A few months ago we published an entry in which we explained that the studies said that during pregnancy you should only take those vitamins that a woman needs individually, and as a supplement of proven benefits folic acid during the first trimester.
He iodine It was as optional for those women who did not receive it in sufficient quantity through the diet, iron according to the values in the analytical and vitamin D, depending on the individual situation of each woman (where she lives, basically).
Now, the great doubt remained for after pregnancy. What should you take when you are breastfeeding? In the pharmacy they sell specific multivitamin supplements for breastfeeding that can cost about 15 euros (you have for a month), which in most cases are unnecessary because the only 'vitamin' necessary for breastfeeding is iodine.
Just in case, take everything ...
Surely you have heard this phrase on more than one occasion. The mother doubts the quality of her milk, she has heard that there are supplements to be as nutritious as possible and when she goes to the pharmacy and finds someone wanting to sell or asks a health professional who is not up to date, they tell her this : "Just in case, take this, which takes it all."
And the woman pays because her baby's health is priceless and there would be nothing harder than having a low-quality, nutritious milk, because of not spending the money.
In Babies and more Foods rich in iodine, an essential nutrientBut this is not true. Come on, that is a lie directly: the milk of all mothers is good, unless you eat absolutely nothing, and then not only worries milk, but your ability to care for a baby, because she will be a malnourished mother.
But since women who go to the pharmacy to buy supplements are not malnourished, but have food at their fingertips, there is no possibility that they have poorly nourished milk.
And the strongest thing is that this has been known for more than 30 years: a study carried out in 1985 in Bangladesh compared the breast milk of 60 mothers from a peri-urban area, with nutritional deficiencies, in order to know if they produced a Enough amount of milk and if the quality was as poor as your diet.
They saw that they all produced enough milk for their babies and observed that women with better nutrition produced a nutritionally better milk, with more fat, energy and nutrients, but concluding the following:
Although mothers were poorly fed compared to international reference populations, their breastfeeding capacity was not severely affected.
That is, despite the mother's poor nutrition, the milk was still enough and the valid nutrients to raise a baby, being recommended to improve the nutrition of the mother to ensure the contribution to the baby. In our environment, it would only be logical to take multivitamins in case the mother has an unbalanced diet (and the first recommendation would be to improve the diet, not for milk, but for her health).
Are you breastfeeding You should drink iodine
During pregnancy, as we have said, the use of iodine at the national level is not protocolarized, although it is (or should be) taken into account that its deficit can affect the thyroid function of both the mother and the baby, and to the neuropsychological development of the fetus.
This means that pregnant women should be asked about their daily intake of iodine through diet, and if it is insufficient, inform why the consumption of iodine or a supplement is important.
As we read in the Clinical Practice Guide for Pregnancy and Puerperium Care (the protocols by which Spanish hospitals should be governed):
Pharmacological supplementation is suggested during pregnancy with potassium iodide at a dose of 200 μg / day in those women who do not reach the recommended daily amounts of iodine intake with their diet (3 servings of milk and dairy products + 2 g of iodized salt) .
However, during breastfeeding the issue of iodine becomes even more relevant, because the iodine the baby receives through breast milk is dependent on the amount the mother receives, and because it has been seen that iodine deficiency affects the psychomotor and intellectual development of children, and in Spain there are many who have said deficit.
For this reason, based on available studies, it is recommended that women take an iodine supplement during breastfeeding. The Breastfeeding Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics states that such supplementation would be as follows:
The iodine needs in the nursing woman are estimated at 250-300 µg / day. Since salt consumption may be reduced in that period (iodized salt is the recommended source of iodine for everyone), a supplement of 200 µg of iodine per day in the form of potassium iodide is advised during the lactation period , whether a single child is breastfed or if they are twins or siblings (breastfeeding in tandem).
In Babies and more Deficiency and excess iodine, what should we consider?And how much does iodine cost?
"It's a business, I won't take it," a mother told me when I explained that it was an official recommendation. And yes, of course there is business behind many recommendations to pregnant women and nursing women; Without going any further, we just explained one: the multivitamin business, which as you see are unnecessary (and in some cases they could even be counterproductive).
But iodine does not seem so business if we consider that a box of iodine tablets has a price of about 4 euros (does not arrive) and 50 come. Come on, with the 15 euros you spend in a month in a multivitamin for breastfeeding do you have iodine tablets for almost seven months.
Of course you make money with it, but it is very little in reality, and the difference is that with iodine you are perceiving something that is recommended for you and your baby, when with the rest you are paying for substances that most women do not need because they already receive them through food, especially if they follow a balanced diet.
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In Babies and more | The importance of iodine during pregnancy and lactation, Iodine in lactation, also essential, Iodine in pregnancy: why is it important?
