[momofnonaps]

Hi Ladies,
do any of you have experience with vit D being "pushed" by your ped for your bf infant? My dd is going on 6 mos and is supposed to take Tri-vi-sol (made by Enfamil...surprise !!!!) as a supplement. No problem for vit D in general, but these specific drops carry all kinds of yummy food coloring and preservatives with them. Hence: nope!!

The alternative #1 is sun exposure, which I no longer consider a safe one due to our mysteriously disappearing ozone layer....also, the correct dosage is a tough one. Alternative #2: fish oil (hmmmm...not sure what to think about that one.)

Will mine be the only babe w/out a vit D supplement?
Thank you much!!

 

[JessicaS]

It is only necessarly for the baby to be in the sun about five to ten minutes a day for sufficient amounts of Vitamin D.

I don't think supplements are necessary...but fish oil doesn't hurt. Some babies might not like the taste.

 

[captain crunchy]

Yeah I was going to say... vitamin D is absorbed so efficiently and effectively through just 5-10 minutes in the sun every day that no one should need a supplement unless they live in a cave...

seriously though, the only people who may need supplementation are african american and other very dark skinned people of color, as their excess melanin makes it as if they have 45spf (or more) sunscreen on... so their skin doesn't absorb it as efficiently--- but on the bright side, people of color often wrinkle a lot less

Anyway, yeah, I don't see where anyone would need vitamin D supplementation if they had access to 5-10 minutes of good sun per day...

 

[lumi]

My ped suggested it when DD was 2 months old (January). I didn't see the need then and certainly don't now that she can spend more time outside. It is June, after all and it's easy to get your child enough sun exposure in summer (and you can minimize the risks easily - take your walks in the late afternoon, for example)

or if you're in the Southern Hemisphere - well, you can still take short walks in winter

 

[broodymama]

No vitamin supplements here, either. Our ped didn't try to push them, not that I would have used them anyway.

 

[Marsupialmom]

Never used it with my children. I do agree it only takes 5-10 minutes of the sun two days a week.

 

[TiredX2]

Just agreement with the above posters.

Depending on your baby's skin tone, adequate Vitamin D can be obtained in as little as 15 minutes of hand/face exposer weekly. Most kids need a bit more than that, but still the amount you get walking to and from the car, to and from the grocery store, etc provides plenty.

If you *know* you have specific issues (very dark skin, above appx 50 deg latitude, religous covering, etc...) supplimentation *may* be needed, but if you are in the Continental US you're probably fine

 

[momofnonaps]

thank you much 4 all the feed back!!!

so, none of you are worried about the harmful rays? (my dd has blue eyes with very !!!! fair skin) do u apply sunscreen? although, i assume that that would defeat the purpose, right?

 

[broodymama]

If we are going to be outside for a while, such as trips to the pool, then I put sunscreen on DS. I don't put it on him for routine daily wear, though. My son is very fair-skinned also.

 

[JessicaS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by momofnonaps thank you much 4 all the feed back!!! so, none of you are worried about the harmful rays? (my dd has blue eyes with very !!!! fair skin) do u apply sunscreen? although, i assume that that would defeat the purpose, right?

Well...I understand being concerned about sun exposure but we are still talking about five to ten minutes. Like a previous poster stated, your baby probablly gets enough when you walk to and from the car.

I am dark skinned so well...I may not worry about it enough, I do not think Sunscreen will prevent Vitamin D from absorbing if you wish to use sunscreen.

 

[Momtwice]

Do a search at this site's homepage for Vitamin D, and also at http://www.kellymom.com for lots of information.

 

[JessicaS]

I will go ahead and move this to Life With a Babe since it is more applicable to that forum.

 

[Marsupialmom]

I am not that worry about the sun raise that I would prevent it from doing good.

There can be extreme in all thoughts.

 

[4evermom]

Here's an article I just posted on the toddlers with tans thread under Parenting Issues.
http://www.deliciouslivingmag.com/ma...articleID=1636
It lists some dubious ingredients in some sunscreens and recommends 10-15 minutes of off-peak sun for Vit D, along with other info.

 

[ladyelmo1]

nak

Sunscreen DOES block Vit. D! There has been a lot of controversy between nutritionists and dermatologists about this, because Vit. D deficiency is on the rise. Recently, I saw an article (and I wish i could find it, sorry) that said that the derms were caving a liittle. Basically they said that 15 min three times a week w/o sunscreen was oky. I would do smaller increments more often for fair skinned babies.

Oh, and my ped recc. the trivisol at our TWO WEEK apt! Grrr. But she was okay when I said "no thanks". Still considering a new ped.

HTH!

-Melissa

 

[StacyL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by momofnonaps so, none of you are worried about the harmful rays? (my dd has blue eyes with very !!!! fair skin) do u apply sunscreen? although, i assume that that would defeat the purpose, right?

A few minutes of sun a day is not going to hurt your child. In fact, sunscreen would defeat the purpose. There was an article on this very topic less than a week ago on Yahoo news on how beneficial Vit D from the sun is. You could probably search Yahoo news for it.

 

[StacyL]

Here it is:

Vitamin D

 

[NoHiddenFees]

On higher UV days, I have the girls out pretty much every day there's sun for at least a walk down to the store and back before 10:30am (15-30 minutes outside, about half in shade) with sunhats but no sunscreen. After that they're sunscreened.

 

[alegna]

Very fair baby here and I don't worry about sunscreen unless we're going to be out in the sun for an EXTENDED time. Not worried about vit. D at all.

-Angela

 

[BabyBumblebee]

No artificial vit D here either - ped pushed it at the 3 month well-baby, we checked the ingredients and were just *shocked* - all kinds of nasties that I would not feed to my dd in any other form....esp. a 3 m.o

dd is a blue-eyed redhead, and I figure that in her trips to and from the car she is getting enough sun exposure to make enough of her own vit D - apparently the back of your hand is a great place to get the sun, and more than adequate. Add to that that we are still bf, and Ithink we have it covered.