Vitamin D

[ZGT Mummy]

I'm just wondering what the thoughts are on whether a breastfed baby needs Vitamin D supplementation.

My boys are on 1000iu daily but I've just got some drops that are 400iu and for baby's from birth upwards.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

We never supplemented Vitamin D at all, because our children were always out in the sun, summer and winter. same with the babies.

I agree that vitamin D is vital, but I honestly don't know anything about supplementing babies. It just never occurred to me, because I spend a lot of time in the sun, winter (midday - when it happens) and summer too, so it never occurred to me that the babies would be deficient. :o

[ema-adama]

I didn't supplement. For a couple of reasons.

I did not like the other ingredients (artificial sweetner)
I am out in the sun every day and trust my body to be producing enough vit D, giving my breastmilk enough vit D. I live in Israel and get lots of sun as I don't use sun block, and I don't put it on my son either unless he looks like he is burning, which has not happened here. My son is also outside every day in the sun.
I do not know enough about how vit D is metabolized by babies and decided it was safer to give it in my breastmilk in the quanitities that are more likely to be safe and effective. There are too many parameters for me that made me uneasy. If I knew for a fact that I was deficient and exactly how much vit D was in my breastmilk and how much my son was using I might have considered it. And how much is needed. For all I know I am giving him exactly what he needs and extra vit D might not be such a good idea..... Maybe one day I'll *know* without a doubt, for now I am trusting in our daily time outside in the sun, and in the winter I take cod liver oil for vit D and A. I am guessing that it is enough for me to take the supplement and my body to moderate how much vit D my son needs from that. :o

[ZGT Mummy]

Well seeing as I'm allergic to the cold :eyeroll: no that's not a euphemism I actually have cold induced urticaria so I do not get much winter sun - if any at all as I am always rugged up.

I got some Vit D drops from John Appleton the other day while getting some Vit C, just a spur of the moment thing, didn't really think it through. Seems completely free from anything suspicious, just Vit D in an oil carrier. One drop on the nipple before feeding apparently.

But I just don't know if she (the now notorious DD) needs it or not. I'm taking 5000iu daily and my boys are also taking 1000iu (both in powder form).

Hmmm, what to do......

[cartersmom]

I supplement myself and my baby since neither one get enough sun...

I work full-time inside and my son is in daycare. She does take him outside, but will not let him be in the sun, even though I have told her it's fine for a bit, so long as her doesn't burn...she feels sun = bad = skin cancer and doesn't want to be responsible for any burns damage etc. I try for us t get sun on the weekends, but I live in New England so in the winter it's freezing and we are not outside in the sun, and this summer so far has sucked and it's been cloudy and raining more often than not on the weekends sooooo vit d supplements for us. Not ideal, but I feel it is better than being deficient. Given where we live and our circumstances without supplementation we would be.

[TanyaL]

ZGT Mummy, I think I remember that supplementation of mom in the range of 4,000-6000 IU would keep mom in such a range that baby gets a healthy amount of D. I don't remember now, of course, where exactly I read that.

This is an interesting read, I've only skimmed the breastfeeding parts because I'm not nursing now, but you may find it interesting.
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/bfm.2008.9984

If you're already supplementing at 5,000 IU, I'm guessing you either know or suspect you're low, yes? At some point you may want bloodwork to see where you are after supplementing for a while.

And depending on how far north or south you are, you may not be able to make much vitamin D in the winter anyway. At least in the US, the upper third of the country is too far north to make D in the winter--I read the study but didn't bookmark it (well, all my bookmarks got lost). Not sure if that's equally true in the southern hemisphere.

And think of it this way--you're thinking about the issue now, when your little one is a baby. Took me til my son was 3 years old, and very illness-prone, to really consider that vitamin D could be part of what was going on.