joeyjo

I have been advised by the hospital here to give my baby vitamin D drops because in summer the sun us too strong for him to be out in it and in the winter its far too cold to expose his skin enough to the sun.

I have a little dropper bottle and am meant to give him 4 drops a day for the first year from age 3-4 weeks...

Is this also recommended elsewhere?

How do you give the vitsmin?

I dropped just 2 drops in his mouth today and he really cried, worse than I've ever heard him, it was the first time he actually had tears, I feel so mean and I can't believe I'm expected to give him this every morning

Komatsu

We're advised to do this here aswell . The drops I have you only have to put one drop on your nipple and let them suckle .

mommyof3co

I've heard of dr's saying that before, I personally declined them. Hayden was never low on anything. Just a little sun exposure everyday is plenty, they don't have to be out there for hours or anything like that. I think it's up to you really, I didn't think it was needed and it wasn't for Hayden

celine

Aww We are advised to do it here too hun, Vit D 10 drops for the first year and vit K 5 drops for 3 months...tbh we give the K first cos its vile and then the D its not too bad, I have 3 everyday too cos the health lady said my multivit didnt cover enough.

Cheesepuff

We were also adviced to give them once a day. OH does it every morning during his nappy change and he doesn't seem to mind them. He just drops them straight into his mouth

Twist

Yup, I was told that if you BF you need to supplement with Vit D (they put it in formula so you don't have to if you FF). At first my LO didn't like it (I give her 1 ml. a day with a dropper) But now she really likes it and gobbles it up. I tasted it and personally think it is gross, but I guess when all you get is milk a change is nice now and then. Hopefully your LO will come to like it as well.

Also, at first when she had difficulty taking it i found it help to mix it with a bottle of milk, only thing is that if they don't finish the bottle you don't know how much they took in.

ryder

Yes, most doctors recommend it here... It definately will not hurt your baby by any means. Its a precaution and to me if your putting all your work into bfing, why not? Jaundiced babies are a pain to have to feed.

mommyof3co

Here is some info on it...breastfed babies rarely actually need a vitamin d supplement. Sure you can do it as a precaution that's fine of course, I personally didn't want to give them anything at all besides breastmilk, we also almost never do any medications either so it's all with that.

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vi...vitamin-d.html

kirsten1985

I FF so don't supplement, however both my parents have MS and since Vit D is meant to help prevent this, I am on quite a large dose every day. I think it depends where you live, as Vit D is found in sunlight, so if you live somewhere like the UK you won't be getting much of it! I will be giving Freya Vit D when she comes off formula.

ryder

its a natural supplement... lots of babies dont need it but im not sure why people should be deterred from it?