Nobody said "all" infants. I posted a note stating there have been 11 recent cases in Charlotte NC of breast fed infants of African American mothers developing rickets. Your comment seems to indicate that it is unlikely/ impossible to have any metabolic problems with a breast fed infant. And how horrible it is for us to consider "artificial" vitamin D. Vitamin D is vitamin D. It doesn't matter where it comes from. You just need some. In Canada, the proportion of breast feeding African Canadians is small. If all of them got rickets, I doubt it would be a blip.... There just aren't very many. In the sunny south, despite lots of sun, if your skin is really dark, you may not make enough vit D. I have never seen a case of rickets that I recognized. I have probably seen some, but since I was not aware of the increased risk in black breastfeeding mothers, I missed it. Now I might not miss it. This is the value of communication and learning. There are problems that exclusively bottle fed babies are at higher risk for, and there are problems that breast babies are at higher risk for. Today my partner admitted a 6 lb 4 day old WF breast fed infant with a total bili of 27. That is a problem that is more likely in breast fed infants. Successful breast feeding seems more difficult in a poorly educated population. -g barden Janet Vandenberg wrote: > Do all breastfed infants need Vitamin D supplementation? Not > according to The AAP or LLLI. > > According to INFACT Canada's most recent newsletter, Winter '99 > (Which is not on their web site as yet) after examining the > literature, it appears that only some infants are at risk. Dark > skinned infants and mothers, mothers whose diet is low in Vit D, > couplets who are confined indoors or who are fully covered when > outside. > > A more effective/safer campaign which teaches mothers to build up > their own Vit D stores, how to meet their child's Vit D requirements > through sunlight and how to identify when their child is at risk > would be more appropriate. > > Artificial supplementation is only one method of increasing Vitamin > D. The possibility of toxic overloads of Vit D needs to be addressed > when public awareness campaigns and health care professionals are > pushing that every breastfed baby needs a supplement. > > The INFACT article also mentions that Vit D is used as a commercial > rodenticide capable of killing rats and mice in 24 hours. Animals > studies, the article says, indicate that Vit D supplementation may > be associated with chronic vascular disease. How should parents > feel about giving that to their healthy, not really at risk, > infants? > > We do not yet know the implications of long term supplementation > with artificial Vitamin D sources. > -- > G Barden wrote: I went to a NC conference this past weekend and Rickets and Vit D was mentioned again. Apparently there have been 11 recent cases in Charlotte NC of breast fed infants of African-American mothers developing rickets. One as young as 5 months. The discussant mentioned we are seeing this now because of the better success of our WIC office in promoting breast feeding among dark skinned mothers - more are nursing - more at risk. Vit D supplementation with Vit D was recommended. -g barden