Vitamin D Drops Making Baby Vomit

Vitamin D Drops Making Baby Vomit

Vitamin D is extremely important for good health, yet nearly one billion people around the world are deficient in this nutrient. Vitamin D is particularly important to the health of babies and growing children, because it helps their bodies absorb calcium, which, in turn, allows for the growth of strong and healthy bones.

Because young children often can't eat foods rich in this nutrient, they can be given aqueous vitamin D oral drops as a healthy, safe alternative.

Read more: 43 Supplements Exposed: Which Ones to Consider, Which Ones to Avoid

Vitamin D Intake for Infants

Vitamin D is a very important essential nutrient. It's known for helping the body absorb calcium, but vitamin D also regulates the amount of calcium and phosphorus stored in your bones, helps your muscles function and supports your immune system.

It also helps reduce inflammation and supports the growth of your body's cells. Getting the right amount of this nutrient can help to prevent a variety of diseases, including rickets, osteoporosis and osteomalacia ⁠— which are all conditions that cause weak bones.

Most people can obtain vitamin D from certain foods, like fatty fish, egg yolks, beef liver or fortified products, but one of the best sources of this nutrient is the sun. When your body is exposed to the sun's ultraviolet rays of light, your skin produces vitamin D. According to the Cleveland Clinic, as little as five to 15 minutes of sun exposure just two to three times a week can provide most people with adequate amounts of vitamin D.

However, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children should be kept out of direct sunlight as much as possible to prevent health problems like skin cancer. When children are exposed to direct sunlight, they should wear sunscreen ⁠— but the sunscreen can prevent your child's body from making enough vitamin D.

Because infants aren't able to eat vitamin D rich foods yet and can't obtain their vitamin D from the sun, they need to get this nutrient from fortified beverages or supplements, like aqueous vitamin D oral drops.

Although breast milk contains most of the nutrients that a growing baby needs, it contains almost no vitamin D. Because of this, the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines recommend that all breastfed infants, even partially breastfed infants, obtain 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D through supplements each day for good health.

Babies should continue to receive these supplements until they consume about 1,000 milliliters (32 ounces) a day of fortified baby formula or whole milk. If infants are not breastfeeding but consume less than this amount of formula, they should also receive vitamin D supplements.

Read more: 9 Ways to Help Avoid Vitamin D Deficiency

Safety of Baby D Drops

Multivitamin With Calcium for Infants

If you're using vitamin D for babies, side effects are fairly limited ⁠— baby D drops are generally considered to be safe and healthy for your baby. However, your child shouldn't consume more than a certain amount of vitamin D each day.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, infants up to 1 year of age should consume 400 IU (10 micrograms) of vitamin D per day. The maximum amount of vitamin D that should be given is 1,000 IU per day for infants 6 months and younger and 1,500 IU per day for infants between 6 and 12 months.

Once an infant turns 1 year old, she should get 600 IU (15 micrograms) of vitamin D per day. After the first birthday, a child's intake should be no more than 2,500 IU per day until the age of 4.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, too much vitamin D can lead to a range of side effects including:

• Confusion
• Constipation
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Frequent urination
• Joint pain
• Muscle pain
• Lack of appetite
• Persistent thirst
• Stomach pain
• Muscle weakness
• Tiredness

Excessive vitamin D can even lead to more serious problems, like weight loss, kidney damage and heart problems.

It's possible to accidentally overdose infants with liquid vitamin D by simply using the wrong-sized dropper. It's also likely that a baby may get too much vitamin D when he is given both aqueous vitamin D oral drops and supplemented products, like infant formula or fortified beverages such as milk or juice. This is because most American milk has 100 IU of vitamin D per cup, while infant formula has 40 to 100 IU per 100 calories.

Read more: Which Type of Milk (or Nondairy Milk) Is Best? The PROs and CONs of 9 Different Kinds

Importance of Vitamin D Supplementation

The World Health Organization recommends making sure infants gets enough vitamin D, because:

• without it
  
• they may experience breathing difficulties
  
• seizures
  
• conditions like rickets
  
• which can deform their growing bones

All infants are born with low amounts of vitamin D, which means they are particularly prone to becoming deficient in this important nutrient.

Vitamin D Drops Making Baby Vomit

Source: https://www.hellomotherhood.com/article/430292-side-effects-of-vitamin-d-drops-for-babies/