Vitamin D is essential for healthy growth and development during infancy and childhood, especially for normal bone growth and strong muscles. Leading pediatricians recommend supplementing the diet of 400 IU of vitamin D daily for partially or fully breastfed infants. Baby DDROPS 400 IU 90 Drops Liquid Vitamin D3 for children, This vitamin D3 for breastfed babies is from the popular Canadian brand Ddrops. The brand’s supplements have won several Mom’s Choice Awards for their quality.
- One drop contains 400 IU of pure vitamin D3 and fractionated coconut oil, which is 100% of the RDA for an infant under one year old. The liquid is easily dispensed with a plastic pipette. There are 90 servings in a bottle.
- A good drug, but unreasonably expensive. Absolutely identical in composition, vitamin D3, owned by the home brand, costs 7 times cheaper per serving.
- This vitamin d3 specifically designed for breastfed babies
- It tasteless, chemical-free, no additives artificial flavors, or colors
- Free of most common allergens
Why is vitamin D deficiency dangerous?
In many cases, people with vitamin D deficiency have an increased risk of developing cancer, cardiovascular, infectious, and many other diseases. But it is too early to say that the cause-and-effect relationship has been precisely established.
Research shows that taking vitamin D supplements in the form of medications or dietary supplements is not always effective.
If you take vitamin D, in what form? Drops? Pills? Gummy bears?
The medical advice does not differentiate between different forms of drugs. Medicines with vitamin D are sold in the form of drops, solutions and soluble tablets. Of those types of vitamin D that are usually prescribed for prophylaxis, only vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is registered as a medicine. It is sold in other forms (for example, in capsules), but then it is a dietary supplement, that is, a dietary supplement. And the quality of their products is most likely not as well controlled as the production of drugs.
There is also vitamin D2 ( ergocalciferol ). At low doses, vitamins D2 and D3, do not differ in effect
However, some people prefer to take medicines that contain the active form of vitamin D (alfacalcidol and calcitriol) instead of vitamins D2 and D3.
So vitamin D supplements are not needed at all?
The most reliable data on the effectiveness of vitamin D is for bone health. It is involved in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, which affect bone growth and mineral density. And, strictly speaking, it has only been proven that vitamin D deficiency manifests itself in problems with bones and muscles: rickets (in children) and osteomalacia (in children and adults) can occur. In these conditions, bones become “soft” or brittle, they ache, become deformed, fractures occur, and muscles weaken.
Taking vitamin D supplements can help make a difference – but only if the person is already sick. However, there are not enough good quality studies that would show that drugs are effective in prevention. Although there is certainly logic in this assumption.
Eating food with vitamin D
There are not many foods high in vitamin D. This is mainly fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, sardines) and its liver. There is some vitamin D in mushrooms, beef liver, cheese and yolks. And it can be difficult to organize your diet so that you regularly consume enough of these foods.
There is very little vitamin D in human breast milk, so babies who are fully or partially breastfed do not get enough of it, and they are more likely to develop rickets. Children on artificial formulas fortified with vitamin D may also receive too little of it – this must be calculated individually.
If the sun and food are scarce, doctors may recommend medication.
Be in the sun
It is very difficult to estimate how long you need to be in the sun so that, on the one hand, you do not increase the risk of developing melanoma, and on the other, you get enough vitamin D. Here, the season, skin tone, the use of sunscreen and other factors are important. But according to some reports, on average, it is enough to spend 5 to 30 minutes in the sun between 10 and 15 hours twice a week – with a bare face, arms, legs or back. Someone thinks that even less is needed.
This is if you don’t use sunscreen. Although you can get the right amount of vitamin D with it, unless you take extraordinary measures to protect yourself from the sun.
But the problem is that infants up to six months old cannot be in direct sunlight, and people who live in northern latitudes, from November to March, cannot produce vitamin D in the skin from for insufficiently strong solar radiation.