TriViSol drops - Vitamin D?

[Truckerdoo]

Hey all,

My doctor apparently advises patients who exclusively breast feed to give their babies 1 ml of Vitamin D drops (sold as TriViSol) every day.

My baby is 5 mos old and I am just finding out about this. I kind of think its weird and also kind of am like, "What for, why would he need that?"

Does anyoen else give Vit D drops, do you have opinions on them, etc?

Thanks!

[AllyRae]

My ped never told me to do this, and our baby was born in the winter plus is allergic to dairy and so she doesn't get vitamin d milk (6 years ago, my ped at the time *did* tell me to give them to my son, who was also born in the winter). Of course, now dd just gets natural vitamin d from being outside, so maybe that's an option? : I think the main concern is rickets, so if your child is getting vitamin D from the sun, I would imagine that is fine...

[blumooned]

We were recommended to give those, too. (Actually we were recommended PolyViSol - just has more vitamins.) They are messy, taste terrible, & stain. I read the ingredients & was very disappointed to see artificial colors & flavors. Plus, it's not just D - the Tri is A, C, & D; poly has even more.
We switched to Carlson Baby D Drops - they're just D, no flavor, no mess, easy to give, & no extra ingredients.
Btw - I found these for cheaper, I just used Amazon to show you the product.

[AllyRae]

Ah Erin, I didn't know those existed!! I'm going to have to remember that for when October comes around.

[Jayray]

My ped sells something called "Just D" I think by Sunlight vitamins or something like that. I have been very lazy about giving them to DS, but if I think of it, I do. If we've been out in the sun that day, I don't worry about it. I also take a D supplement and he loves dairy, so I don't worry too much about it.

[omelette]

I gave Vit D to both my kids. I had it compounded at a pharmacy so it was just VitD and olive oil.

[ShwarmaQueen]

I like the Carlson ones. No funky odor or grimace when he tastes it. Just a drop on my nipple, latch baby, and voila! Easy.

[desamom]

As an FYI, TriViSol and PolyViSol are both made by Enfamil.

Here is what kellymom.com has to say about Vitamin D:
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/vitamin-d.html

I am pretty sure Dr Newman has information on this as well, but not sure where to find it on his website.

Our naturopath recommended Vitamin D for both my daughter and I. We use Genestra D-Mulsion 400. They are drops that taste like lemon and my daughter loves taking them. I have not been using them now that we are spending a lot of time outside every day.

[MamieCole]

My pediatrician, (whom I love for her breastfeeding advocacy but otherwise am just "meh" about her) wrote a prescription for vitamins for ds2 at his 6mo well check. Her reasoning was that he's been getting all the vitamins he needs from me up until this point, but after 6 months that diminishes ad he needs supplements. I smiled, tossed the script in my bag and didn't fill it.

[marge234]

We use the Carlson's drops too. I didn't follow ped's advice re other supplements. Unfortunately, DS's iron was low (at 10 mos) and now we're supplementing with that.

[wombatclay]

We use the "just D" BabyD drops. You put a drop on your nipple before nursing and that's it!

There's some interesting research coming out regarding vitamin d (basically saying that vit d deficiency causes a lot of problems before you reach dramatic symptoms like rickets, and that the current cutoff for "deficient" is inaccurate) so everyone in my family takes D to round out our local, whole food, diet and moderate daily sun. I'm certainly not worried about rickets, and we're not really into "supplements", but from what I've researched the balance seems to fall in favor of keeping vitamin d levels above baseline.

~~~~~~~~~~
In case anyone is curious, the vit d research is hitting a lot of areas, but of interest to me are things like:

Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Primary Cesarean Section
Vol. 94, No. 3 940-945
-- basically found that the lower the vit d levels, the higher the risk of a primary c/s (up to four times higher risk for women with the lowest d levels, after controlling for other factors).

Metabolism
Hypovitaminosis D in obese children and adolescents: relationship with adiposity, insulin sensitivity, ethnicity, and season.
2008 Feb;57(2):183-91.
--found that a lot more young people are deficient than expect, and that there seems to be a link between low levels of D and increased risk for impaired glucose metabolism

Scandinavian Journal of Immunology
The complex role of vitamin D in autoimmune diseases
2008 Sep;68(3):261-9.
--seems like there may be a strong link between vit d levels and autoimmune disorders, with low levels of vit d leading to impaired immune response and increased risk of developing things like RA or MS.

Just go to PubMed and plug in Vitamin D Deficiency... it's actually pretty fascinating! Well, imo anyway.

[colsxjack]

Your baby can get all the vitamins they need from breast milk EXCEPT vitamin D. (that is if the baby is feeding well and the Mum is healthy).
Breast fed babies should either take Vit. D or get out in the sun. Most people of all ages do not get enough vitamin D. We either do not spend time in the sun or we wear too much sunscreen. As the PP stated, vitamin D deficiency can be quite serious and causes problems well before rickets.

2/3 of people in the north and Canada are deficient, and about 1/3 of people in the south are deficient.

Vitamin D is good for tooth and bone growth. Deficiencies can lead to bone pain and fractures, and osteoporosis. Studies have shown deficiencies to be a factor in MS, depression, hypertension, cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and arthritis.

You can only get vitamin D naturally from the sun, eggs and fish. Vitamin D in dairy is a supplement added to the dairy during processing because of a historic rate of vit. D deficiencies.

We give our DD a vit. d drop every day. My wife and I also take a supplement when we remember.

[pbjmama]

Your doc probably recommends it because the AAP recommends it for all breastfed babies, as does the CDC.

[busymama77]

This has become recommended for ALL babies - EBF, partially BF'ed, or FF. It's something new and I just found out about it last Friday. We're giving DS#2 Enfamil TriViSol Vitamin D drops once a day per our Ped.

[Truckerdoo]

Originally Posted by colsxjack

Deficiencies can lead to bone pain and fractures, and osteoporosis. Studies have shown deficiencies to be a factor in MS, depression, hypertension, cancer, Type 2 diabetes, and arthritis.

Apparently there it has also suggested it might be connected to the Big A:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...n-d-and-autism

Thanks for the info! I started him on the Carlson Baby D drops yesterday.

[lucy_v]

Originally Posted by blumooned

We switched to Carlson Baby D Drops - they're just D, no flavor, no mess, easy to give, & no extra ingredients.
Btw - I found these for cheaper, I just used Amazon to show you the product.

blumooned, could you share where you found them cheaper?

[Carita]

look cheap here, but idk about shipping
http://www.vitacost.com/Carlson-Vita...F-088395019005

[Ammaarah]

Carlson's are great. I gave the TriViSol to my daughter and she would spit it up, but when my new little one comes later this year, I'll give the Carlson's. I give it to my 4.5-year-old now and it's just a teeny flavorless drop.

ETA: I think supplementing with D is a good idea for pretty much anyone.

[tzs]

wow.....i'm glad you all posted. i had quit the drops since the weather had been getting nicer, i'm going to get some more tomorrow.
thanks!

[blumooned]

Originally Posted by lucy_v

blumooned, could you share where you found them cheaper?

Originally Posted by Carita

look cheap here, but idk about shipping
http://www.vitacost.com/Carlson-Vita...F-088395019005

That's where I got them - through Vitacost. Their shipping is $4.99, so I usually just order enough stuff at once to justify the added cost. They have a lot of stuff for much less than in regular stores.
One thing, though, I read that there is a sort-of-scam attached to their website. After you place your order, there's a link to click that says you qualify for free shipping; if you click, it takes you to another site that somehow charges your credit card again. Just don't click any extra links, and you're fine though. I've ordered lots from them & have never clicked through & have never been doubly charged.
HTH!