Supplements You Can Skip if Your Baby Has Started Solid Foods

Fortified Fam (0s):

So I am admittedly a little old school and I love email. Like writing emails to my email newsletter list is one of my most favorite work tasks. So every week I send out a roundup email with a recap of what's new in infant feeding, plus baby led weaning recipes that your whole family will love. So If you like reading email. I would love to have you on my email newsletter list. There are tons of tips about starting solid foods safely with gear recommendations and recipes plus personalized feeding guidance based on your baby's current age and stage. You can get signed up for my free feeding newsletter by going to https://foritifedfam.com/newsletter. That's https://foritifedfam.com/newsletter, and I'll start sending you some useful infant feeding info this week.

Katie Ferraro (46s):

What is the situation underneath your highchair? Like these days, starting solid foods can be messy, but having a quality slash mat underneath the highchair can make a world of difference in minimizing the mess. I feel like in our house, we've probably tried every type of splash mat under the sun from like washable picnic blankets to I even did restaurant greed floor mats there for a while. But hands down, the best splash mats are the waterproof splash mats from apron baby. So the apron baby splash mats are made from this really lightweight, super durable material, and they're big enough that the catchment area is adequate if your baby's got some range, but they also pack down super small.

Apron Baby (1m 25s):

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Katie Ferraro (2m 1s):

An Iron deficiency, while it is the most common micronutrient deficiency around the world, it doesn't necessarily mean that every single baby out there is going to need Iron Drops, right? Iron drops can be incredibly constipated. And for babies who need additional Iron, we should be helping them learn how to eat Foods that contain Iron, and both plant Foods and animal Foods have good sources of Iron. So when you combine those Foods that your baby-led weaning how to eat, plus the fact that they're still getting Iron from infant milk, either the breast milk or the formula, your baby can be getting their adequate amount of Iron from nutrition and from food, and you in most cases don't need to be adding in those Supplements. Hey there, I'm Katie Ferraro, Registered dietician, college nutrition professor and mom of seven specializing in baby led weaning here on the Baby Led Weaning Made Easy podcast.

Katie Ferraro (2m 50s):

I help you strip out all of the noise and nonsense about feeding, leaving you with the confidence and knowledge you need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using baby-led weaning. Does your baby need dietary Supplements? If you've started solid foods, so often parents say, oh my gosh, I'm so worried that my baby's not getting enough nutrition from these Foods are not eating very much yet, and now they're past six months of age and I'm worried about their nutrient status. Should I do some Supplements? In the vast majority of cases, the answer is no. Food can certainly meet the majority of your baby's nutrition needs even early on when you start solid foods.

Katie Ferraro (3m 33s):

And that's because most of the baby's nutrition still continues to come from infant milk, breast milk or formula even when you start solid foods. And then as Weaning starts really rolling along and your baby's getting more nutrition from food and less nutrition from infant milk, they're gradually going to be moving towards that point whereby 12 months of age, most of their nutrition can be coming from food and you would not need Supplements. But I wanna cover a couple of the supplements that parents ask about and see, could you skip these if your baby has started solid foods? Let's start with Iron. You are likely very familiar with Iron because you probably If, you were pregnant, you took a prenatal Vitamin and there was Iron in there, and If, you felt nauseous from morning sickness.

Katie Ferraro (4m 16s):

I can guarantee you the Iron in your prenatals did not help the situation. Iron as a mineral in its supplemental form can be pretty caustic on the human gut. It's very beneficial, it's incredibly affordable, and it's wonderful for people who have diagnosed Iron deficiency. But you may also know that Iron drops in Iron supplements can be very constipating. So when we start solid foods with our babies, we're always trying to incorporate Iron containing Foods. But If, you get encouraged to do Supplements, like maybe you're at the, well-check at your doctor and they do a hemoglobin screen, so they do a finger prick or a a heel prick, and they're looking for your baby's hemoglobin, which is gonna give them an idea of how the Iron levels are and say, oh my gosh, they're a little bit low.

Katie Ferraro (4m 60s):

They'll say, oh, go do the Iron Drops. Well, a lot of times parents will say, you know what? Actually no, I wanna try this out with food and use food-based sources of Iron to help my baby get their Iron levels back up. Because for some kids, those Iron Drops can be really constipating. So we have lots of content here on the podcast about how to incorporate Iron containing Foods, both from plant sources and from animal sources, so that you can help your baby get Iron from the Foods that naturally have Iron. Now, in some medical cases, Iron supplements may be required or recommended, and it's always important to talk to your individual healthcare provider about your own family's situation. But back in episode 263, we did a little bit of a deeper dive on Iron Drops and Does My, Baby, Need Iron Supplements.

Katie Ferraro (5m 44s):

So if you're getting pressured to do Iron Supplements or you're not sure if they're right for your family, go back and check out episode 2 63 to learn a little bit more about Iron Drops. Another nutrient that parents ask a lot about is Vitamin C fruits and vegetables that you're offering your baby. They're good for lots of reasons, but they do contain Vitamin C. And so sometimes parents will think, well, if a little bit is good, then a lot must be better. Is that the case? And the answer with vitamins is most certainly not. Now, the reality with a Vitamin like Vitamin C, it's a water-soluble Vitamin. So If, you take excessive amounts of it, the body just excretes it. So If, you spend a lot of money on water soluble vitamins. We say you have expensive pee cuz you're just peeing it all out for your babies. They don't need supplemental Vitamin C because the Foods that you're offering, particularly the fruits and the vegetables, they contain Vitamin C and Vitamin C is important in the Weaning diet because Vitamin C helps your baby's body absorb Iron from the other Iron containing Foods that you're offering.

Katie Ferraro (6m 41s):

So because Vitamin C deficiency and scurvy is all but unheard of in populations that have a varied diet, you most likely do not need to worry about Vitamin C deficiency. And it's not a concern for most babies. Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back.

Hatch Rest (6m 60s):

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Katie Ferraro (8m 3s):

Now what about supplemental Protein? Parents love Protein, right? In adult nutrition, we know that Protein gets this undeserved health halo. Most American adults eat too much Protein. And as you're likely aware, there's no storage form of Protein in the human body. Your body just converts Protein to fat and stores it as fat. But sometimes adults project weird food stuff onto their children's diet. And we do have parents asking about, oh, I wanna get my baby enough Protein. And they'll ask about Protein, Supplements or what type of Protein do you recommend for babies? We recommend that babies learn how to eat a variety of Foods that contain small amounts of Protein. Your baby's Protein needs can be met through the infant milk that they're currently drinking, plus the Foods that they're learning how to eat.

Katie Ferraro (8m 46s):

And more Protein doesn't mean anything better for your babies. Back in episode 1 93, I went deeper on Protein talking about How, Much, Protein, Does, My Baby need. And if you're feeling any sort of pressure to increase the Protein in your baby's diet, that episode will make you feel so much better cuz you realize your baby is almost certainly getting enough Protein and you do not need a Protein supplement for your infant. Again, If, you, your child has some degree of growth faltering or an underlying medical condition, and you're working with a pediatric Registered dietician who's recommending additional Protein for medical nutrition therapy reasons. This would be in very, very limited number of cases, but for those babies, Protein would be required and it would be worked into the diet.

Katie Ferraro (9m 30s):

But for your general neurotypical population, we get our Protein for our babies from food and you don't need Supplements. How about Vitamin D? Okay, many of you are aware that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies younger than 12 months should have 400 IUs of Vitamin D each day. So If, you're exclusively breastfeeding. You're probably giving those Vitamin, D, Drops. We just did an episode all about Vitamin, D Drops because it's an area where parents get confused on like, when can I actually stop it? If you're switching to formula or your baby is formula fed when your baby's drinking one liter, so about 32 ounces of formula a day, or they start eating Foods with Vitamin D in them, you can stop the Supplements If.

Katie Ferraro (10m 11s):

you are exclusively breastfeeding. You want to incorporate those Vitamin d Fortified Foods into the diet If. you go back to episode 333, we talked more about Vitamin D Drops, and does your baby still need Vitamin D Drops after starting solid foods? So as always, it's important to consult with your own individual healthcare provider if your baby has a special medical condition, because they may need some additional micronutrients like vitamins or minerals or in rare cases other Supplements. But for those, it is important to be working with a pediatric Registered dietician or a medical doctor who has diagnosed your baby with a micronutrient deficiency. We don't go supplementing willy-nilly just because we think a little bit more of the supplement will probably be a good thing because Supplements act in our bodies, oftentimes like drugs and the Supplements, many of the supplement products out there, they're metabolized in the liver and they're gonna be competing with the Foods that your baby's eating.

Katie Ferraro (11m 5s):

And we want most of your baby's nutrition to come from Foods. So Supplements that you can skip if your baby has started solid foods include Iron Drops, Vitamin C, you don't need any Protein powders, and you can eventually drop the Vitamin d. I'll link all of the show notes for this episode online at BLWpodcast.com/347. Thank you guys for listening, and thank you to our partners at AirWave Media. If you like podcasts that feature food and science, and using your brain, check out some of the podcasts from AirWave Media. Thanks for listening. Skip the Supplements, focus on the foods. I'll see you next time.