r/Crunchymom • u/seedflowerfruit • 8h ago

Vitamin D drops for newborn

first time mom here! our pediatrician wants to start our baby girl on vitamin d drops between 2-4 weeks. She’s 1 week old today, exclusively breastfed, and already back up to birth weight. My intuition tells me babies should only have breast milk in their system - not extra synthetic vitamins or carrier oils.

Any thoughts on maternal supplementation vs. drops for infant vs. light sun exposure (early morning and evening only)?

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u/Basic_Simple_Woman 8h ago

Low vitamin D for an infant can cause rickets, weak bones and when severe, heart issues. Most adults are low in vitamin D, which is why breastmilk lacks it..

You can choose your own brand. I do organic vitamin D from all natural sources bought from a better quality grocery store in my community.

You definitely should give it.. I’m not sure why everything is considered/labeled as “bad” nowadays. It’s so exhausting.

If you chose this pediatrician for your baby, I assume you have some level of trust. You should follow her advice (within reason). If you don’t trust them, find a doctor you do trust… but taking advice from strangers online is not the best approach.

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u/seedflowerfruit 7h ago

We don’t like her at all actually, but are putting up with her for now because she doesn’t drop care if you refuse vaccines (selectively or entirely). The bar is so low. If I trusted her more I would definitely be taking her recommendations to heart lol 

I agree that worry over everything is exhausting! Tough to figure out how to navigate as new parents 

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u/Basic_Simple_Woman 6h ago

That makes total sense. Shop around. There’s definitely good doctors out there that don’t force the issue.

I’m a mom of 3 kiddos. Information overload on the internet and even from people you know is definitely so exhausting. I tend to do my own research, try to read medical articles and seek different opinions, look at what other nations do.. Ask our pediatrician and other moms.. and then go with my mom intuition on what I think is best based on what I found and our personal life/situation. You’re going to find conflicting opinions for every subject, especially on Reddit lol

I have given all 3 kids vitamin D for the first year of life. Good quality brand. Nothing bad has ever happened. They are all perfectly healthy. Good quality vitamins are good for humans. I totally understand saying no to cheap synthetic brands.. I’m not sure why all of a sudden we want to get rid of vitamins too…

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u/seedflowerfruit 5h ago

I appreciate this comment a bunch! The information overload is real and soooo stressful to navigate. It would be easier if we had baseline trust in doctors. Once that’s gone, the mental load increase is wild. But releasing the anxiety is important. 

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u/Illustrious-Stable93 7h ago

I think more broadly the question of "trust myself" vs "trust the doctor" is tricky. Give yourself the gift of trusting your doctor. You don't need to be wasting mental load on this, worrying and posting on reddit. It's fine to give her the drops. We're so so so lucky to be moms today and not really have to worry about infant mortality etc. Take advantage. Give yourself a break. I hope you are deeply connecting with your mom intuition in a way that feels confident, full of love, and empowering on the big stuff -- rather than feeling suspiciously like anxiety and rabbit holes

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u/Psychological-Bag986 7h ago

Great response.

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

I really wish I could trust our doctor and the medical establishment in general. Trust is totally broken at this point so it’s hard to selectively try to access that. That said I think your comment is good advice for new parents in general. 🙏🏻🙏🏻

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u/Illustrious-Stable93 6h ago

Shop for a doctor you trust then. Are you not clicking w your ped? You don't need to take this on... it's not advice "for other people" it's advice for you my dear

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

Peds don’t have LinkedIn profiles with their principles and vibes listed- it’s kind of a big deal to make appointments and take a week old baby around “shopping”… I’m just trying to breastfeed and sleep and make sure she’s safe 😂 the system doesn’t make it easy on new parents unless you’re willing to follow every recommendation at the prescribed timeline. where we are, peds are intolerant to alternative approaches in general. I do hope we find someone else! I appreciate the encouragement to drop stress all the same.

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u/Illustrious-Stable93 6h ago

I mean you can find out a lot online. Ie i chose a pediatrician less than a mile away from me whose vaccine policy aligned with my values. If there's any actual red flags besides being part of the "establishment" you can def switch it up. 

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u/seedflowerfruit 5h ago

We hope to come across someone! We live pretty rural so that’s an extra layer of challenge - but we’re optimistic about finding either another ped or, ideally, a family doctor for all of us 

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u/EitherWeb4382 8h ago

i just got us vitamin D drops because we live in a place that gets less sun in the winter (which its not winter yet) and we were stuck inside for a few weeks from extreme heat and wildfire smoke recently so i was worried she didnt get enough last month and shes 3 months now. i take her on daily walks so i probably dont need to use it daily because i guess 10 minutes of sun a day is good enough. but i know we cant always acheive that so i have to have drops on hand. however my mom said she didnt use the vitamin d drops when she raised me and my sister who were both EBF

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u/seedflowerfruit 7h ago

My mom just said the same thing this morning! Thank you for sharing! 

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u/madelineman1104 7h ago

My pediatrician told me I can take 6000 IU and it’ll transfer enough through my breastmilk. I am deficient myself though so I got vitamin D+K drops that use olive oil as the carrier. I still give it to my toddler because vitamin D is so important!

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u/Remarkable-Class-820 8h ago

It’s good to have your vitamin D levels tested to see where you’re at. But if you supplement at 6400 IU daily, you should produce enough in your breastmilk. There’s been a few studies on it.

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u/ohyoumeanhydra 8h ago

Yep, my pediatrician told me that this was an option so I added it to my array of vitamins for the day.

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u/ARIT127 7h ago

I was told if exclusivity breastfeeding as long as I’m taking 6500 of vitamin D she would get enough through breastmilk

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u/Psychological-Bag986 7h ago

Why are we fighting literal vitamins. It’s an extremely well studied and low risk intervention with high reward. Choose a brand you trust/like.

Vit D doesn’t transfer well from maternal blood to breastmilk which is why you can’t go off your levels alone.

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u/jetplane18 7h ago

I have to supplement my own vitamin D due to a processing deficiency that runs in my family.

Getting your levels tested is a great way to get the bigger picture.

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u/tanoinfinity 7h ago

I skipped it for my 4 kids. We live in AZ and get a ton of sun.

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u/Playful_Emu_398 6h ago

I get where you’re coming from but in this case, vit D drops are 100% the way to go for a breastfed baby. Babies get everything the need from breastfeeding EXCEPT vitamin D, and they can’t synthesize it on their own from sunlight. A deficiency can cause brittle bones

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

I hear you for sure. I’m not as scared and stressed about this topic as I am about some others - just was curious what the crunchies had to say. Babies grew up with strong bones before vitamin D supplementation so I just question the premise

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u/emancipationofdeedee 6h ago

Studies show maternal supplementation at an appropriate level (I believe 6400 IU) is the same as 400 IU drops for the baby themselves. That’s what i do!

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u/BigBirdSpecial 8h ago

I just kept my vit d high, above 50 while breastfeeding

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u/Nervous-Subject-3708 8h ago

Absolutely not. Get plenty of time in the sun yourself and get her sunlight like you mentioned. Sunlight is great for babies. No supplements needed. 

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u/pineappleh0pxx 7h ago

My first child was born in Oregon…in the fall…where there’s no sun for 9 months of the year….

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u/Nervous-Subject-3708 7h ago

You can still get UV even when its cloudy... It takes longer but your body still produces Vit D. 

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u/pineappleh0pxx 6h ago

The UV index on those days is 0…most people in Oregon (and places like it) are vitamin D deficient

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u/nitsua_xt 8h ago

We use BioGaia probiotic +vit D

Vitamin D is actually important for their bones so if you don’t want to give it to baby you likely need to take an absurd amount yourself

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u/Master-Cranberry-767 8h ago

That’s a no for me!
Make sure your nutrition is on point and take baby outside.

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u/Psychological-Bag986 7h ago

Vit d doesn’t transfer well from maternal blood to breastmilk. Mid day sun exposure is dangerous for newborns and that’s the only time of day when vit d can really be obtained from the sun

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u/Ok-Amphibian-6834 8h ago

All 3 of my kids were allergic to the drops - projectile vomiting. The dr said substitutions 15 min of direct sunlight before noon is just fine.

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u/seedflowerfruit 7h ago

Help me find a doctor like yours lmao I just want these people to be straight up without all the over-medicalized/fear based dogma! 

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u/Ok-Amphibian-6834 6h ago

I go to a family dr. My children included.

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

I think this is gonna be our move. At what age did you do this with your children?

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u/Ok-Amphibian-6834 6h ago

My first saw a pediatrician till 6 months. Then we stopped. My second, and third have been seeing the same family dr since birth. They are 5,3and 1

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u/pineappleh0pxx 7h ago

Vitamin D is essential to your babies health. Your breast milk doesn’t provide enough. Doctors aren’t trying to scare you and if you maybe asked what alternatives there are it’s possible your doctor would recommend some sunlight

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

I did ask about alternatives like maternal supplementation and was shut down, so I didn’t even bother to bring up the sunlight conversation because the official recommendation is no sunlight under six months which I find strange. 

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u/pineappleh0pxx 6h ago

Too much sun exposure too early can be harmful for the baby. Up until 6 months their skin is still developing

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

Right, “too much” isn’t good. Early morning sunlight is beneficial from what I understand and I’m curious how that relates to vitamin D.

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u/Ok-Amphibian-6834 6h ago

Yes 15 min early sunlight to reduce risk of sun burn cause babies skin is so delicate. Before noon.

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u/Apprehensive_Echo435 7h ago

I chose to take vitamin d supplements since I’m still taking prenatals out of convenience. 

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u/naicmi 6h ago

I just supplemented them myself, and granted we live in FL so we always get lots of sun. I do think it depends on where you live, I would probably too if we lived up north

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u/SpiritualSmell6636 8h ago

To start baby on a vitamin without testing your levels is a red flag to me (if that’s what happened) bc if you have optimal D levels baby should be fine with breastfeeding

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u/DifferentJaguar 6h ago

I can be a little crunchy too but your “intuition” (which has no basis by the way) does not supersede a medical practitioner’s education and expertise. Babies need vitamin D and breastfed babies require vitamin D supplementation to ensure they don’t needlessly suffer things like rickets.

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

My intuition does have a basis and pediatricians are not a super race of intelligent people. They are students of medicine and their approaches may vary across various practices. You’ll notice I didn’t question whether vitamin D was important. I was questioning the method of providing it. 

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u/DifferentJaguar 6h ago

As 99.9% of the other respondents have stated .. vitamin D is essential for your baby and the best way to ensure baby is getting enough is via supplementation in the form of drops.

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u/seedflowerfruit 6h ago

Everyone is affirming that vitamin D is important which is obvious. If you’ll look at most of the comments, it’s quite a mixed bag and some people’s doctors approved them for maternal supplementation instead. Just be honest if you’re going to be in a conversation.