Poly-Vi-Sol w/Iron

hjweber

Does anyone give their preemie this vitamin supplement?  Our daughter was discharged from the NICU on her 11th day.  She was born at 34w5d gestation.  The discharge doctor wrote on her papers that poly-vi-sol w/iron was a highly recommended vitamin to start her on ASAP.  They wrote on the papers to give .5cc daily.  We went right out and got the vitamins.  Upon reading the instructions-it says give 1cc regardless of weight or age.  We only gave the .5cc until her 8 wk appt with her pedi who suggested we start giving the full cc.  My question is-was anyone else advised to give their baby this vitamin supplement?  I do give my baby breastmilk exclusively-although she is being introduced to formula just now.  Her pedi said continue with the vitamin supplement until she is taking 32oz formula.  The smell is awful-LO hates them(they taste awful, too.  I tasted them!)...even after almost 8 weeks of getting them.  She chokes and spits everytime.  I hate giving them to her but the pedi highly recommends them. I tried putting her dose in a bottle but she won't drink the milk that way.   I just hardly EVER hear any mommies talk about giving this vitamin supplement.  Is it really necessary?  

katie4253

Preemies are a different animal.  I think you'll be hard pressed to find many preemie moms who haven't had to give this.

The easiest way for us to get it down is just to shoot it down his throat and then stick the bottle in his mouth.  

Follow your doctor's advice.  Even after you are done with these, your pedi will likely request you give vitamin D if you give breast milk.  It doesn't get passed through milk (at least not enough) and most people don't get enough sun to get the vitamin d they need (including babies).   

jlh123

Our babies were on it when they came home from the NICU as well.  I think for a few months at least.  We had a way we gave medicine (vitamin among others).  We mixed a splash of formula in a small bottle and they sucked it in about very quickly then we immediately replaced with the other full bottle.  We did that with medicine probably the first year of their life.

As pp stated, follow their advice.  I didn't even want to take them off it I remember because I felt they were getting exactly what they needed.  Pedi assured me though when it was time that they were drinking enough formula to get all they needed.

kck329

Like PPs said, give your baby the vitamins. They are important. DD was on them in the NICU and is still on them now at 7 months old.

We mix the vitamins in her bottle (its actually the reason she gets one bottle every day). Just make sure to mix the vitamins in an amount you know your LO will finish or the meds don't all make it into their system. In the NICU we would give her two bottles for that feed, one small amount mixed with vitamins and then the rest in a separate bottle after she finished. Once she consistently started finishing feeds, we stopped doing that and now we just mix with her usual amount of BM

sail123

Ditto pps, my guys had this. Iron is very important for preemies. We gave them 1cc as per our pediatrician's instructions.

J&MsMom

I was supposed to be giving DS the vitamins with iron, but we were giving him the vitamins without by mistake.  When we did his blood work, he was anemic.  He was sleeping all of the time and lethargic.  Now that we are on the right vitamins, he is more awake and with it.  It is important.  

ChickensFive

Ditto everuone. I used to give my girls this but then I started adding rice to their forumla to help their reflux. The rice has enough iron that I onky have to give a multivitamin. The iron is terrible (I have to give V an iron supplement...smells terrible). My girls also got constipated on it. Listen to your Dr....like pp said preemies need.it.

neko621

Ditto what everyone else said.  The twins can't stand it.  When we first brought them home from the NICU, DS would brady when we tried to give him a bottle with the vitamins mixed in.  (They weren't taking much milk in their bottles yet at the time, so the taste was pretty strong.)  We give them .5 cc twice a day in their bottles so it's not so strong for them and haven't had any problems since.

schenkertobe

We were discharge from the NICU with polyvisol w/ iron. My LO was anemic, so we had to give him an iron supplement, the iron in BM was not enough. We gave the vitamin with iron until he was around 8 weeks I think, at which time he had repeat bloodwork and his iron was fine. At that time I stopped the polyvitamin.

According to my pedi, all the other vitamins in poly-vi-sol, with the exception of vitamin D, just get peed out. He said there is no need for them. So, once we were done the iron we switched to D-vi-sol which is only vitamin D and doesn't taste awful. 

Check with your pedi, but I bet it is the iron that your LO needs, preemies tend to be anemic. 

sucrets4

Same here, we were instructed to give them when we were discharged and DD still gets them.  They were (are) gross, but now she sucks them down and opens up for it!

My word of advice is to give it in the tub!  After they stained clothes, bibs, and burp cloths, I was at my wits end.  My mom suggested giving it in the tub and it was a lifesaver!  We still do it to this day, although we might switch to a gummy vit soon (asking at her 18m appt).  GL!

Wally3

Yes - give them. We were never told to give DS vitamins and he ended up anemic and in the hospital.  He then took starti iron drops and once he was cleared on multivitamin with iron ever since.

adrielegorburu

My LO gets it also - we do .5ccs twice a day to lesson the taste.  I mix it in with her BM bottles also.  At first I would give it with half the bottle and then finish with half a bottle of straight BM.  I thought it would get rid of any aftertaste that smelly vitamin would leave but I got tired of washing so many bottles so she gets it mixed in with a full bottle.  She seems to be OK with it but she spits up more on the Poly V bottles.

st.augbride

We've been giving this to ds from the beginning and he still gets it. We mix it with his bottle and he takes it just fine that way.

kaylaaimee

Yup, we were just allowed to stop giving it to S and she is almost a year old. She was also on .5cc per day. Preemies often can't make enough iron on their own, your pedi will do a heel stick to test iron levels and then tell you when you can DC the vitamins. Don't just stop it on your own!

damabo80

Yep. I mix it with about an ounce of BM (and I throw her reflux meds in there too). Thankfully she sucks it down quite well.

Use a bib though...the dribbles stain clothes!