Babble

I have an exclusively breastfed baby and my pediatrician recommended the PolyViSol vitamins also.  I bought them, but I really hated to see my little guy scrunch his face all up and spit them out each day.  I researched a bit and figured that between his sun exposure and me taking my prenatal vitamins, he would get everything he needed through my breastmilk. 

As for the iron, there are some studies that actually link iron supplementation in infants to an increase in bacterial infections.  The naturally occurring lactoferrin helps to inhibit microbes that would otherwise be using the iron found in supplements/formula to multiply. [The major milk protein lactoferrin can destroy microbes and reduce inflammatory responses.  Proc Nutr Soc. 2007 Aug;66(3):384-96.]

As for fluoride, I don't know.  I live in an area where the tap water is fluoridated so I guess we're covered.

I'm happy with my decision based on the research that I've read.

 Well, unless baby has a specific health need, then no, nothing is necessary except your breastmilk.  If you look at the American dental association website, they'll tell ya to avoid fluoride until after 12 months, as too much can cause fluorosis (weakening and spotting of the teeth).

The iron thing - babies have a store of iron that lasts them about six months, but after that get adequate amounts as long as breastmilk is still the main source of nutrition.

Vitamin D can be obtained by very small amounts of sun exposure, and it fat soluble, meaning that the body makes stores on those sunny days to last through the cloudy ones.

I don't buy that my breastfed baby needs supplements, and so I don't buy the processed, chemically things sold for them.  Check out www.kellymom. com - there's info there that actually notes reliable sources, rather than my personal rantings ... :) 

 you can give the vitamin D alone if you order form a canadian, european or a us natural goods website..my daughter is BF, and her doc suggested we give trivisol at 4 months.  Instead I did a lot of research and decided sine we are in nyc to give her the D supplement drops in the winter months. its tastes awful and honestly I dont do it daily...but this way we give the D and nothign else....other vitamins are not necessary.

sorry i cant provide a link, i had a relative bring them from canada...but I know they are sold online for a bit more $.  

 There are a lot of excellent posts, so I'll try keep mine brief, but I did want to make a couple of points.  My information comes from our pediatrian and we had a similar discussion at my son's 6-month visit. 

Vitamin D-My understanding on vitaminD, at least according to our pediatrician, is that there have been some cases of ricketts in climates with less sunlight (I live in Seattle) but only in cases of dark skinned babies.  Light skinned babbies are probably fine; however, there are some who think there may be subtle changes in the bone even in light skinned babbies.  There is no documentation of this that I am (or my pedriatrician) aware of, but some advise admistering it as a precautionary measure.  Our ped left it up to us, we did not supplement.

As for iron - breastmilk does not contain a lot of iron, but what it does contain is extremely well absorbed by the body, so exclusively breastfed babbies do not need any additional iron.  However, foods containing nitrates do interfere with the bodies ability to absorb iron so it becomes a concern once you start your infant on solids.  In general we avoided store-bought baby food, but made an exception when it came to nitrate-containing foods because commercial baby foods do go through a process to filter out nitrates.  We also do try and get some iron-fortified foods (such as oatmeal) into his diet each day, but no supplements.

Fluoride - Our ped reccommeded 2 ounces of tap a day.  Flouride can be a problem for formula-fed babbies who can get too much if their formula is mixed with fluoridated tap. To be honest, I followed this advise somewhat inconsistantly.  Very small babbies can get cavities, but we asked our dentist who said that it is uncommon if the teeth come in with large gaps inbetween (as our son's did).

Hope that is helpful.

-Camille