Baby Immunization
Most newborn babies would have received BCG vaccination and a dose of oral polio drops before discharge from the hospital.
If not, these should be given at around 2 weeks of age and further immunization to be done later as per standard time schedule ( see under section on immunization).
Vitamins and iron supplements
The breast milk of a well-nourished mother contains sufficient vitamins to meet a baby’s daily body requirement.
A healthy breast-fed baby does not therefore, need administration of multivitamin drops till his intake of breast milk diminishes at around 4-6 months of age.
Vitamin C is however present in insufficient quantity in cow’s and buffalo’s milk and it also gets destroyed when the milk is boiled.
It is therefore recommended that babies wholly fed on cow’s/buffalo’s milk should be given vitamin C/multivitamin drops from the age of about six weeks onwards.
On the other hand, if a baby is entirely fed on a commercial vitamin fortified infant milk preparation, your doctor would need to check its composition before advising you about the need, if any, for vitamin supplementation and its appropriate dosage.
To begin with, most multivitamin drops are advised to be given in a daily dose of 0.3 ml with subsequent increase to 0.6 ml. with the help of the graduated dropper provided by the manufacturer, the appropriate vitamin drops may be directly placed into the baby’s mouth towards the inner side of one of the cheeks.
Care should be taken to avoid squirting the back of the baby’s throat as that might lead to choking. A number of proprietory drugs with different iron formulations are available in market.
The baby is also liable to throw out drops if these are placed directly on his tongue.
Your doctor will advise the correct dosage of a suitable preparation, taking into account your baby’s body weight.