Does Anyone Give Vitamin D to Infants/toddlers?

Rickets is nothing to do with breastfeeding. I bought the supplement because my ped would not give up on it, but never gave it to my daughter. Morning sun is best. If you get 15 minutes you are good and do not need the supplement. It is just too easy and cheap to not do it. The sun is also better than any store bought supplement.

I breastfed my daughter until she was 1 and we did give her Polyvisol for vitamin D supplementation. No issues and she was a very healthy baby throughout all of that! Now she's getting the typical toddler colds, etc. as we are out and about more and more...

I agree that under normal conditions, everyone would get what they need through a balanced diet. However, we shunned the sun the first 9 months or so of her life since modern sunscreen, even baby formulas, doesn't protect newborn skin. She got plenty of sun (with sunscreen) this past summer after she was one and is now not taking any supplemental vitamins. I reviewed her diet with her doc and the only vitamin we're watching is calcium as she isn't a big milk drinker. We get outside now for a few minutes every day (sans sunscreen) and I think that's enough:)

Good luck on whatever you decide!

The vitamin D available in breastmilk is extremely bioavailable, meaning that your baby/child can actually absorb it! Plus, when you are pregnant, your baby absorbs extra stores of vitamin D that typically lasts them at least 6-9 mos (right around the time that they start to eat solids & get more vitamins from that).

In addition, your body stores vitamin D from the sun, so as little as 10-20 min a day of sunlight provides plenty of vitamin D & since it IS stored, it lasts for months in the body!

There is TONS of info about vitamin D on www.KellyMom.com

I, personally, have never heard of a case of Rickets in a breastfed baby unless the mother was completely malnourished.

That all being said, I do, on occasion, give my son an all-natural, plant-based mulit-vitamin. We really like the Animal Parade brand, which you can find at any health food store. My 5 year old really likes their chewable vitamins too & since they are plant-based, their body can, again, actually absorb the vitamins!

Good luck!

Honestly it really angers me what they are telling parents these days. I think on a whole as long as you and your child are eating a healthy balanced diet, there should be no concern for supplimentation. Also if you spend enough time outside like 15-20mins a day in the sun allowing them to get sunshine, they will get enough vit D. So make sure that you spend sometime outside as well.
I think the concern here is for people that don't eat properly, may be poor and can't afford certain types of food that are rich in Vit D.
I have nursed each one of my children to atleast 1yo and as long as 2.5yrs. I have 4 and have never had a problem with ricketts and neither has anyone that I know that has been breastfed. If you want more reliable information I would contact your local Le Leche League.

When she is ready to drink milk, the whole mik will have vitamin D. I still give all of my kids whole milk for many good reasons :-)

Yes, we give Tri-vi-Sol as well. They've just doubled the recommeded doses, but bf babies especially need lots of Vitamin D..

I give my son, who is now 3 months old a vitamin D supplement. It's Enfamil Poly-Vi-Sol. There's also one called Tri-Vi-Sol. Either one will work. I read about it somewhere and asked my pediatrician about it and she told me he needs it because he's exclusively breastfeeding. I've been giving it to him for about a month now. He gets 1 mL a day. The pediatrician recommended that amount based on his weight. Hope that helps.

hi S.....i breastfeed my 4 mo old boy and his ped had me start giving him tri visol at 3 months old. enfamil makes it and it's in the vitamin aisle. i believe babies on formula don't need it because the rda is already in the formula. hope this helps!

Infants (newborn-12mos) get their vitamin D from their formula, which is fortified, and from their mother's breastmilk, which Mom should be getting from all the milk that she is drinking, since milk is fortified with vitamin D. Toddlers (12+ mos) will get their vitamin D from the milk they drink. By age 2 they can start taking vitamin supplements (half Flintstone Complete, age 4 takes whole vitamin) to supplement anything they may miss during this picking eating and drinking stage. I think the only reason a child would need vitamin D supplement added extra to their diet is if the doctor prescribed it because something is lacking somewhere. Otherwise, they'll get it normally in their diet.

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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I know they've just doubled the recommended daily intake of vitamin D to 400 UI because it apparently prevents major disease later on in life. When I had my older son they never recommended a multivitamin even though he was solely breastfed. When my twins were born they recommended a multivitamin simply for the vit D in it (they were breastfed). I never gave it to them because I supplemented them with formula and we always went on walks outside so I knew they were getting enough sun exposure to get enough vit D. Having said that, it has to be direct sun exposure with no sun block so you have to be very careful during the summer months to avoid burns. Also, it depends on the how fair your kids are. My kids are pretty fair so I know that they can synthesize vit D with very small amounts of sun. Also, I believe the baby cereal has vit D in it. My kids now drink a lot of vit D milk and we're outside for at least an hour a day when weather permits so I'm not too worried.

S.,
They have just doubled the recommendation to 400 IU for ALL children (under 18). This is because vitamin d deficiencies have been linked to other major diseases later in life (diabetes, autoimmune disorders). I read a report that said all children need to be drinking a quart of milk or formula each day (32 oz) to get enough. I know I was a little lax before on giving vitamins but I am on it now! Here's a link.

http://www.aap.org/pressroom/nce/nce08vitamind.htm

I've only ever given my children a multivitamin when htey become picky eaters. Theres really now need for it if you follow the food guide pryamid. Also, your body produces a perfect breastmilk everytime. It will take it from your boody if there is no ecxess so you have to keep yourself healthy or you will suffer, not the baby. Has your child been diagnosed with Rickets?

Hi S.,

Our pediatrician recommended Tri-Vi-Sol vitamins which contains vitamin D when our daughter was approximately three months old and the seasons were changing. She has been breastfed since birth and was exclusively breastfed until 6 months of age when we started solids. Our pediatrician mentioned that in the Winter it is preferable if children receive vitamin D since their exposure to sunlight which assists in the creation of vitamin D decreases. She did not like the drops initially, but Tri-Vi-Sol has a better taste than Polyvisol. We did have stained clothes which really does not come out so I opted to give her the vitamin when I first change her in the mornings before dressing her just to be on the safe side. She is now 13 (almost 14) months old and now takes the vitamins easily every morning without problems (has been doing so for about 6 months). She has had (since starting solids) a very balanced diet and she has never been a picky eater. She has consistently been in the 90th percentile for height and weight and has yet to have an ear infection or cold. She did have a milk-protein intolerance which resulted in the elimination of all milk and soy products from both our diets (since I am still breastfeeding), but I took supplements myself so the extra vitamins for her were simply a safeguard. The vitamins are not expensive less than $10.00 and one bottle will last more than a month. If there is a suspicion that your child might have or is in danger of developing rickets, then please make sure your child has been evaluated for other possible conditions including kidney problems. Hope this is helpful.

My pediatrician (Dr. Oliveri at Kids First Hockessin) said that when my son was born (~19 months ago), the pendulum had swung back and the current thought was that breastfeed babies should be given Vitamin D drops. I said, "OK". After about a week of struggling to give him the very unpleasant drops (they stain clothing and smell very much like vitamins), I gave up. My son is very healthy and has consistantly been 50% for height and never less than 35% for weight.

I'm supposed to start giving Trivisol vitamins to my 6 month old baby. I have held off because he nurses, but does eat iron fortified cereal. As far as vitamin D, I expose him to sun for several minutes a day. He is very light skinned, and as a rule lighter skinned children absorb vitamin D easier. If your child has a medium to dark skin tone I would expose the baby to sun for a bit longer. This is a from a direct conversation that I had with my Ped 2 weeks ago at his normal visit. I do not know any child that has had rickets, so I am no help on that one :)Breast feeding would be considered a factor not the cause of rickets. Vitamin D is not passed by milk or is it a nartural part of human/cow milk. It is added in cow's milk to fortify it. It aids in the absorbtion of calcium to strengthen bones as they grow. It shouldn't be needed in the summer months if your allow some sun exposure, but it is a concern in the fall/winter months esp. as natural light exposure lessens. One easy thing to do is to sit your child in the sunlight from a window to avoid over long exposure to the cold. Hope that helps :)

Also, rickets is casued by a lack of vitamin C, not D. It used to be that sailors would devolop this disease when they were out to sea and didn't have exposure to citrus. Then they becgan carrying lime sot help prevent the disease. Thats why sailors are sometimes called "limeys"!

We had an issue with bowleggedness...I took my son off of gluten and the issue corrected itself. He was SEVERELY bowlegged...the gluten was messing up his gut and interfering with nutrient absorption. I ended up putting him on a good multi, and now his legs are positioned correctly...
HTH!