Vitamins

EMLYNNLERETTE

My pedi didn't mention these, but it seems like every BFing mom is giving them.  Do we need them or is BM enough?  

tokenhoser

BF babies only need vitamin D. I use Carlson D Drops and like them - just one drop, no extra crap.

emmielou75

BM is really only deficient in Vitamin D (and that's only because most Americans are deficient in Vitamin D). 

My pedi recommended just taking prenatals and an extra vitamin D supplement at first.  At the 4mo appt she said we should start a supplement. She recommended Poly-Vi-Sol and we tried it but DD hated it.  It smells horrible!  I tried giving it to her straight- she screamed and spit it out... then tried mixing it with a bottle of breast milk, which just wasted a few ounces of breast milk- it turned it brown and it smelled so incredibly foul!

Then we tried Di-Vi-Sol (just vitamin D), it smells much better but DD still didn't like it much.  We would give it in the bathtub so when she spit it out it didn't ruin more clothes...  now that she is 7 mo and eating some solids, we mix it with that and she doesn't seem to mind.

 There is some research that moms can take large doses of vitamin D and it is enough, but I got my vitamin D level tested after taking supplements for a few months and it was still really low, so I don't think its enough...

 Other sources say you can just expose babies to 15 min of sunlight daily and that is plenty.

 Once they hit 6 months you have to think about iron supplements (either from vitamins, meats or fortified cereals).