I use vitamin D drops, I try to give them to my baby once a day but I have been forgetting from being so dang tired. My baby recently got their days and nights mixed up so I’ve been trying to be strict about feeding her every 2 hours during the day to encourage less hourly night feedings. It’s worked so well but with all these feeding she just sucks the life out of me and I’m so tired 24/7 on top of regular newborn tiredness.
She’ll be 8 weeks this Tuesday. I still keep track of how long her feedings are and what time she eats, I have a chart I made in my notes on my phone. I even have a box to check off if she gets vitamin d that day. BUT I KEEP FORGETTING
What will happen if my baby isn’t getting enough vitamin D?
@mr_loevinger Your post made me realize I have completely forgotten the drops too! I have a 17 year old (I know I am starting all over) and vitamin D drops were not a thing back then, so I never gave them to him and he is fine so I am sure they will be ok if we forget but of course it would be ideal to give to them if we remember. We are managing on one brain cell so don’t feel bad for forgetting things
@mr_loevinger Never did Vitamin D drops with my baby, was never told to do vitamin D drops with my baby. She’s 7 months old now. I also was in a group with about 9 other pregnant women through my OB’s office, and we all have kept in touch after we had our babies and no one else has ever mentioned Vitamin D drops. Surely if it was a big deal, someone would have told us we needed to do it at the hospital when we got discharged, right? This is kind of blowing my mind. Are the recommendations based on geographic location or something?
I, however, got a horrible vitamin D deficiency from
breastfeeding which made me feel like I had arthritis all over my body. Went back on prenatals recently (I’m pregnant again) and I have noticed a big improvement in my joint pain from the vitamin D.
@mr_loevinger I started taking vitamin d myself at the same time as my prenatal… just in case lol. Also I was breastfed myself until 2 and I asked my mom if she ever did vitamin d drops and she said no lol. I don’t have rickets, have never even broken a bone. So it’s obviously better to give the baby the vitamin d but if you forget a few times the worlds not going to end and you’re baby is going to be ok.
@mr_loevinger I also forget if I'm not careful. I've set a daily reminder on my phone that I snooze until I've given them and mark complete when it's done. That way, the notification is always there reminding me.
@mr_loevinger The fear would be rickets, but if you missed a few, don't stress over it. Plenty of people don't even know they need to feed their babies Vitamin D until their later appointments and those babies are fine!
@mr_loevinger Vitamin D is fat soluble, so it doesn't get removed the same as say Vitamin C.
For mums who are forgetting - we do know that mums can increase their own Vit D to get more into their baby through their breastmilk too if that is something that is more manageable?
Keep in mind that sleep is developmental too - so as much as we can try and manipulate things, that doesn't always work as their feeding/sleep patterns adapt to growth spurts and gross motor skills milestones. Often mums are pretty scheduled with their babies around this age then at 12 weeks there is the "three month crisis" and then the "4 month feeding changes".
Inadequate Vit D levels ... Babies need vitamin D to absorb calcium and phosphorus. Too little vitamin D can cause rickets, a softening and weakening of bones.
