test levels before I would give them, just because of the potential allergy risks, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03
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Breastfeeding 18 months and count

[npace19147]

We give them to DD on our ped's recommendation b/c she was preemie and there's a concern that she didn't get enough iron before being born. I think that's a special case though and most full term BF babies don't need vitamins that early, if at all.

[Elilly]

Glad to hear that most are not. My DD has multiple food allergies and I'm trying to keep only breast milk in DS's little tummy until at least 6 months.

[jbowman]

My ped has never mentioned vitamins!

At DS's 6 month check-up ped recommended vitamins, but told me I didn't have to be neurotic about giving them, whatever that meant! We had a script for the poly-vi-sol liquid with fluoride, but it smells so bad I couldn't bare to give it to DS, even mixed with food. I would say DS has gotten them maybe 3-4 times in the past 2.5 months.

My only concern is the fluoride. DS already has 10 teeth and our municipal water supply is not fluorinated. Plus, DS seems to get a terrible yellow, build-up on his teeth -- b/c he's not getting the fluoride, I "brush" his teeth every night and hope that is sufficient.

But to recap my answer :-), ped recommened vitamins, but I don't give them to DS!!!

It is recommended that you give your baby vitamins so they get vitamin D (there isn't much in breastmilk), especially during the winter months when they are less likely to be exposed to the sun because their bodies cannot make it. Also, the ones that the ped prescribe also contain flouride for tooth development. Usually these vitamins aren't started until about 2 months because I think that is also when their stored vitamin D starts to become depleted (or maybe that is iron). From what I remember with my first, they are not a full multi-vitamin, I think just A, C, and D (Poly Tri-Sol, comes w/ and w/o iron). The presribed version also contains flouride. I will most likely be starting these when I take ds#2 for his 2 month checkup soon.

Vitamin D deficiency can cause some serious problems because the body needs it to help absorb calcium. Rickets is the major risk factor. For more info, check out this link:

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/29/1728_62781.htm

HTH.