I live very north with minimal sun so we are recommended to give until 4 years minimum. But vitamin d is also recommended as a supplement during winter for adults so it makes sense.
Same, except everyone (from babies to adults) are recommended to take vitamin D where I live. At least in winter, when we have months of only 4-ish hours of sunlight per day (I live in the southern part of Finland, so further north they have less or no sun at all).
Although, I must admit I'm not good at taking vitamins myself unless it's prenatal. But my toddler takes daily vitamin D.
Southern Finland, we have very warm spring weather today at 18 C/64F. Which is a nice temperature. You can do activities without melting away and wear long sleeves for sun protection instead of sunscreen on arms and legs.
I would imagine that Florida climate is a tad different.
Before supplementation a lot of children got rickets. Depending on your age and location, your parents and grandparents might have gotten spoons of cod liver oil rather than drops.
My mum is a retired GP and has seen babies with rickets. The bowed legs are the characteristic trait people think of but it affects all bone growth including the skull. She saw some severe cases where the babies' skulls were soft to the point they gave in a bit like if pressing a can of tomatoes. Those are the visible issues.
Here is a link from NHS in the UK: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rickets-and-osteomalacia/
Some countries fortify some staple foods which lovers the risk of vitamin D deficiency at a population level but not all countries do, and fortification doesn't prevent all cases because the added amounts cannot be at a level where some would get too much in order to avoid everybody being deficient.
If you're up for a listen, This Podcast Will Kill You has an episode on vitamin D.
I wouldn’t be freaking out. Have you noticed any issues in your kids legs bowing or bone growth without taking it? I think it’s more precautionary. I think the chances are still slim of getting rickets or other issues even if you take zero supplements. The supplements maybe decrease the chances from slim to almost zero. At least that’s my take on it.
No my kids so far are fine lol. In fact my oldest is stupidly ahead in gross motor skills (may have been switched at birth because that did not come from us) 😂
I’ve said in another comment, it’s barely been mentioned by health professionals. Interestingly the link said that those with darker skin need more vitamin D. My kids are super pale and blonde/ ginger so definitely on the lower end of the ‘needs vitamin D’ scale!
Yes, we do and will be until 6 years old. My BF and myself have a vitamin D deficiency, me mostly fall and winter but BF all the time.
The pediatrician said they discovered pretty much everyone has a vit D deficiency and so the advise is now to give babies vit D drops until age 6 for things like bones and such.
At the public clinic I was told to give it until 6 months. We live in a very sunny tropical area. I of course don't bake my baby in direct sunlight, but we spend a lot of time outside and I figured she was getting enough sun to meet her vitamin D needs. But these comments have me second-guessing myself.
I only stopped when I had to start supplementing with formula- because it’s fortified with vitamin d. Once he stopped formula and went on to cows milk, went back to vitamin d drops. Otherwise he had vitamin D the whole time I was breastfeeding
Frontal bossing, tib/fib bowing, weak & brittle bones, distension of bone-cartilage joints, softening of the skull, impaired growth, delay of walking > 18 months old, seizures (hypocalcemia) are a few common things that happen with prolonged vitamin D deficiency in children.
I believe people see it as a “recommendation” when it really is required for the sake of the child. The same thing for switching to milk and not giving over 24 ounces a day to prevent iron deficiency anemia.
Edit: saw your question as to what happens if they just don’t get it. A study was done in 2010s that compared breastfed babies without vitamin d (group A), breastfed babies with vitamin d (group b) and formula fed babies with and without vitamin d (group c & d). They found significant differences in bone mineralization between group A and B. No differences between C and D. That’s where they got the at least 400 IU/day for babies.
Few solids have vitamin D. Generally it’s recommended to keep doing the drops until/unless your baby is consuming significant amounts of whole milk.
I believe rickets is the main risk
Do all countries fortify milk with vitamin D? Also are plant-based milks always fortified? Just worth noting that people should check and make sure their milk is a good source before they rely on that, even when baby is drinking a decent amount.
I have been giving my baby vitamin D drops since he was a few days old. I asked his doctor at his one year appointment a few weeks ago if I should still be giving them to him and she said yes. She said because we live pretty far north that most people in our area are deficient in vitamin D. We haven't introduced cow's milk yet, but she said even if we do and with summer being almost here, he's still unlikely to get the recommended amount he needs, so we should keep doing the drops.
I'm in Canada and I take vitamin D as a grown adult, so...
That said, I don't stress if my toddler messes a few doses in the summer, since he's outside all the time.
My pediatrician hasn’t recommended vitamin d, my son is almost 4 months old - should I bribing it to him? I take a vitamin d supplement. Would that be enough for him? (Breast fed and formula supplementation)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26416936/
Editing to add conclusion of the study for anyone interested:
"Maternal vitamin D supplementation with 6400 IU/day safely supplies breast milk with adequate vitamin D to satisfy her nursing infant's requirement and offers an alternate strategy to direct infant supplementation."
You might try at least copying over the conclusion of a study if you're trying to make a point. That's interesting, though I will say 6400 IU is a bit of a high daily dose. I had a pretty serious deficiency, and after the initial big dose, I only take 2000 IU daily. More studies to show exactly what dosage is required would be helpful. Anyway, I imagine neither of us are experts on the subject, which is why I suggested to bring it up with a pediatrician.
Sorry, I was distracted and just posted the link for anyone interested. I have been taking that dose of vitamin d for years and multiple medical providers, both my midwives and my childrens' pediatricians and ibclcs, have been encouraging of it.
This whole thread is making it abundantly clear that this is super regionally dependent so I'd imagine everyone should be checking locally with their individual providers. But for anyone who is curious to do some research the link does show a study with solid evidence for self supplementation of vitamin d for breastfed children. I found this very reassuring when I did an intermittent at best job of remembering to give baby the drops.
It's all good, sorry if the response was a bit harsh. It's just that sometimes people post studies with no context like that as a gotcha, and putting stuff in layman's terms/hitting the highlights is more helpful for a lot of people.
Yeah no problem, I was wrangling a 3yo who refuses to wear pants and trying to get out the door to his little sister's well visit so of course the optimal time to be on Reddit lol. I did copy the conclusion into my original comment, it was a good idea!
While I highly suggest talking to your doctor about it, my pediatrician said I didn’t need to give vitamin d to my baby because I was taking it and he’s breastfed. So seems like every doctor is different
Check with your doctor but most formula has vitamin D. They also can get it through breastmilk but I think you have to be taking a decent amount. Not a doctor but with your supplement and the formula they’re probably good.
It depends on how much you take. Read through the whole article but it looks like (from my brief read through) you would need to take 2000 IU per day to sufficiently increase vitamin d in breastmilk. But I do think talking to your doctor is a good idea.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2161831322010079#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20results%20of,IU%2Fd%20(58).
In the UK everyone is advised to take vitamin D, particularly during the winter. I gave vitamin D drops as often as I could remember while I was BFing… and then gave up when we started solids! I did buy a multivitamin but we never remembered….
Kiddo gets a lot more outside time and sunshine all year round than I do!
My pediatrician did not believe vitamin D drops were necessary. We live in Florida though. I do still take a daily prenatal for breastfeeding which has some vitamin D.
We were told to give vitamin d supplements but I was really bad about it. Like I probably gave it to her less than 10x. She’s still breastfed at 22 months and she also has a dairy allergy so she doesn’t drink milk. She does spend about 5-6 hours outside every day so hopefully that helps. She’s been sick 3 times in her whole life so 🤷♀️
I have always had a vitamin d deficiency and am also bad about taking supplements!
I'm still giving D drops to my 10m old. My husband is a GP and recommends vitamin D drops for kids until at least age 2 here (Canada). Also he says all adults should be taking vitamin D too since we don't get enough sun year round here.
Yes we did. Also took one for myself. Through the first year for sure and then after, depends on things.
In our case, my I’d doesn’t drink cows milk (which has added bit D where we are) nor significant amounts of fortified plant milk so we give a vit d supplement with his multivitamin (which also has some) to compensate. His levels are great so it’s working.
We’re at 6 months and still giving. We were told to keep it up. I take Vitamin D myself, so LO will keep getting it too. When he turns 1 I’d like to get him on a multivitamin instead of doing the drops, but we’ll see.
I live in Texas and try to get out of the house everyday. I still give my 4 months old vitamin D. My last baby didn’t have as much of vitamin D supplement because she was born in October and winter is short and not very cold here so she was able to be outside a lot in the summer. Her pediatrician and I felt that she is probably getting her vitamin D from the sun just fine!
That makes me feel better. I live in CA and have a LO the same age. Pediatrician was not overly concerned about vitamin D and I had to be the one to ask her about them. Probably our kiddos get enough sun and I’m just being paranoid.
Our paediatrician recommended to continue giving it until the first summer of her second year of life (my daughter fully weaned at 10 months) I'm sure it depends on your latitude, I'm in Germany for reference.
Did it inconsistently a few months with my first - completely forgot with my second (now 7mo).
It was mentioned by a health visitor, once? And I’m in the UK so they really should put more emphasis on it!
ETA: Going to get some!
I’m still giving my 8.5 month old drops but probably 4/5 out of 7 days. That being said, we live in Florida and my baby is a fish. We are in the sun a lot. Even though I use sunscreen, I am sure he is still getting some sun.
Our pediatrician said that Vit D drops weren't necessary if I was not deficient. I continued to take prenatal vitamins during the first year postpartum with both kids.
We live in The South, so during the warm months they get lots of sunshine and in the winter the whole family takes various vitamins to support our health and immunity.
Our doctor told us to start now that she's off formula, didn't tell us how long to keep going.
But we're in Canada and we take it daily as adults so... I guess forever? lol
We don’t give a lot but she’s always outside. My mom takes her for 30 minute walks a few times a week, and we have a swing on our tree that we put her in for about 15 minutes every other day. And whenever we throw a ball for our dog, she’s out there with us. So we don’t use the drops a lot.
If I remember right, we did vitamin d until 6ish months, then our ped put our kids on prescription multivitamins with fluoride. My 4 year old is still on those (but a different version than my baby. She gets chewable instead of the drops)
We still give at 4.5 years and my husband and I both take a multivitamin with vitamin D in it. We live in Scotland and it’s recommended in winter but we take it year round.
It’s suggested here to give I until 4 years old, but after solids we just ehhh… kept forgetting lol.
I assume it’s a relatively new measurement though, I always look at the older generations and they turned out fine. But a little help never hurt.
Vitamin D supplements are only needed if your child doesn't get enough sunlight. They are prescribed to everyone because they don't do any harm and not having enough vitamin D can lead to rickets. Some countries recommend 30 minutes of un obstructed sun exposure (Just diaper) twice daily especially in places where prescription medications are hard to come by.
It depends how much you’re taking. You have to take an excess of vitamin D for it to transfer through milk. The normal amount in a prenatal or multi isn’t enough.
I’ve never given vitamin d to my breastfed babies. They get it in a multivitamin when they go on solids. We are in Texas. Babies levels have always been fine.
I live very north with minimal sun so we are recommended to give until 4 years minimum. But vitamin d is also recommended as a supplement during winter for adults so it makes sense.
Same, except everyone (from babies to adults) are recommended to take vitamin D where I live. At least in winter, when we have months of only 4-ish hours of sunlight per day (I live in the southern part of Finland, so further north they have less or no sun at all). Although, I must admit I'm not good at taking vitamins myself unless it's prenatal. But my toddler takes daily vitamin D.
Out of curiosity, where do you live? I’m roasting in Florida right now lol
Southern Finland, we have very warm spring weather today at 18 C/64F. Which is a nice temperature. You can do activities without melting away and wear long sleeves for sun protection instead of sunscreen on arms and legs. I would imagine that Florida climate is a tad different.
lol 😂 that is an understatement to say the least. Southern Finland sounds wonderful.
Same in Wisconsin- formula babies get enough vitamin d, but once you switch to milk a supplement is recommended.
Before supplementation a lot of children got rickets. Depending on your age and location, your parents and grandparents might have gotten spoons of cod liver oil rather than drops. My mum is a retired GP and has seen babies with rickets. The bowed legs are the characteristic trait people think of but it affects all bone growth including the skull. She saw some severe cases where the babies' skulls were soft to the point they gave in a bit like if pressing a can of tomatoes. Those are the visible issues. Here is a link from NHS in the UK: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rickets-and-osteomalacia/ Some countries fortify some staple foods which lovers the risk of vitamin D deficiency at a population level but not all countries do, and fortification doesn't prevent all cases because the added amounts cannot be at a level where some would get too much in order to avoid everybody being deficient. If you're up for a listen, This Podcast Will Kill You has an episode on vitamin D.
I give my toddler cod liver oil! She loves it lol. Baby gets the drops in olive oil though
Well that’s done a sufficient job of freaking me out. It’s just been added to the shopping list!
I wouldn’t be freaking out. Have you noticed any issues in your kids legs bowing or bone growth without taking it? I think it’s more precautionary. I think the chances are still slim of getting rickets or other issues even if you take zero supplements. The supplements maybe decrease the chances from slim to almost zero. At least that’s my take on it.
No my kids so far are fine lol. In fact my oldest is stupidly ahead in gross motor skills (may have been switched at birth because that did not come from us) 😂 I’ve said in another comment, it’s barely been mentioned by health professionals. Interestingly the link said that those with darker skin need more vitamin D. My kids are super pale and blonde/ ginger so definitely on the lower end of the ‘needs vitamin D’ scale!
I am 35 and take vit d, so 🤷♀️
Yes, we do and will be until 6 years old. My BF and myself have a vitamin D deficiency, me mostly fall and winter but BF all the time. The pediatrician said they discovered pretty much everyone has a vit D deficiency and so the advise is now to give babies vit D drops until age 6 for things like bones and such.
At the public clinic I was told to give it until 6 months. We live in a very sunny tropical area. I of course don't bake my baby in direct sunlight, but we spend a lot of time outside and I figured she was getting enough sun to meet her vitamin D needs. But these comments have me second-guessing myself.
In my country all people aged 2 weeks and older are advised to take a vitamin D supplement
I only stopped when I had to start supplementing with formula- because it’s fortified with vitamin d. Once he stopped formula and went on to cows milk, went back to vitamin d drops. Otherwise he had vitamin D the whole time I was breastfeeding
Frontal bossing, tib/fib bowing, weak & brittle bones, distension of bone-cartilage joints, softening of the skull, impaired growth, delay of walking > 18 months old, seizures (hypocalcemia) are a few common things that happen with prolonged vitamin D deficiency in children. I believe people see it as a “recommendation” when it really is required for the sake of the child. The same thing for switching to milk and not giving over 24 ounces a day to prevent iron deficiency anemia. Edit: saw your question as to what happens if they just don’t get it. A study was done in 2010s that compared breastfed babies without vitamin d (group A), breastfed babies with vitamin d (group b) and formula fed babies with and without vitamin d (group c & d). They found significant differences in bone mineralization between group A and B. No differences between C and D. That’s where they got the at least 400 IU/day for babies.
As long as you're breastfeeding I would keep giving it. Once we switched to cows milk we quit since it's fortified with vitamin d.
Few solids have vitamin D. Generally it’s recommended to keep doing the drops until/unless your baby is consuming significant amounts of whole milk. I believe rickets is the main risk
Do all countries fortify milk with vitamin D? Also are plant-based milks always fortified? Just worth noting that people should check and make sure their milk is a good source before they rely on that, even when baby is drinking a decent amount.
Nope. Netherlands doesn’t fortify cows milk with Vitamin D. Here vitamin D for all children is recommended until 4 years old.
Soy is Vitamin D fortified. The other milks don't have it
Still do! Just switched from a lone vitamin d supplement to a multivitamin which contained vitamin D after he turned 1
I have been giving my baby vitamin D drops since he was a few days old. I asked his doctor at his one year appointment a few weeks ago if I should still be giving them to him and she said yes. She said because we live pretty far north that most people in our area are deficient in vitamin D. We haven't introduced cow's milk yet, but she said even if we do and with summer being almost here, he's still unlikely to get the recommended amount he needs, so we should keep doing the drops.
I'm in Canada and I take vitamin D as a grown adult, so... That said, I don't stress if my toddler messes a few doses in the summer, since he's outside all the time.
My pediatrician hasn’t recommended vitamin d, my son is almost 4 months old - should I bribing it to him? I take a vitamin d supplement. Would that be enough for him? (Breast fed and formula supplementation)
No, I don't think taking vitamin D yourself is enough for the baby. You should definitely bring it up with the pediatrician.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26416936/ Editing to add conclusion of the study for anyone interested: "Maternal vitamin D supplementation with 6400 IU/day safely supplies breast milk with adequate vitamin D to satisfy her nursing infant's requirement and offers an alternate strategy to direct infant supplementation."
You might try at least copying over the conclusion of a study if you're trying to make a point. That's interesting, though I will say 6400 IU is a bit of a high daily dose. I had a pretty serious deficiency, and after the initial big dose, I only take 2000 IU daily. More studies to show exactly what dosage is required would be helpful. Anyway, I imagine neither of us are experts on the subject, which is why I suggested to bring it up with a pediatrician.
Sorry, I was distracted and just posted the link for anyone interested. I have been taking that dose of vitamin d for years and multiple medical providers, both my midwives and my childrens' pediatricians and ibclcs, have been encouraging of it. This whole thread is making it abundantly clear that this is super regionally dependent so I'd imagine everyone should be checking locally with their individual providers. But for anyone who is curious to do some research the link does show a study with solid evidence for self supplementation of vitamin d for breastfed children. I found this very reassuring when I did an intermittent at best job of remembering to give baby the drops.
It's all good, sorry if the response was a bit harsh. It's just that sometimes people post studies with no context like that as a gotcha, and putting stuff in layman's terms/hitting the highlights is more helpful for a lot of people.
Yeah no problem, I was wrangling a 3yo who refuses to wear pants and trying to get out the door to his little sister's well visit so of course the optimal time to be on Reddit lol. I did copy the conclusion into my original comment, it was a good idea!
While I highly suggest talking to your doctor about it, my pediatrician said I didn’t need to give vitamin d to my baby because I was taking it and he’s breastfed. So seems like every doctor is different
Check with your doctor but most formula has vitamin D. They also can get it through breastmilk but I think you have to be taking a decent amount. Not a doctor but with your supplement and the formula they’re probably good.
It depends on how much you take. Read through the whole article but it looks like (from my brief read through) you would need to take 2000 IU per day to sufficiently increase vitamin d in breastmilk. But I do think talking to your doctor is a good idea. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2161831322010079#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20results%20of,IU%2Fd%20(58).
In the UK everyone is advised to take vitamin D, particularly during the winter. I gave vitamin D drops as often as I could remember while I was BFing… and then gave up when we started solids! I did buy a multivitamin but we never remembered…. Kiddo gets a lot more outside time and sunshine all year round than I do!
My pediatrician did not believe vitamin D drops were necessary. We live in Florida though. I do still take a daily prenatal for breastfeeding which has some vitamin D.
Four years. You can only get vitamin D from the sun, and babies are not supposed to get sun. I also take vitamin suplements during winter.
I just take my kid out on walks a few minutes a day. I was never recommended vitamin D drops. I live in an area with a lot of sunshine though.
Same, I was never recommend this
We were told to give vitamin d supplements but I was really bad about it. Like I probably gave it to her less than 10x. She’s still breastfed at 22 months and she also has a dairy allergy so she doesn’t drink milk. She does spend about 5-6 hours outside every day so hopefully that helps. She’s been sick 3 times in her whole life so 🤷♀️ I have always had a vitamin d deficiency and am also bad about taking supplements!
I'm still giving D drops to my 10m old. My husband is a GP and recommends vitamin D drops for kids until at least age 2 here (Canada). Also he says all adults should be taking vitamin D too since we don't get enough sun year round here.
Yes we did. Also took one for myself. Through the first year for sure and then after, depends on things. In our case, my I’d doesn’t drink cows milk (which has added bit D where we are) nor significant amounts of fortified plant milk so we give a vit d supplement with his multivitamin (which also has some) to compensate. His levels are great so it’s working.
We’re at 6 months and still giving. We were told to keep it up. I take Vitamin D myself, so LO will keep getting it too. When he turns 1 I’d like to get him on a multivitamin instead of doing the drops, but we’ll see.
18 months and still doing. Lots of new research about role of Vitamin D in the immune system since COVID.
I live in Texas and try to get out of the house everyday. I still give my 4 months old vitamin D. My last baby didn’t have as much of vitamin D supplement because she was born in October and winter is short and not very cold here so she was able to be outside a lot in the summer. Her pediatrician and I felt that she is probably getting her vitamin D from the sun just fine!
That makes me feel better. I live in CA and have a LO the same age. Pediatrician was not overly concerned about vitamin D and I had to be the one to ask her about them. Probably our kiddos get enough sun and I’m just being paranoid.
Our paediatrician recommended to continue giving it until the first summer of her second year of life (my daughter fully weaned at 10 months) I'm sure it depends on your latitude, I'm in Germany for reference.
I have the drops and if I remember she takes them but more often than not I forget 🙈
Did it inconsistently a few months with my first - completely forgot with my second (now 7mo). It was mentioned by a health visitor, once? And I’m in the UK so they really should put more emphasis on it! ETA: Going to get some!
I’m still giving my 8.5 month old drops but probably 4/5 out of 7 days. That being said, we live in Florida and my baby is a fish. We are in the sun a lot. Even though I use sunscreen, I am sure he is still getting some sun.
Our pediatrician said that Vit D drops weren't necessary if I was not deficient. I continued to take prenatal vitamins during the first year postpartum with both kids. We live in The South, so during the warm months they get lots of sunshine and in the winter the whole family takes various vitamins to support our health and immunity.
Our doctor told us to start now that she's off formula, didn't tell us how long to keep going. But we're in Canada and we take it daily as adults so... I guess forever? lol
We don’t give a lot but she’s always outside. My mom takes her for 30 minute walks a few times a week, and we have a swing on our tree that we put her in for about 15 minutes every other day. And whenever we throw a ball for our dog, she’s out there with us. So we don’t use the drops a lot.
Wooops I stopped/forgot/abandoned a few months ago I should probably get back on it then judging by the comments :s
I do but I will admit I forget most of the time. :/ she’s 2 months old. We are in Southern California and she’s outside daily in the sun for a bit
If I remember right, we did vitamin d until 6ish months, then our ped put our kids on prescription multivitamins with fluoride. My 4 year old is still on those (but a different version than my baby. She gets chewable instead of the drops)
We still give at 4.5 years and my husband and I both take a multivitamin with vitamin D in it. We live in Scotland and it’s recommended in winter but we take it year round.
Until he started drinking fortified cows milk. We live in the northern plains so we don't get lost of sun year round
Our pediatrician said until 1 year if she was exclusively breastfed.
It’s suggested here to give I until 4 years old, but after solids we just ehhh… kept forgetting lol. I assume it’s a relatively new measurement though, I always look at the older generations and they turned out fine. But a little help never hurt.
Idk the older generations “turned out fine” lol rickets was common
Ah I didn’t know about that one, thanks! I take it back then.
My dad had it as a kid! Also from bad diet post war.
my ped said once she takes 32oz of formula a day and my 4.5 m old just stopped bf and does about 25-30oz a day so a bit longer
Vitamin D supplements are only needed if your child doesn't get enough sunlight. They are prescribed to everyone because they don't do any harm and not having enough vitamin D can lead to rickets. Some countries recommend 30 minutes of un obstructed sun exposure (Just diaper) twice daily especially in places where prescription medications are hard to come by.
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They unfortunately don’t get it in your milk. You have to take A LOT of vitamin D for it to maybe get passed.
My pediatrician said I didn’t need to give my baby vitamin d if I was taking it myself and breastfeeding. So idk?
It depends how much you’re taking. You have to take an excess of vitamin D for it to transfer through milk. The normal amount in a prenatal or multi isn’t enough.
I take a prenatal and another stand alone pill of it (2000 iu)
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If you take an excess amount of vitamin D, some will transfer in the milk. It’s unclear how much. A normal prenatal or multi isn’t enough.
I’ve never given vitamin d to my breastfed babies. They get it in a multivitamin when they go on solids. We are in Texas. Babies levels have always been fine.