Got rickets?
Your baby might, if he or she isn’t getting the recommended daily dose of Vitamin D. And the American Academy of Pediatrics had now doubled the recommended daily dose, to 400 IUs per day, starting in the first few days of life.
This isn’t a problem if you formula feed, or if your baby is old enough to get cow’s milk. However, this is one of those times where breast is not actually best, since breastmilk doesn’t provide enough Vitamin D to meet the requirements. Many mothers have Vitamin D deficiencies as well so there isn’t enough in their milk.
Vitamin D is created in the body through exposure to sunlight, and children in colder climates are also at risk of not getting enough. If they don’t, they can get rickets, a bone softening disease that results in stunted growth and skeletal deformities if left untreated.
Before we panic, though, my own pediatrician has been pretty chill about all this, and I trust her. My little guy, who’s been more or less exclusively breastfed from the beginning, was born in a very, very cold February. Our pediatrician essentially told us we didn’t have to worry, because the weather was starting to get nice just as the Vitamin D he got from me was starting to go away. Walks in the sunshine and maybe Vitamin D drops now that the weather’s getting cold again was all we’d need – and while he hasn’t been tested for rickets, he seems fine and is growing fast.
I’m not sure how that holds up with these new guidelines, but I think calm is in order here – along with maybe a call to the ped.
