Breast milk lacks vitamin D
Categories: Newborns, Just for moms, Pregnancy & birth, Health & safety, Eating & nutrition, Medical conditions, Development, Mommy wars, Mealtime
Is there a downside to breastfeeding? A new report from the New York Times might have you thinking so. In a recent article, several studies monitoring a lack of vitamin D in infants might support that breastmilk is not enough to prevent things like rickets in children. The biggest fear is that the deficiency is more common than previously thought and is going undetected. Breastmilk apparently does not necessarily provide enough of the vitamin to children.
Doctors, of course, are rare to say anything at all negative about breastfeeding. Unlike perhaps even fifty years ago, women are being told that they simply must breastfeed, that they are wrong for not doing so, and that breastmilk is the ultimate wonder food for their infants. This may well be true, but the medical profession that's been pushing breastfeeding down our throats has also admitted to knowing there is a probable link between vitamin D deficiency and diseases like diabetes and cancer.
The answer, of course, is not to stop breastfeeding, but rather to augment a child's nutrition by adding vitamin drops, or, my favorite, cod liver oil (yummy!). The other pretty obvious answer is that if a woman is deficient in something, so, too, will be her breastmilk. Mothers should be getting plenty of vitamin D themselves in order to pass on the right amount to their infants. That should be good news to those of us who are committed to breastfeeding exclusively for as long as possible. Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and my own pediatrician recommend supplementing with the vitamin D drops.
Thoughts? I for one drink enough milk while pregnant and nursing to keep a small dairy in business. Is it enough? Who knows. Did you supplement breastfeeding with vitamins for your infants or enjoy a little cod liver oil?
Pic by timtom.ch [surfin' USA].
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Steph 8-26-2008 @ 11:32AM
Vitamin D is also absorbed through the skin from sunshine. Possibly low vitamin D in both mother and child comes from spending so much time indoors. Many go from house to car to work (or daycare or playdate) to home again. Kids and adults are nature deficient today-we all need to spend more time outdoors.
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mamaloo 8-26-2008 @ 12:24PM
Exactly: go outside! Simple. Problem over. Stop overusing sunblock. Start getting healthy sun exposure.
rachel 8-26-2008 @ 1:51PM
I couldn't agree more!
Karen 8-26-2008 @ 12:39PM
Going outside is a great answer for babies with melanin, such as my adorable little girl, but not for others, such as her pale Irish cousin. For pale babies, supplementing with drops or even (horrors!) formula is a better, less dangerous answer. No matter how much Vitamin D the mother takes in or creates through sun exposure, not enough passes through the breast milk for babies' optimum health, so don't be afraid to supplement your baby's diet.
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Sandyone 8-26-2008 @ 3:00PM
Even pale Irish kids can get some sun without being burned. Supplementing with formula for the Vitamin D is not a worthwhile trade off because the formula upsets the terrific gut flora. Unless there is a medical problem, a bit of sun for moms and babies is a great thing.
Also, if Mom gets a good amount of sun during pregnancy, it *does* transfer to the baby...for 6 or 9 months after birth. Way cool, these bodies of ours!
Julie 8-26-2008 @ 3:39PM
My son has fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Sun exposure of 10 minutes a day with no sunscreen doesn't burn him at all. His arms, which are used to sun exposure, can tolerate up to 30 minutes of exposure. Sun exposure is the best source of vitamin D - even for the fair skinned.
Jillian 8-26-2008 @ 1:16PM
Kids under 6 months aren't supposed to have sunblock anyway, so sheesh, just spend a little time outside. Doesn't have to be so long that you risk burning skin, but EVERYBODY needs to get vitamin d from the sun. You absolutely do NOT need to give vitamin drops to a breastfed baby.
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Karen 8-26-2008 @ 2:47PM
I get the whole "breast milk is the perfect food" thing, and I breastfeed my own baby, but a baby needs 10 minutes of sun exposure over a fair amount of the body to get a day's supply of Vitamin D. While that is not a problem for my daughter, that much exposure would risk causing my own skin to burn a little. Because skin cancer can be deadly and it does run in my family, my sister's baby needs to be covered up. And we're talking about vitamin drops, for pete's sake, not poison drops. Supplementation does not mean failure. (I do agree about sunscreen, though. Until long-term data shows that modern formulations reduce skin cancer, I'll just wear a hat.)
Rachel 8-26-2008 @ 1:50PM
WOW, what a shocker, the medical community changes their mind...again!!! I guess breasts are just for decoration. It must be a miracle that our species didn't die out a thousand years ago. I don't think they had formula or vitamin D drops back then, do you? The babies must all have had rickets, cancer, and diabetes.
GIVE ME A BREAK!!
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pbhj 8-26-2008 @ 9:20PM
Excellent reporting here as ever - read the article and you find that teenagers too are not getting enough vitamin-D. Must be that devilish breast milk - oh wait, neither group is going outside as much as they used to, and just a few minutes of sun is all that's needed?
Nope, definitely the hippy-liberals and their anachronistic breast-is-best mantra.
[end sarcasm]
Karen 8-26-2008 @ 4:07PM
No matter how fair your skin, you should be able to go outside for 10 minutes without burning. If not, you need to gradually build up an ability to be in the sun for at least that long.
I believe the current view that we should block out all sun to be wrong, and I think we will soon be hearing about the beneficial aspects of the sun, in addition to vitamin D.
I'm not suggesting overexposure, but everyone should be able to get 10 minutes without a problem.
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the goddess anna 8-26-2008 @ 4:29PM
I dunno. Ten minutes of full sun exposure, and I start to burn. I've gotten new freckles in that amount of time. Some of us are prone to burning, no matter how much we try to build up our resistance. It's not terribly hard to get vitamin D from other sources, though, so I don't see why anybody should be deficient. I do let my kids play outside for short periods without sunblock (partially because it takes as long to put it on as they get to play!), but for days at the beach, we all get slathered.
c_rousseau05 8-26-2008 @ 4:31PM
Sunshine, plain and simple, puts enough Vitamin D in a child for months with just a half hour of exposure without any protection. I don't supplement with drops, instead I use good old sunshine everyday or at least every couple of days especially if the weather is bad. Living in Texas there's hardly a day that passes without sun but those who live in colder climates with a lot of rain probably would have to use the drops.
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ivory 8-26-2008 @ 5:36PM
This is a good example of how (due to our medical system) Drs can not spent the time needed with patients to find the small percentage of the population who are at risk, so instead they medicate everyone. Yes, this may be an issue for a very small percentage of breastfed babies, but to say that all breastfed babies are deficient and need to have the drops is ridiculous. Our doctors do not have the time to treat us as individuals, so it is up to us to be active participants in our own care, and than of our children, by educating ourselves past an article in a newspaper.
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ivory 8-26-2008 @ 5:36PM
This is a good example of how (due to our medical system) Drs can not spent the time needed with patients to find the small percentage of the population who are at risk, so instead they medicate everyone. Yes, this may be an issue for a very small percentage of breastfed babies, but to say that all breastfed babies are deficient and need to have the drops is ridiculous. Our doctors do not have the time to treat us as individuals, so it is up to us to be active participants in our own care, and than of our children, by educating ourselves past an article in a newspaper.
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Tamyu 8-26-2008 @ 11:31PM
You know, people, you don`t have to sit outside in direct sunlight for 10 or 15 minutes to benefit. You can *open a window* on a sunny day and let your baby enjoy the natural light. If you or your baby burns within minutes of exposure to any sun light - that sounds like an actual medical condition.
My son actually had rickets, as one of the countless complications arising from being born prematurely (he couldn`t process enough vitamin D from vitamin drops, let alone from formula.) He was also too small and weak to even think about hanging around outdoors.
So what cured it? An afternoon bath with 15 or 20 minutes of naked "play" time on a blanket by the window. A couple weeks of this and it started to correct itself, and in about a month the doctor said he was no longer deficient.
You don`t have to sunbathe. Just get some healthy exposure to natural light.
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SKL 8-27-2008 @ 11:42AM
Does it even have to be 10 continuous minutes? What about 2 5-minute sessions or 3 3.3-minute ones?
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Tamyu 8-27-2008 @ 11:37PM
I would think that it would work just as well. You`re aiming for exposure, not a tan! Once my son was big enough to go out and about normally, I never gave it another thought - but he clearly got enough (the doctor continued with tests for 2 years) just with regular play out of direct sunlight (but still outside).
ablndmomnt 8-27-2008 @ 6:58PM
Rachel, I'm not sure if you are being sarcastic and on that note I will continue. We just had this discussion in my medical class last month. The reason that children didn't show a deficiency years ago is because we didn't have SPF 300 that blocked all UV rays. Our body is a wonderland to quote John Mayer we incubate humans and feed them with just our little old bodies but they HAVE to have certain things to maintain our natural balance. When you block ALL UV rays as these sun blocks do and never let your child outside without being covered from head to toe you are depriving your body of vitamin D. This vitamin helps with diseases like rickets but also helps in calcium absorption in older women. My children are outside right now no sunscreen with the light coming through the leaves of our 30 year old tree getting some great vitamin D!
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Rachel 8-28-2008 @ 7:33AM
I was being sarcastic. I thought the big "GIVE ME A BREAK" at the end of my comment would make that obvious....guess not. I hope others don't think I was serious!! Anyway, thanks for the info.