Why do we give our babies vitamin d drop when breast feeding ?

I never did, and she is 3 and healthy, thank God. If our health is good, our babies are healthy too, otherwise we have to give them all kinds of things ;/ pharmaceutical companies love selling new mothers all kinds of things

As far as I’m aware vitamin D is needed to support healthy bone development :)

Because your breastmilk doesn’t contain it like formula does.

If I’m only giving formula, should I be giving the vitamin d drops?

@Lina no formula contains it :)

I was told my son needed it because he had jaundice. It’s not specific to breastfeeding as far as I’m aware

The vast majority of the population is deficient in vitamin D. In order for your breastmilk to provide sufficient levels of vitamin d to your baby, you would need to be taking 6000IUs a day. Vitamin D supports healthy bone development and prevents rickets.

Well my race lacks it the most so its important that I give it to him as we naturally lack vitamin D. Not sure about others though. But thats why I give my baby the drops

It doesn't transfer well through breastmilk and many adults are deficient themselves

I was super bad about remembering to do it with my first two who I exclusively BF, and luckily they’re perfectly healthy, maybe because we spent so much of their early years in the sun but yeah it is very important! Lots of kids end up fine without it but it’s not worth the chance when it’s easy to just drop a lil in their mouths daily

In the UK we are almost all deficient because we get so little sun! It’s recommended for both mum and baby to take. Lots of people don’t need to take it and will be absolutely fine with the deficiency but why risk it when new research shows we can benefit from it.🤩 For mum it helps build bone density back up as pregnancy/breastfeeding can decrease and make you feel achey. For babe it helps build strong bones, build up their immune system and regulate blood sugar. Formula already includes it so only bf babies need it xx

Thank you for all this information

Breast milk doesn’t contain enough vitamin D to meet babies needs for healthy bone and muscle development. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium and phosphate which build strong bones

Because it doesn’t transfer through breastmilk.

This information from The Breastfeeding Network may be useful x https://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/wp-content/dibm/2019-09/Vitamin%20D%20and%20Breastfeeding.pdf

I was told that most people have low levels so breastmilk wont give him enough, but i can take it myself and it will transfer over rather than having to give it to baby directly Formula already contains it