Vitamin D for Babies

By Carl H.

Vitamin D for babies is one of the most important vitamins. It is produced naturally in the skin and gives us energy. Vitamin D also takes care of important balances between calcium and phosphorus in the bones. Insufficient vitamin D can cause the baby´s bones to become soft/fragile or it might cause rickets and other soft-bone related diseases. 

It has become a more and more usual problem in industrial countries, because many parents don’t have time to go out in the sun with their babies. This gives the baby´s skin insufficient exposure to sunlight. In northern countries babies also might have large amounts of clothing and very few sun-hours a day. 

It’s important that the baby gets at least a few minutes of natural sunlight each day, and that the skin is exposed. How much time in the sun the baby needs depends on several factors. One of the most important is the skin color of the baby and mother. Others are general pollution in the area, intensity of sunlight in the region and the amount of clothing (or exposed skin).

Vitamin D is important

You can also read a very strong article on healthfinder.gov, the article is written about what can happen when there is insufficient intake of vitamin D for babies .  

There are several products with vitamin D for babies. One of the most common is baby drops

Who needs extra vitamin D?

There are many questions about the necessity to give babies extra vitamin D drops to breastfed babies. because of the belief that breast milk contains all essentials for the baby.
It´s correct that the breast milk from a healthy mother contains all the baby needs in terms of food. But except from that a baby has several other needs, like mental stimulation, movement, love and sunlight. And Vitamin D is created in the skin during sunlight exposiure.

As long as the baby gets sufficient sunlight each day there is no need for extra vitamin D for babies. But if it for some reason is hard to be able to get out every day while the sun is up, or expose the baby´s skin outside to the sun, there might be a reason to get extra vitamin D from drops or similar supplement sources.

The breast milk doesn’t contain more vitamin D because traditionally there has been no use. Babies were exposed to the sun long enough everyday to make it a none-issue. Today we have changed routines, we have lamps and artificial lights that makes it unnecessary to go out in the sun. At least, that’s what we seem to think. This is why it can be good to give extra vitamin D baby supplements to be sure that it won’t suffer from low levels of the vitamin while growing. Because vitamin D for babies are important for the overall energy and development, especially for the bone structure.