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Vit D and Multivitamin for an infant
Hey B and Team,
Thank you for this wonderful platform. I wanted to ask about a good Vitamin D brand for my 4 month old baby? Also a good multivitamin brand if needed. Thank you in advance
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4 Replies
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Hi – congratulations!! Are you breast feeding? If so, then continuing to take your prenatal vitamins is the best way to ensure your baby is getting the micronutrients needed through your breast milk.
If not, this one by Metabolic Maintenance is a powdered option that can be added to their formula if needed. It also contains vitamin D.
Did your pediatrician recommend supplementing? Or is there something specific you’re concerned about that we might be able to help you with?
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Hey B thank you so much. It has been fantastic times with baby K. I am breastfeeding most of the time and supplementing with bottle when am at work. I am taking multivitamin but not prenatal. Also taking Vit D on its own. Does this go in the milk? I was told by the Pediatrician to supplement with Vit D from day 1. Nothing specific to be concerned about no thankfully. Can I also ask about a good probiotic for infants. He was born C section and no seeding happened unfortunately. Thank you in advance
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I know pediatricians recommend supplementing with vitamin D in infants who are breastfed, but I’ve seen mixed reviews in recent years and need some time to research it properly and get back to you on that.
As for probiotics, I usually recommend my clients this one by Smidge.
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ok – I had fun researching the topic of vitamin D supplementation in infants, and intuitively I was never comfortable with the recommendation to supplement breastfed infants with vitamin D. In my opinion, there has to be a reason why breast milk is naturally low in vitamin D.
I will share my own theory and also an interesting study showing a plausible connection between supplementation of vitamin D and higher risk of developing allergies/celiac disease later on in life.
What I found is that vitamin D transfer from mom to baby is highest during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Also a large amount of vitamin A is needed in the early months of life (hence why colostrum is rich in Vit A).
We know that large amounts of vitamin D supplementation can deplete vitamin A (I believe it’s because they compete for uptake via the same receptors). So would this could be a plausible theory as to why vitamin D supplementation in infants might be doing more harm than good. But it’s just my theory.I tried to find research on this and came up empty handed, but I did find this study. It discusses how even the recommended amount of vitamin D for infants (400 IU) is way too high and can lead to digestive consequences. Here’s an extract if you don’t have time to read it all:
“Vitamin D in human milk is about 45 IU per liter and in unfortified cows’ milk is about 40 IU per liter [18,19]. By comparison in the United States infant formula averages about 535 IU per liter, whole milk averages about 525 IU per liter, the standard daily dose of vitamin D drops recommended for breastfed infants starting at birth is 400 IU, and the most popular brand of children’s multivitamin contains 600 IU [20-23]. In addition substantial doses of vitamin D are also present in fortified foods such as cereals, orange juice, and yogurt [24,25]. These doses are large by comparison to those available in human milk and provided at high frequency to infants and toddlers who are small by weight. If one assumes that the effects of a dose are proportional to IUs consumed per pound of weight, then a 10 pound infant receiving the standard 400 IU per day dose via vitamin D drops is equivalent to a 150 pound adult receiving 42,000 IU per week through supplementation. One need not make this simplifying and perhaps unjustified assumption to see that the doses given to infants and toddlers are large. So it seems likely that the aggressive vitamin D supplementation and fortification which typically accompanies infancy in the United States will induce gastrointestinal effects in some infants and toddlers as seen in some adult trials and that these effects as already mentioned mirror many of the symptoms of celiac disease.”
Hope this helps give you a different perspective to consider.
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