Breast milk apparently contains too little vitamin D - children are often undersupplied

Should Mothers Give Newborn Supplements Vitamin D Supplements?
It has long been recognized that breastfeeding has many positive effects on newborn babies and their mothers. For this reason, medics advise babies to breastfeed and thus promote their health. However, Canadian scientists have now discovered that breast-feeding may not provide all the vitamins needed.

When mothers breastfeed their babies, babies receive many important nutrients and vitamins through breast milk. But here, too, there are clear limitations. Some important vitamins are present only in small amounts in the mother's milk, the researchers from "St. Michael's Hospital. Therefore, the experts advise lactating women to give their children vitamin D supplements. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "American Journal of Public Health".

Breast milk is optimal for the nutrition of newborns, but also contains only small amounts of vitamin D. (Image: id-foto.de/fotolia.com)

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to the development of rickets
Doctors advise long-lactating women to give their babies vitamin D supplements because the produced breast milk does not contain large amounts of this nutrient. Vitamin D helps our body to absorb calcium. Children with extremely low levels of vitamin D have an increased likelihood of developing rickets, explain the physicians. In addition, there is a risk that bones will bend or deform.

Breastfeeding alone is not enough to rule out vitamin D deficiency
The new study was conducted on approximately 2,500 Canadian children in Toronto. Whether children eat solid foods or are breastfed, they have a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency, say the physicians. Therefore, the "American Academy of Pediatrics" recommends that children should take vitamin D supplements as early as the first year of life, regardless of whether they are breast-fed or not breast-fed. If children were breastfed for up to 36 months, and did not take any supplements, they would rather develop a deficiency of vitamin D, explain the physicians. This happened even though they had begun to eat solid food, the experts add. These children had a 29 percent increased risk of developing vitamin D deficiency. If children were breastfed for 24 months, the risk was still 16 percent higher, the researchers explain.

In northern countries, less vitamin D is passed on with breast milk
Especially in the northern parts of the world, not much vitamin D is transferred to our offspring via breast milk. We do not say that breastfeeding limits your diet, but up here in the northern parts of the world, not much vitamin D is passed down through breast milk, explains co-author Dr. Jonathon Maguire from the "St. Michael's Hospital "in Toronto. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life. Then solid foods should be fed additionally. Mothers can continue to breastfeed for the first and second year if mother and child so wish, experts say. Despite the low content of vitamin D, breast milk remains the optimal source of nutrition for newborns. The study also shows that solid food is not a sufficient source of vitamin D for breastfed children. A lack of vitamin D, for example, can lead to fatigue or even affect the function of the immune system, explain the doctors. (As)