Breast milk is the best source of nutrition for babies, but it is low in vitamin D.
Vitamind D is necessary to help the body absorb calcium and phosphorus from food, and is important for bone development.
About 70 percent of U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D.
Children who are severely deficient in vitamin D can develop rickets, a disorder in which the bones weaken which can lead to fractures and skeletal deformities.
Children who are not getting the recommended amount of vitamin D might be an increased risk for osteoporosis when they get older.
There's also emerging evidence that vitamin D provides a host of other health benefits for kids, including boosting immunity and helping to prevent cancer and diabetes later in life.
The Rhode Island Department of Health promotes the American Academy of Pediatrics guideline that infants be exclusively breastfed for approximately the first six months of life and continue for at least twelve months and thereafter as long as mutually desired by the mother and child.
The AAP recommends all children, including infants, get 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D per day, an amount that is not possible to get from breast milk alone.
While people can also get vitamin D from sunlight, the AAP advises that infants younger than six months avoid exposure to direct sunlight due to skin cancer risk.
The solution is vitamin D supplement drops which the AAP is now campaigning to promote.
Only about 5% to 13% of breast-fed babies received vitamin D supplements between 2005 and 2007, according to a study published in April in the journal Pediatrics.
A newer study found only 36.4% doctors surveyed between 2006 and 2008 recommended vitamin D supplements to breastfed infants in accordance with the AAP's recommendation.
Recent surveys indicate still less than half of pediatricians are recommending vitamin D supplements to breast-fed babies.
Prior to 2008, the AAP recommended children and infants older than two months receive 200 IU's of vitamin D per day — half of the current recommendation, but still, an amount that required supplements for breast-fed babies.
The AAP has not specifically recommended formula-fed infants be given supplements.
Additional Resources:
Breastfed Babies and Vitamin D
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