Baby Vitamins

[SoonerTexan]

N had her 2 month ped appointment this week. The pediatrician asked me if I gave her vitamins and told me to give her poly-vi-sol with iron. I don't think it was in response to anything she saw, just a general recommendation.

Are they really necessary if she is breastfed, though? I'm really picky about the quality of vitamins I take and it doesn't seem like there is much of an equivalent for babies out there.

(I dropped a load of $$ on these during my pregnancy http://www.thevitamincode.com/Formul...1/Default.aspx)

Speaking of this...I switched to a regular women's multivitamin after my last bottle of pre-natals ran out. Should I continue taking pre-natals until she is weaned?

[scrub-jay]

Yes to the prenatals and we gave dd Di-vi-sol (vitamin D alone) bc ped said poly-vi-sol tasted yucky. They checked iron when she was really young and she was fine. Make sure when you start solids you include iron-enriched food (baby rice cereal and baby oatmeal are fine) because the initial iron wears off (after 4-6 months maybe) and N won't get it from breastmilk at all. I think vitamin D, iron & K are NOT passed through breastmilk but many others are (hence the prenatals). If you end up doing formula I think they are all enriched.

[SuzySunshine]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I think breastfed babies are the ones they recommend iron and Vitamin-D for because those are things moms are usually lacking. Formula babies get it in their formula.

[Thirteen]

10-15 min in indirect sunlight = Vit D. Since the sun is "hiding out" (and DH is a worry wort about DS), I give him the liquid Vit D supplement if we can't get access.

I stopped taking prenatals at 6 months.

I'm a rebel.


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[SoonerTexan]

I guess we're getting the baby vitamins then. That can be daddy's job

[scrub-jay]

If it is any consolation, my toddler looks forward to (and asks for) her evening mL of vitamin D.

[spotty_dog]

Full-term babies are born with enough iron stores to suffice for about six months. And mother's milk has a tiny bit of iron but it's highly highly bioavailable. Nature didn't screw up, babies were made to drink breastmilk and it's got what baby needs.

[Michele]

I only did the poly vi sol with iron for a few months with D. And he hated it. He was documented anemic. At 2 I started giving him the My First Flintstones (They don't have iron as far as I know). K started the chewable Flintstones at 18 months and Phe gets them occasionally now. The boys still get them.

I've never had a ped question my kids vitamin D intake. All have known they were exclusively breastfed and when asked, minimal cow's milk.

My nephew has been on vitamin D since birth. And now gets Juice Plus (22 months old).

Honestly? Based on my kids and my nephew, I don't see a difference. But I also honestly think vitamins are generally a good thing. I have taken pre-natal vitamins almost daily for over 6 years now. Sometimes prescription, sometimes over the counter.

[SoonerTexan]

Hmm...when I did the GD test when I was pregnant, it came back that I was slightly anemic, so I've been taking iron since. My sister is really anemic too--you can actually see a major difference in her color when she slacks off taking the iron. I'm not nearly that bad, but would that make it a concern for N?

[ladymoreta]

I asked my pediatrician about vitamin D at DD's 2-month appointment because I had read about it being recommended in a magazine, but I never gave them to DS. He explained it this way. They've found that breast milk doesn't contain "enough" vitamin D. Lack of vitamin D can lead to rickets. However, there was never an issue with breastfed babies developing rickets. But... Since the AAP is officially recommending breastfed babies receive a vitamin D supplement, he will also recommend it. I bought a couple bottles, but I haven't started giving them to her yet. I tasted it, and it tastes funny. I don't think she's going to be happy about it!

[v-girl]

Baby vitamins smell. I didn't give them to any of my kids. DH did, but I refused.

Is the vitamin D thing a new recommendation? I never heard a word about vitamins with DS but both the peds DD has had recommended it. I just started sporadically giving her the poly-vit-sol after her 1 year appt.
I don't think you have to worry about iron until 6 months and at that point they can test if you want. I was anaemic during my first pg and therefore they wanted to draw DS's blood at 6 months but it was so traumatic attempting to get blood from a pudgy fighting screaming baby. They never did draw any blood but in theory it's an option if you're concerned!
I also sporadically give fluoride supplements to both kids because our water isn't fluoridated, but again I'm not convinced its necessary.

[ladymoreta]

Yes, it's a new recommendation. I didn't hear anything about it for DS either.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I was assigned to do this at our first ped appt. when I balked they explained that it's because they recommend no sun or sunscreen before 6 months. I think it's dumb.

How can breast milk be deficient in something? That makes no evolutionary sense!

That being said, I think dh will make me do it.

[scrub-jay]

Evolutionarily, we are outside much less than we may have been historically. Clothing, sunscreen, permanent dwellings, electricity, living further from the equator, all impact vitamin D generation. So evolutionarily, it isn't that breast milk is deficient, it's that our culture, location and lifestyle inhibits the infant's ability to generate their own Vitamin D.