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View Full Version : do you supplement your baby, and with what?



Franksmammy
May 2nd, 2011, 08:49 PM
i've always been pretty chilled out with my diet, i eat a varied diet get more than my 5 a day and feel healthy in general. never really worried in pregnancy, nor till now.

but past few days i seem to be fretting about weather my little one (6 months) is getting all he needs from me.
he is yet to eat anything.
a book of 'useful' advice i was given by my health visiting team state that from newborn breastfed infants should get vitamin d supplement...i had never heard of this, nor have i supplemented him. and it states from 6 months breastfed babies /formula drinkers under Xounces a day should have vitamin drops. it has a section about vegan babies/children and makes a huge fuss about it.

i only recently discovered the extreme importance of vitamin b12 i swear there wasn't that vast ammount of information regarding its importance when i went vegan, i haven't supplemented but i do think i get the reccomended daily allowance from fortified foods/milk. however i have ordered the vegan society veg1 supplement to make sure, but where does baby stand on the vitamin b12 front?

do you supplement your baby.
where are vitamin drops available and are they vegan?
advice and opinions welcomed!

Firestorm
May 2nd, 2011, 09:18 PM
Hi
I really wouldn't want to make any recommendations not being a parent myself, but these drops may be of some use to you:http://www.superliving.co.uk/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&category_id=88&flypage=flypage.tpl&manufacturer_id=1&page=shop.product_details&product_id=684&Itemid=45&vmcchk=1&Itemid=45

This is a link to the vegan societies page on parenting (which itself contains links to other good sites): http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/parenting/

Hope this is of some help:)

VeganZee
May 3rd, 2011, 05:34 PM
My daughter is three and from when I started weaning I gave her B12 drops - the brand I use is vitasorb and I actually did ring the manufacturers and get their advice re amount - they said 5 drops daily in food. I buy them from bodykind.com. When my daughter was a year old I started giving her one Junior biocap every other day in her food. Again i rang them to get their advice and I buy these from Bodykind too. Once my daughter got to about 2 and a half I started giving her one of these capsules every day. when she was one I started putting half a teaspoon of flax oil in her food daily. I moved this up to a full teaspoon quite recently. And i often give her a teaspoon of black treacle daily. I also give her vitasorb vit C drops (not that I think she needs them with all the fruit she eats but she had quite a run of colds a while back) and I give her Vitasorb Vit A mainly because the Junior Biocap I give her for some reason does not contain vitamin a. Not sure why! The Junior biocaps are good because they do contain vit D and also iodine. If you are still breastfeeding then you need to be sure you are taking B12 and kelp supplements and possibly Vit D too. If I think of anything else I will let you know, but I think that is about it. Hope this helps! :)

Veryblue2
May 4th, 2011, 01:54 AM
Hi Franksmammy,

For our breastfed little one who is nearly 12 months now we have been using:

abidec drops (A, B1/2/3/6, C, D2) since 3 months - when the chance of him getting his D from his little amount of sun exposure started to reduce at the start of September last year
biocare vitasorb B12 drops since 6 months - the amount in breast milk depends on the mothers levels... have you had yours checked?
spatone iron* from 6 months - this is when the NHS recommend breastfed babies start to have a 'reliable' source of iron as it begins to deplete in breast milk from 6 months onwards.

The alternative to direct supplementation is to always go for the fortified food/drink option when available (which is of course more hit and miss depending on the amount going in! lol). So things like...

calcium fortified pure orange/multi-vitamin tropical juice (e.g. tropicana) over non-fortified juices [diluted with water 10 to 1, only at meal times and don't put iron in otherwise (particularly calcium) fortified drinks]
readybrek (iron, B12, calcium) over non-fortified porridge, opting for rice krispies (iron, B12) and other fortified cereals
occasional low salt yeast extract (iron, B12)/tahini (calcium) on toast
nutritional yeast (B12) based sauces on pasta etc.
alpro yogurt (B12, D2) and also 'Junior 1+' soya milk (iron, calcium, B1/2/12, C, D2, E) in cooking... careful though it's very sweet! :p

I try to make sure there is something with some B12 in for both of us daily.

We went for a minimal/back-up approach (as I am taking supplements also) to complement any fortified food/drink he consumes. So he has a single days dose once a week (D/B12) and 5ml/1/4 sachet (iron*) every other day.

From 12 months though, we plan to go on to biocare kids complete complex now that we can guarantee he will eat a set amount of alpro yogurt/other semi-solid carrier most days and so can sprinkle it on.

Hope this helps! :D

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Links...
abidec: http://www.abidec.com/drops.htm (various online places and local chemists stock it e.g. boots currently have it for £3.05 and on 3 for 2)
biocare vitasorb B12: http://www.health4youonline.com/health_supplements_biocare_b256.htm (£4.69 with free p&p)
spatone*: http://www.nelsonsnaturalworld.com/en-gb/uk/our-brands/spatone/ (again, various online sellers and local chemists will have it e.g. boots currently sell it for £7.49 and it's on 3 for 2)
biocare kids complete complex: http://www.health4youonline.com/health_supplements_biocare_kids_complete_b350150.h tm (£4.69 with free p&p)
alpro 'Junior 1+' soya milk: http://www.alprosoya.co.uk/soya-products/juniormilk.html?no_cache=1

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*Note on spatone: it is sold as 'Suitable for adults and children over the age of 2 years' as it's in 20ml sachets. Quarter of one (i.e. 5ml) has 1.25mg of elemental iron. However they suggest 5ml has a potential max absorption of 3.5mg, due to the bioavailability of the product. Sandra Hood in Feeding Your Vegan Infant with Confidence: a Practical Guide from Pre-conception Through to Pre-school (2005, p. 59) suggests the RDI for 1-3 yr/old vegans is 1.9 mg. So... to be on the safe side (as iron overdose can also be an issue), we give 5ml every other day which averages out at 1.75mg/day at max absorption. :zzz::zzz::D

Franksmammy
May 20th, 2011, 09:29 PM
thankyou so much for all the advice!! sorry for the delay i thought i got email notifications to my phone but i didnt on this thread, so i thought no one had replied, i just came online out of chance today, your all so helpful, thankyou, i didn't realise some of the ones you veryblue2 listed were vegan i am going to check boots tomorrow for them. i got sent on a wild goose chase by my health store advisor who was adament there was no completely vegan vitamin drops available in the uk :S
anyway i really appreciate the advice and sorry for the delay!

Franksmammy
May 26th, 2011, 06:52 PM
just popped back to see if anyone had tips for giving all the supplements


i bought the things you suggested veryblue2 i'm waiting on the b12 arriving but both the spatone and abidec have a horrible taste, i gave the abidec in syringe back of mouth and he didn't mind, the iron i put in water but hes not a fan of water and just spat it out.

i was wondering if i put them all, the abidec, spatone and the b12 in one syringe maybe with a tad of orange juice to take away the taste would that be safe? i'm not sure with the mixing...
but that seems like the easiest way to get it down him.

thanks in advance for any tips!

Franksmammy
May 26th, 2011, 07:12 PM
double post! said it didn't send!

psychocandy
Jun 7th, 2011, 07:44 AM
hi, is the spatone those satchets? do you have to give a whole one to your baby? i remember the taste of those when i took them in preganancy, i had mine with orange juice...... i think i'd add some juice to it.. have to tried him/her with a beaker/sippy cup with it? not sure about mixing them hope someone else can help i never used many supplements in one go with my two before...hope you found a solution anyway! :)

Veryblue2
Jun 18th, 2011, 06:18 AM
Sorry I haven't posted back sooner!

Franksmammy, the little man got used to abidec syringe really quickly and I don't find the taste too bad now either! He has it and then the B12 drops just before going in his evening bath. For the spatone, I make up his small cup of breakfast fruit juice (e.g. pure orange juice diluted with water approx. 10 to 1) and then squirt the 5ml and stir it in there. If he doesn't drink it all in one go I put it in the fridge for later meals.

It is not recommended to mix the vitamin D and B12 (or anything other than vitamin C) with the iron as they can affect each others absorption rates. I recall that my endocrinologist checked into it all for me whilst I was pregnant and recommended that I stagger my thyroxine, iron and D/calcium over the course of the day.

Psychocandy, I give a whole sachet of spatone over the course of a week/eight days. He has a quarter of one (i.e. 5ml) every other day. The spatone doesn't taste great does it? Though as you say it's ok with orange juice and much preferable to the liquid iron minty medicine stuff from the doctor!

Best wishes :)

Franksmammy
Jul 1st, 2011, 07:57 PM
thanks, i had to stop the abidec because it has peanut oil in and my little one now has an allergy.

i give him 5ml of spatone once every other day, i have the sachet and just take his 5ml out of that. it tastes like blood! lol, i dont know what i was expecting really, but first time i tried it i double checked the box thinking 'that CANT be vegan that IS blood' haha.
:)

ZoeP
Jul 6th, 2011, 12:06 AM
This is something I recently realised I should be looking into for my three year old (i only made the decision to convert him to veganism a month ago though!).
I just find it so COMPLEX! All the different vitamins and things, and the right quantities and trying to work out which things give him which vits..

Makes my head spin.
:confused:

Am thinking of getting the Veg1 from the vegan society. would that be enough? We have fortified milks and cereals.

treehuggingmama
Feb 9th, 2012, 01:35 PM
l;l