• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

South Lake Pediatrics

Infant, Child and Adolescent Care

Home

Why take Vitamin D

Vitamin D

September 27, 2017 by Liz Hass, APRN, CNP, IBCLC Leave a Comment

School is in session and the weather is getting cooler. Are your kids getting enough Vitamin D? Probably not. Vitamin D is a product that our bodies make when we are exposed to sunlight. In Minnesota, July and August are the only months that we get enough sunlight, based on our latitude. Additionally, people with dark skin or use sunscreen faithfully do not get enough Vitamin D from sun exposure.

Why is Vitamin D important? Vitamin D is essential for the formation and maintenance of strong bones. Vitamin D may also strengthen our immune system and may help in prevention of Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease and some cancers.

How much do I need? Current recommendations are 400 IU (“International Units”) per day for infants, children and adults. South Lake Pediatrics recommends that all children and adolescents take a Vitamin D supplement of at least 400IU per day. Most multivitamins will have this amount of Vitamin D. There are also infant drops of just Vitamin D; it is important to read the label for directions as some products call for ONE DROP and others a full dropper full.

What about breastfed babies? Unfortunately, most moms do not get enough Vitamin D into their own bodies to be able to pass on enough to their infant though breast milk even if they are taking extra Vitamin D themselves.

Filed Under: Newsletters & Articles Tagged With: breastfed, Liz Hass, sunlight, supplement, vitamin, vitamin D

Previous Post: « Why is Calcium Important?
Next Post: Eczema – “the itch that rashes” »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Spring Into a Fresh Start
  • Pumping and Breastfeeding 101: When to Start?
  • COVID Vaccine Myths
  • Mental Health in the Age of COVID
  • Return to Play After COVID-19
FacebookLinkedin
Book an Appointment powered by healow

Subscribe to our Blog

Categories

  • Achievements (1)
  • Newsletters & Articles (89)

Archives

  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • January 2021 (1)
  • November 2020 (2)
  • October 2020 (2)
  • September 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (3)
  • May 2020 (2)
  • April 2020 (2)
  • March 2020 (2)
  • February 2020 (3)
  • January 2020 (2)
  • December 2019 (2)
  • November 2019 (2)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (3)
  • August 2019 (2)
  • July 2019 (4)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (1)
  • March 2019 (1)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (4)
  • September 2018 (1)
  • August 2018 (3)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (3)
  • May 2018 (4)
  • April 2018 (3)
  • March 2018 (4)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (5)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)