Parenting an infant can be confusing, especially when they move on from milk to solid foods. It can be difficult to work out how good their diet is, and whether the food they are eating is enough to make sure their wellness is as good as it can be. In order to protect your little one’s wellbeing, you need to consider the vitamins that are included in their diet, and think about supplementation if they are not getting a full complement by diet alone.
Vitamin D is the most important vitamin for babies and young children. During the first few months of a child’s life, they get nearly all the vitamins they need, apart from vitamin D. Fortunately, this is easily administered in liquid form, and can even be given on prescription by your GP if they think it is necessary. It may be even more necessary, in some cases, such as babies who have chronic health problems that affect their metabolism or their ability to absorb nutrients, or babies who were a low breast weight so don’t the ability to consume enough breast or formula milk to meet their needs.
Vitamin D supplements can help to develop strong bones, and this is especially important when you consider that children’s bones grow more quickly during the first year of life than during any other time in life. Vitamin D can be produced by the body in response to sunlight exposure, but babies often do not make their own vitamin D in this way as, of course, it is harmful to expose babies to UV rays, and so they are often kept away from direct sunlight.