To “D” or not to “D”

By Corky Harvey, MS, RN, IBCLC

The American Academy of Pediatrics is now recommending that all infants and children have a minimum daily intake of 400 IU of vitamin D beginning soon after birth. Adequate amounts of vitamin D can prevent a bone-softening condition called Rickets. Vitamin D, also known as the sunshine vitamin, is produced naturally in the skin when it is exposed to sunlight, but exposing infants’ and children’s skin to the sun has been shown to increase the risk for skin cancer later in life. Interestingly, breastfed infants are at the greatest risk of having a vitamin D deficiency. Carol Wagner, MD, FAAP, a member of the AAP Section on the Breastfeeding Executive Committee states, “Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for infants.” However, because of Vitamin D deficiencies in the maternal diet, which affect the vitamin D in a mother’s milk, it is important that breastfed infants receive supplements of vitamin D.

So how does your breastfed baby get that extra Vitamin D? We have a great, new product that gets the job done with just one drop a day. Until recently, vitamin D was only available in combination with vitamins A and C, and since babies don’t need to be supplemented with the other vitamins, that seemed unnecessary. The dose was a big dropper full of nasty-tasting brown juice, that babies disliked and either drooled it down their chins or sent it flying—into Mom’s eyebrows. Next we had large droppers full of pleasant tasting Vitamin D alone--a big improvement--but it was still a lot to get the babies to take. We encourage you to check out Carlson’s Baby Ddrops; baby needs just one drop a day! The package directions tell you to put the drop of vitamin D in your baby’s mouth or put it on your nipple and let the baby just suck it off while feeding. We loved that idea, but decided to do a taste test first; we wouldn’t want babies to associate a bad taste with their mothers’ breasts. Good news: to us it lacks any taste at all.

Click here to buy

So keep on breastfeeding; keep your baby safe from too much sun exposure with a safe, non-toxic sunscreen, and make sure your little one has enough Vitamin D.
(check out the EWG’s highly ranked sunscreens from Think Baby, Episencial or California Baby)

Check out our favorite skin care products for mom and baby!