Last week I took Sean in to the doctor's office for his 4 month appointment. On the well baby questionnaire they gave me, it asked if I was giving him a multivitamin. Multivitamin?!? The kid's four months old!!! I was surprised, so I asked my pediatrician why my exclusively breast-fed baby needed a multivitamin. Turns out that doctors are starting to see more and more children with vitamin D deficiencies. (In VERY RARE cases they are even seeing rickets. Rickets!?! In this day and age!) But here's the kicker, it's due to all the sunscreen that we have been slathering on our kids to prevent skin cancer! Not only are we blocking out harmful UV rays, but we're also depriving them of much-needed vitamin D. Oooh, the irony... :)Friday, October 23, 2009
Too Much of a Good Thing
Last week I took Sean in to the doctor's office for his 4 month appointment. On the well baby questionnaire they gave me, it asked if I was giving him a multivitamin. Multivitamin?!? The kid's four months old!!! I was surprised, so I asked my pediatrician why my exclusively breast-fed baby needed a multivitamin. Turns out that doctors are starting to see more and more children with vitamin D deficiencies. (In VERY RARE cases they are even seeing rickets. Rickets!?! In this day and age!) But here's the kicker, it's due to all the sunscreen that we have been slathering on our kids to prevent skin cancer! Not only are we blocking out harmful UV rays, but we're also depriving them of much-needed vitamin D. Oooh, the irony... :)
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Yup, I heard everyone needs 15 minutes a day of direct sunlight (not sunscreened) to stay healthy. Made me feel a little better that I've always been an occasional sunscreen-applyer (our family HAS to have it if we're going to be out all day) rather than applying it daily.
(Now, if I would just sometimes leave the house, that might be good.)
i love it. remember when you could confidently say, "my kid's exclusively breast-fed, he'll never get sick!" my doctor just reminded me today about the vitamin D thing. poor baby - the drops smell disgusting...
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