Vitamin D - X posted in health and healing

[Bubblette]

Hi Mamas,

      We had to have some blood work done on DS so the Dr. threw in iron and Vit D levels too.  His iron was fine but his Vit D level was 60, and she wants it over 75.  So she recommended infant vitamin drops.  I'm  a bit leery of synthetic vitamins and am thinking about putting myself on some good cod liver oil.  DS is 5.5 months old and exclusively breastfed.  We're all looking forward to starting solids blw style next month.

Has anyone else had this happen?  how did you address it?

[HonkyTonka]

My ped has been pushing Vit D from day 1 - granted, I live in Canada where we only get about 2 months of good sunshine a year. It also seems that the RDA for Vit D just keep going up and up... 

All this to say, I've been giving them (the D drops) and I think they are important.

[AllyRae]

I agree...vitamin d is the one vitamin I would strongly encourage--most people living in North America (sans those living in Hawaii or some equally warm/sunny area) are vitamin d deficient...most barely take in enough on a daily basis to meet their own needs, let alone the needs of a nursing child.  Taking CLO certainly won't help, and there are vitamin d supplements for infants that aren't that poly-d-sol stuff (try a natural foods store...they tend to have food based vitamins there). 

I'm not usually one for vitamins for the under 12 month crowd, especially if they are exclusively breastfed, but I personally do give my under-1's an all natural vitamin d plus some powdered probiotics (because I have a vitamin d deficiency, plus have been tested to have low levels of good gut flora even after taking strong probiotics, so I can't pass on that good stuff through breastmilk because I am already quite deficient).  Extra vitamin d won't hurt, and it will especially help your little one get through the winter illness season.  I'm actually happy to see a doctor say that 60 is low...usually doctors tend to go by the former threshold, which is much much lower.

[ameliabedelia]

I would give Vitamin D as well.  Unless you live in a sunny, warm area where you can sunshine all winter. 

Last winter was the first winter we started supplementing with D, and we did experience a decrease in the amt. of colds and respiratory infections.  I did supplement "conservatively"...I think I could have given more,.

This past year we moved from New England to southern Fl.   It is now Nov 24th and my kids (and I) haven't had a single cold since coming down here. When we lived up North, we always had at least one cold in Oct or Nov,.   I attribute this to the fact that we are now in a sunny, warm spot and spend lots of time outside w/o sunscreen so we get tons of Vitamin D exposure.     I think the amt. of Vitamin D made from sun is so much more than the amt. people get from food or supplements.   Like the body makes something like 8000 IU of Vitamin D with 20 minutes of sun exposure at mid-day.

The more i learn about Vitamin D, the more i learn how deficient most people are.  Our modern lifestyle with spending so much time indoors is just so different to the way we evolved.

[Bubblette]

We're living in Western Australia  so we get the sun.  My husband is so fair we'd been really conservative with DS's exposure.  I'd up DS's exposure a little at mid-day but we're going to Massachusetts for Dec and Jan to visit family. So, no sun there.  Thanks for the input, that's basically what I've been able to find for myself in the past few hours. 

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by Bubblette 

Hi Mamas,

      We had to have some blood work done on DS so the Dr. threw in iron and Vit D levels too.  His iron was fine but his Vit D level was 60, and she wants it over 75.  So she recommended infant vitamin drops.  I'm  a bit leery of synthetic vitamins and am thinking about putting myself on some good cod liver oil.  DS is 5.5 months old and exclusively breastfed.  We're all looking forward to starting solids blw style next month.

Has anyone else had this happen?  how did you address it?

Remember that if his levels are low, and he is EBF, then your levels are most likely low too.  Taking CLO yourself is a great idea, I think.   I was tested in pregnancy and found to be low, so I supplement enough each day to bring up my levels and baby's.  Now that he has been introduced to solids I'm looking for a good supplement for him too. 
 

[P.J.]

I try to give DS vit. D but find it really hard to get the drop into his mouth, plus I forget some days. But we are in northern Europe and this time of year go weeks without seeing the sun so I think it makes sense to supplement. But that's the only one.

[Knitting Mama]

There are wonderful D drops out there by Carlson that are so much easier to deal with! It's just one drop you put on your nipple (or on the nipple of the bottle if you formula feed) before latching the baby on, and as long as they suck for 30 seconds, they've got it. One drop, once a day, easy as pie!

[snoopy5386]

I am supplementing with the Carlson drops. I got my Vitamin D checked when I was pregnant back in February and I was shocked by how low the level was. I'm someone who rarely wears sunscreen, we had gone on a Caribbean cruise in October and I'd spent lots of time in the sun and my levels were 50% of where they should have been. I started supplementing with 1000 mg 2x a day and have been doing so since. I got my level tested again in late September and despite supplementing and spending at least 3 days a week all summer at the pool, my levels were still not up to where they should be. Based on my own experiences I decided it was important to supplement DD2 and DD1 who is 4. Up until now I'd hadn't supplemented D at all for them.

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 

There are wonderful D drops out there by Carlson that are so much easier to deal with! It's just one drop you put on your nipple (or on the nipple of the bottle if you formula feed) before latching the baby on, and as long as they suck for 30 seconds, they've got it. One drop, once a day, easy as pie!

Oooh, that's a brilliant idea! I don't see why I couldn't do that with the ones I already have, right?