Whether Or Not to Offer Vitamin D Supplements to Your Baby

Whether or not to offer a Vitamin D supplement to the breastfed baby is question that I am asked quite a lot. Now, many of you may already recognize that I am not one to encourage you to do anything with or for your baby simply because it was recommended to you by your doctor. I don’t disagree with everything a doctor says, quite the contrary, I think they have some amazing information at their fingertips and we are lucky that they avail said information to us when we need it. That said, I also think there are times when the word “guidelines” should be used instead of “recommendations.”

When it comes to Vitamin D deficiency in breastfed babies it seems most convenient simply to tell the parents to give the baby a supplement. What are the other options? Can a parent be deemed irresponsible if they forgo adding these drops to the baby’s daily diet? How is it possible that our breast milk, nature’s perfect human food, can possibly be deficient in an essential nutrient?

Our other (read: best) option is fairly simple. Go outside! Spend a little time with your face in the sun. I know, I know! Everywhere you turn these days you are warned about the risks of excess sun exposure. I am not suggesting that you spend a few eight-hour days lying back on the lounge chair with an aluminium tray under your chin to help aid in complete tan coverage (can you tell I was a teen in the 80’s?) but rather to temper your fear of the sun with a little respect for it’s healing and restorative powers.

For years we have been taught to cover-up and lather on the sunscreen. I am not trying to recommend in favour of excess sun exposure however, a little time spent “soaking up some rays” goes a long way to making a healthier baby and a healthier you! In order to reap the benefits of the UV-B absorption from the sun it is imperative not to be wearing sunscreen though and so you will need to read the labels of the bottles of face cream and other moisturizers you use to ensure you aren't accidently "covering up."

So what do the numbers say? In order to be able to provide an adequate amount of vitamin D in our breast milk (for an exclusively breastfed baby) we need to take approximately 3,000 - 4,000 IU/day. Our body absorbs the vitamin D best when the sun is higher in the sky. If we were outside and totally naked for the peak hours of high sunshine then studies suggest that we would be able to create 20,000 – 30,000 IU. Five percent body exposure (somewhat more realistic for most of us) can create 100-200 IU in a short time.

Usually no more than thirty minutes a day in the warmer months for a person with white skin (the pigment in darker skin tones acts as more of a block against the body being able to create vitamin D from the UV-B rays) would be sufficient to provide exactly what you need for the day. For some darker skinned moms you may need to increase that time by as much as four times. Certainly, if mom AND baby are outside then the amount of time for baby to get what s/he needs would be less because there would still be some coming through the breast milk.

Our body is able to stock pile the excess we create just as long as the source of the vitamin comes to us naturally. If you take extra supplement or drink too much Vitamin D fortified anything then you put yourself at an increased risk of nausea, fatigue, kidney stones, and more. If however, your excess stores come from natural sources, like the sun, they are able to be kept in your system for use when your body is getting low, like during the winter months when the sun is not as strong nor as high in the sky.

So, can a parent be deemed irresponsible if s/he decides not to give a baby the vitamin D drops as recommended by the **Canadian Paediatric Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics and many more organizations? Yes, if the parents decide to simply forgo the need babies have for this vitamin and the reality that, in most cases, mothers do not generate adequate vitamin D in their breast milk due to their own deficiency.

Personally I think most mothers do not even know why they are being told to give the drops to their baby and that their own vitamin D deficiency is the issue. They may wonder why their breast milk is missing it but they are told the drops are an easy way to remedy the worry. Often, since it is being recommended by a care-provider they trust they don’t think to wonder how this medication affects the baby. In truth many babies have a difficult time with the drops. Many babies find their tummies are upset, they vomit more (therefore retain less breast milk as a result) and some are generally crankier overall while taking it.

At the end of the day it is your choice as to whether or not you believe your baby needs the supplement but please, as with all parenting decisions, decide based upon what you have researched and deemed to be the best decision for your family, not just because it is what your doctor told you to do.

For another great article about this, and to read and be reminded of the benefits of sun for our bodies, check out Female Intelligence Agency’s article titled: Does Breast Milk Contain Enough Vitamin D to Prevent Deficiency in Breastfed Babies?

** in fact the CPS Position Statement -- linked to above -- does NOT suggest or recommend solely offering routine supplementation of vitamin D drops to babies but rather that mom take/get more during pregnancy and while lactating AND having baby spend regular periods of time outside as well. These other options are rarely mentioned to mom though.

Posted by Sam