What breastfeeding women should know about vitamin D

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that while breastfeeding is the recommended method of infant feeding, breast milk alone does not provide infants with enough vitamin D. Most breastfed infants' bodies will produce the vitamin through sunlight exposure, but some are unable. There are some rare cases where vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets in babies, a disease that hinders bone formation.

Interested in learning more about vitamin D and its importance to breastfeeding women and their babies, we invited Pamela K. Murphy, PhD, MS, CNM, IBCLC, and vitamin D expert to write a guest article on the topic. Read on below for her insight.

Vitamin D. What is all the hype? Vitamin D helps maintain bone health and immune function. Furthermore, an abundance of studies have shown that if vitamin D levels are low, we put ourselves at risk for developing a number of disease processes.

These include many types of cancer, including colon and breast; adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth and pre-eclampsia; as well as multiple sclerosis, depressive disorders, heart disease, and diabetes.

A large percentage of women (and men) are deficient in vitamin D. You can check to see what your vitamin D level is by asking your health care provider to do a blood test to check your serum 25(OH)D level, or order a do-it-yourself test online from GrassrootsHealth or the Vitamin D Council. Your 25(OH)D level should be at least 30ng/mL (or 75nmol/L) but should probably be more in the 50-80ng/mL range for optimum health benefits.

Our bodies manufacture vitamin D naturally when our skin is exposed to UVB rays, but because we tend to protect ourselves from these harmful rays through the use of sunscreen and protective clothing, we do not manufacture the daily amount we need.

Even if we expose our bare skin to sunlight, several factors make an impact:

• Skin pigmentation. The darker your skin, the more sunlight exposure you need.
• Latitude. The further away from the equator, UBV rays are not as strong.
• Season. UVB rays are not as strong in the fall and winter months.

Additionally, food sources are limited in the amount of vitamin D they provide. The Office of Dietary Supplements has a great list of foods with the amount of vitamin D they contain.

To increase your vitamin D level, I would suggest taking a vitamin D supplement. The current daily dose recommended by the Institute of Medicine is 400 IU daily. Researchers suggest this is too low and recommend you take as much as 2,000-10,000 IU daily so it is best to consult your health care provider.

Studies are currently underway exploring the safe and necessary doses to supplement pregnant and lactating moms so their babies will receive the necessary amount of vitamin D. Published literature shows that doses of 6,400 IU are safe and effective for a breastfeeding mom and her infant and eliminate the need for infant supplementation of the vitamin.

The bottom line: Get your vitamin D level tested, take vitamin D supplements if needed, and improve the health of you and your baby!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pamela is a Lactation Consultant at the Medical University of South Carolina, President at Lactation Resources, LLC, and Designer & Manager at www.breastfeedingconferences.com. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, Mass., her master's degree from Georgetown University, Washington, and her doctorate from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C. Pamela is also the mother of 3 children who were each breastfed for over a year.