[Bookworm?]

Hi all. I lurk here often but haven't started a thread. I am so thrilled that there are so many other 'crazy breastfeeding ladies' like me. Anyway, we had a county breastfeeding support task force meeting today. An article was passed around about rickets and the one doctor(ped) on the task force said she recomends vitamins starting at 1 mo for all breastfed babies. She's a fairly new doctor and although she isn't super crunchy she's at least breastfeeding friendly enough to come to task force meetings. I also know her as an acquaintence on a personal level. She said vitamins are part of the AAP guidelines. In all of my other training I've been told that healthy breastfed babies do not need vitamins, specifically Vit D unless they have certain risk factors. I would like this doctor to be aware of this without being the 'crazy' who contradicts everything the doc says. She seems willing to learn, but I know it would be hard for her to recommend something other than what the AAP says. Anybody have or know of any credible sources that says Vit are unneccesary. I know the LLL sources and feel that she believes the AAP trumps LLL. Any new research in this area I should be aware of?
Thanks ladies. I think you are all doing wonderful things and I love visiting this board.

 

[jeanine123]

Maybe this link will help. It has tons of info as well as references at the bottom. http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vi...vitamin-d.html

 

[wonderwahine]

I've never given ds (now 13mths old and still bfing) vitamins, nor been told to. We have a county health nurse visit us every 2 weeks, and shes never suggested it either.

 

[nyxx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bookworm? She seems willing to learn, but I know it would be hard for her to recommend something other than what the AAP says. Anybody have or know of any credible sources that says Vit are unneccesary.

here's a WHO recommendation:

Vitamin deficiencies are generally rare in exclusively breastfed infants, but when the mothers' diets are deficient, their infants may have low intakes of certain vitamins (such as vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12). In these situations, improving the mother's diet or giving her supplements is the recommended treatment, rather than providing complementary foods to the infant. Vitamin D deficiency may occur among infants who do not receive much exposure to sunlight, but giving vitamin D drops directly to the infant generally prevents this.
(...)
maternal malnutrition can affect the concentrations of certain nutrients in breast milk (particularly the vitamins). Improvement of the mother's diet is normally the first choice, but when this is insufficient, consumption of fortified products or vitamin-mineral supplements during lactation can help ensure adequate nutrient intake by the infant and enhance the mother's nutritional status (Huffman et al., 1998).

http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-...principles.pdf

 

[wonderwahine]

after reding what the pp posted, I do always get asked if I'm still taking my prenatals........and the nurse asked if ds was getting some sunlight exposure when he was younger, but drops never came up.

 

[siobhang]

a couple of threads about this in the past

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...light=Trivisol

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...light=Trivisol

Basically, if you read the CDC report, buried in there it says that Vitamin D supplementation is not necessary if baby gets 20 minutes of direct sunlight (not through glass) a day - 1x in the am and 1x in the pm is fine.

Iron stores are fine until 6 months in healthy women (and often beyond). And no other nutritients are really worried about.

 

[Nisupulla]

Just in case you didn't see this link earlier:

http://www.mothering.com/articles/ne...eficiency.html

 

[Bookworm?]

Thanks for all the great info. I should have known to check out kellymom firtst. I was going to just email info to the ped, but I think I'll send it to everyone who was there yesterday just as an FYI. None of my kids have had vitamin supplement and their doc hasn't suggested it. Ugh. Why cant' the AAP get it write? Thanks again.

 

[eepster]

I actually do give the vitamin D to DS. Not just b/c AAP says to but b/c DS has a somewhat dark complexion and we don't get alot of sun.

When the AAP sets up a policy they don't like to have different ones for african-americans living in Alaska than swedish-americans living in florida. So they make a blanket recomendation even though it doesn't apply to 75% of parents b/c it's very important to the 25% who need the vitamin D (BTW I just made up these numbers so don't quote them.)

 

[Bookworm?]

I understand their need to make a blanket statement to ensure everyone is covered. I just think it's then up to the doctor and parents of course to decide if a particular situation warrants Vitamin spplements. To tell every mother their milk is deficient and their baby needs vitamins without giving information about other sources of Vit D seems unprofessional to me. I did read that some feel it's unethical to encourage parents to expose their kids to sunshine without protection. This is ridiculous to me. It's like recomending no baths without a lifejacket. It might be unethical to suggest a child be in the water without protection. I trust that most parents can responsibly expose their kids to a healthy amount of sunshine. Anyway, I'm hoping this doctor might take my comments and links into consideration.