2 1/2 Month Old on Poly-vi-sol

That would make me wonder how much of a kickback he's getting for promoting it. We (people) draw most of the vitamin D we need from the sun - providing we're not constantly slathered in sunblock. Here is a helpful link explaining all from the Mayo clinic :]
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d/NS_patient-vit...

I have solely breastfed both of my babies and they are very healthy.
If you are concerned about vit. D, get them outside everyday (without sunscreen) for at least 10 min. and they will get all the vit. D. they need.

BTW...my pediatrician suggested the same but I did research and decided against that recommendation.

In the winter months, my family is supplementing with Vit. D drops (b/c of lack of sunshine) to help ward off the FLU.
Carlson's brand is my favorite.
iherb.com is a good website for inexpensive supplements.

You are a wise mama, A..
Let us know what you decide.

My first son was on Poly vi sol as well. But my peditrician told me the American Association of Pediatrics have changed their stance in the last year or so and now recommend breastfed babies only need Vitamin D supplement(not everything else that comes w/ Poly vi sol). My 6 month old is breastfed and is taking "Just D". It's hard to find in Tulsa but Saffa Pharmacy at 81st & Sheridan sells it.

Trust your initial instincts!!! Just because he is a pediatrician doesn't make him always right. Trust your gut and do what you know is best for him. Breast milk is one of the best things a kid can have!!!!

Momma instincts are always correct. You are right - unless there is a medically predetermined need for your son to have vitamins, then he will be JUST FINE exclusively breastfeeding. Make sure your nutrition is as good as it can possibly be - continue taking a very high quality vitamin yourself, drink lots of water and GET RID OF THE BABY VITAMINS and I have a feeling your son will return to his happy self. Feel free to private message me if you have further questions - as a mom of 4, I've been there! :)

If you think your son is not responding well to it, stop giving him the drops. Listen to your gut and mama instinct. A 2.5 month old babies system is not ready to handle strong vits when they're exclusivly breast fed in my opinion. Don't let his ped scare you into giving them to him. It was suggested about a year ago that BF babies get vit D. Until then everyone was happy!

I would seek a second opinion. Why would he tell you that breast milk lacks essential nutrients? Normal breast milk contains EVERYTHING a baby needs.

Vit. D ia absolutely recommended for breastfed newborns. It is not some kickback or quack. Check out the American Academy of Pediatrics website for recommendations. Vit D is important for the immune system, and most adults are even deficient and need supplements (but don't know it). That being said, I HATE POLY VI SOL!!! I forced it on my first child, because I didn't know any different. With our current baby, I was so frustrated with staining her clothes brown because she always tried to spit it out that I searched a little for alternatives and found a great one! Carlson's vit. D drops are what I found on amazon.com. They only contain vit D., which is all your breastfed baby needs for now, per my pediatrician friend. They are colorless, tasteless, and the best part is you only need 1 tiny drop!!! You can drop it on your nipple, a pacifier, or even straight into their mouth. My infant doesn't even notice it at all! It's really great stuff. I thought it seemed a little more expensive until I realized that there are 365 doses in a bottle, compared to I think 60 in poly-vi-sol. SO much better, and it makes me feel good to know she's covered. Check it out on amazon and read the reviews. PS (You can't really take a small baby out in the sun long enough until they are older without risk of burning them since you have to be without sunscreen to make vit. D from the sun.)

If it's the iron, you can get poly-vi-sol with or without iron. My kids were breastfed and did fine without additional vitamins, but that was 15 plus years ago, so it might be something new they are recommending.

I never heard of this, and you should absolutely not hurt your child because of some quack. I never gave any vitamins to my kids, both breatfed, and they never had problems, nor was I ever told to give them anything. Did you know that doctors often get kickbacks from drug companies for prescribing their products? If you are truly anxious, get a second opinion.

It has gotten to be routine with most doctors to suggest that you give a bf baby vitamin D. My doctor told me that I needed to with my youngest but I never did. Just kept taking vitaimins and making sure she got sun. She is two and a half now and bf for 14 months and seems to be just fine.

I have never heard of ny child needing a supplement while nursing. You should contact the la leche league for advice or the hospital you had your baby at should have a breastfeeding consultant. I would just start consuming more vitamin d and your baby will get everything he needs that way. If you were starving yourself and could not get proper nutrition that would be another issue. God designed us to be able to feed our children and never has that been as easy as it is today. Think back to the time of no groacery stores...no poly vi sol!
All the best
By the by you are his Mom and you know best!

My dad says you should just deal with constipation like a mathematician and work it out with a pencil.

ha!

best advice you ever got, right, A.? :D

your loving sister-in-law,
Jo

Trust your instincts! Mama's know what is best for our babies. 10 minutes of sunshine is what we all need to get our Vitamin D. The reason why drs are trying to encourage supplements is because most kids stay cooped up indoors in front of the tv or video games. The best source of VITAMIN D is sunlight! :)

Hi, A.. It looks like you've recieved plenty of opinions about vitamins on here, but I wanted to suggest that you research other things that could be causing your little guy gas and fussiness. Around that age, my daughter was acting the same way without any supplements. After exhaustive research I found that I had overactive milk production because I was doing extra pumping and saving of breastmilk throughout the day. I had very forceful (and painful) letdown that caused her to choke and not want to eat. I found a list of symptoms and all of them fit her. After I changed a few things, everything was blissful! So, if you have some extra time check that out. I found the LLL website the most helpful. Hope he feels better soon! Good luck!

Did your pediatrician do a blood test to find the vitamin deficiency? I'm certainly not a doctor but I did bf my son without supplements and he is very healthy. I would just continue breastfeeding, take your prenatals, and skip the extra vitamins for the baby. You are right to trust your instincts--breastmilk does have everything the baby needs. If your pediatrician is uninformed about this I would seek out another. And yes, 20 minutes of sunlight a week will be plenty of Vitamin D. Best wishes and enjoy your lovely baby!

Check out this link for more info: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/vitamin-d.html

With my first two girls I was never told to give them a vitamin (and they are only 4 and 2) since I was breastfeeding. But with my son who is 3 months old, they told me to give him the same stuff when we went in for his 2 month check. I never got the script filled because I thought it was odd. I don't know if this is a new guideline or something that only my doctors here do. But if your son isn't handling it well and you feel kinda iffy on it then stop. I haven't done too much research on it, just because I really don't think it's necessary. My girls are thriving and so is my son. So why mess up a good thing? I would maybe ask your doctor why he has to take it at his 4 month check, even if you have stopped giving it, just to see what the doctor says. You can always change your mind on giving it to him, but I would go with your gut.

Breast milk should have everything your baby needs! As long as you are eating healthy. Also I would still be taking your prenatals...that will give you and your baby all the iron you need. Is the fact that you are breast feeding the only reason your ped told you to do this? If this is the case then it sounds to me like your ped is anti breast feeding.

Oh and all you have to do is get your baby out in the sun to give him Vitamin D.

A.,
It sounds like you have gotten alot of the same advice. I'm in agreement with many. If you feel your baby was thriving well before vitamins, just go back to exclusive breastfeeding. Take baby outside for a walk or just place baby near a window with the sunshine streaming in. Try it natural and don't under estimate your own instinct. You sound like you are doing good for your baby, breastfeeding. I tried to do so for my babies as long as possible. Good Luck!
S.

poly-vi-sol has iron in it which may be messing his little system up. I'm surprised she started him on it so early! You might switch him to a tri-vi-sol. I don't know how much vitamin d it has, but it wouldn't have the iron.

i had the same problem with my first son and he had a wonderful routine of poopy diapers and then my babies doctor told me to give him the vitamins and he ended up with colick. i suggest to stop them and let him get back to normal and the start back up but only give him like a single drop or 2 and slowly go back up to a full dropper of it.but span it out to about 2 or 3 months so that it doesnt hurt his belly so bad like it is right now. after he is about 6 to 7 months old they will be getting enough vitamins from his food that he wont need the poly-vi-sol. good luck. it helped my son so hopefully it will help you too.

A., it seems that you have gotten alot of feedback. I have two children that were both breastfed. My son is three and my daughter is 20 months. Our peditrician did recommend Poly-vi-sol with both. Because our diets have changed dramatically we no longer produce enough iron or vit D to pass on. My son was fine without them but my daughter needed the extra iron so we moved on to fer-in-sol. I am sure that your little one is just adjusting to something new in his stomach. It you choose to take a supplement of Vit D and spend some time in the sun it may be enough. It is possible for you little man to be well without them. Use your judgement as a mother. It is founded and can be researched on the La Leche League website: www.llli.org/resources

You say mothers have been breastfeeding their babies for thousands of years and the babies have been growing up just fine - well, no, that's not true. They had all sorts of diseases and definciencies like rickets that we now know how to prevent. Please do not deprive your baby of vitamin D - it is very important. Mine didn't have any trouble with poly-vi-sol (in fact she loves it!) but if you are having problems with it you might try another brand. Mention the symptoms to the pediatrician and ask if he or she can recommend a different brand or if he thinks something else may be causing the gas, etc. Wow, I'm surprised at many of the responses saying they had never heard of doing this! I thought it was common knowledge that breastfed babies need vitamin D supplements. Every pediatrician I know recommends them (the exam rooms at mine and others I know have signs posted) and every child-care book and parenting magazine say this.

I've nursed two babies for over a year and didn't give them any supplement vitamins. I continued taking my prenatal vitamins, which should be all you need to do. I don't see why he wouldn't be getting the appropriate Vit. D from you unless you have a deficiency in that area. Good Luck :)

First, let me say that my son was not breast fed since he was an adopted baby. He took vitamins with his formula. My son had a LOT of problems with constipation. His poop looked like rabbit poop - small hard balls that literally rolled off his diaper.

Now, have you talked to your doctor about the constipation and gas? It could be that it is coming from another source.

An old remedy, which works, for constipation is Karo syrup mixed with juice or water. My baby was a summer baby in the south. The doctor said he didn't recommend water but I gave him water between feedings primarily because of the heat. I mixed a small amount of Karo in it. Once I started doing this, the constipation cleared up. I never gave him a pacifier but instead gave him a small bottle of water when he had the need to continue to suckle after his formula.

Vitamins are given to babies to combat the nutrition issues that babies have had for thousands of years. Their bodies (like ours) will discard any vitamins they don't need.

Your doctor is your trusted ally. Talk to him. It could be that a different vitamin may be needed.

My son was exactly the same way, and I quit giving him the drops. I breastfed my son exclusively till he was 1 and he has been the healthiest baby I've ever seen, even without the vitamins. Just make sure you are eating right and taking your vitamins, and he will be just fine!

I would try the tri-vi-sol. It has vitamin D, A and C. With one of children the pediatrian said poly and another child it was tri. There is iron in the poly-vi-sol to stabilize one of the B vitamins.

Mylicon is great for gas.

I was also given the same advice for the vit D. I tried for many days to get my daugther to swallow the stuff but she would not take it. After researching the matter I determined that she did not need it. I simply made a point to get her outside every day. Only 10-15 min are required (without sunscreen). At the time she was a young baby in winter in ID, so it was very cold. But you do not need to expose the whole body, simply remove the baby's cap. The exposure to her head and face was sufficient. Best of luck to whatever you decide.
PS the sun is also good for mom's overall well-being.

Talk to the doctor about sunlight. If vitamin D is what he needs, daily exposure to sunlight will give it to him. See if you can do that instead of the vitamins. Good luck!

The best way to get any vitamin or mineral is the natural way, the way God intended. For most things this is food. For babies it is breastmilk, and for everyone the best way to get vitamin D is through direct sunlight. You need about 10 minutes a day of direct sunlight sans sunscreen to stimulate your body to produce enough vitamin D.

As it gets colder it is harder to take small baby out in the sun, but you ca do it a few minutes at a time. If you never take your kids outside, they need vitamin D supplements. But everyone needs fresh air and sunlight, even babies!

Hi, A. - I have to agree with most of the other responses. My Dr. never suggested any additional vitamins while I was breast feeding my son - breast milk should have everything your baby needs. If you're still unsure, I would seek a 2nd opinion.

First, take that medicine and flush it. Did the baby act sick or was the child sickly? It seems as if this would be like taking an antibiotic for a common cold. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it. You need to check with your pharmacist about those kind of medicine. Even that name sounds sinister.
T. S.

I was not advised by our pediatrician to give any vit D supplement to my newborns, nor have I heard my friends giving it to their's.

I think the vitamin you are giving has Iron that causes constipation. We also gave that to my twins for some time, but when I put them on 50% formula and 50% breastmilk, I stopped that polyvisol.

Please consult your pediatrician before you stop or continue and ask him specifically why he recommended it to your baby ... is he anemic?

A.,

I nursed both of my children and neither of their pediatricians ever told me to do this. Unless you are on some special diet that will stop you from producing Vitamin D, I would get a second opinion. In fact, when I did a Google search on the drug, I found a warning to pregnant and nursing mothers to consult with their doctors before taking the vitamin. It said nothing about giving it to children.

I would talk to a doctor and if I were you, I would stop giving him the poly-vi-sol. I would make sure my baby and I got out in the sun, so our bodies can make Vitamin D naturally and just keep nursing your son without the Poly-vi-sol. You are giving your son a huge gift. Neither of my children get sick as often or as frequently as my friends children who were never nursed.

Enjoy your baby! It gets hard sometimes, but it is all worth it!

Hi A.,
I had never heard of this, and I have had 4 children. My doctor did I think recommend vitamin supplements in general, but never seemed pushy about them. He more strongly recommended them when my babies started having weight issues, but I was never good at remembering to give them every day. :) Because I have no experience in this issue, it is interesting to me to see the number of conflicting responses you got. I looked up the question on La Leche League, and here is the article from there: http://www.llli.org/FAQ/vitamin.html It gives you the risk factors that would require you to give your baby the vitamin D supplement. But if you don't have the risk factors, they don't seem to recommend it. They also mention that many other mothers complain of the same symptoms your baby is having.
I also looked up the issue on the Academy of Pediatricians website and here is that link: http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/ped...
They do recommend the vitamin supplements. My best guess is that every pediatrician is going to have a different take on this. It seems to me that the recommendation for it is a bit over-reaching, basically treating everyone to try to avoid the bad consequences of a vitamin D deficiency (which are out there) rather than treating based on risk factors. But, that is my personal opinion.
At the very least, I would recommend talking to your pediatrician about it again. Make sure you explain the symptoms. It is very possible that he will feel that the vitamins are not worth the bad side effects if your son is not handling them well. Or he may be able to recommend a different type.

The other option is to have him in the sun for a few minutes every day. I don't think it has to be long and it can be indirect sunlight. Talk to your doctor about this as an option. And get a second opinion if he won't budge. A breastfeeding friendly doctor may be able to better support you. Yea for breastfeeding, btw.

so, some of the responses on here make me mad enough to spit nails. if you don't know the reason behind it, you shouldn't make nasty comments like that. that being said, vit d is very important to the immune system. it has also been proven that low vit d levels in kids is a major contributor to developing juvenile diabetes. so do a little research before you believe just anything. the different brand of vit c drops sounds like a perfect compromise to me. also, i mixed my son's with something else, juice, or even in a bottle of milk so that it diluted it because he didn't like the taste. good luck.