How Many Vitamins for Infants Are Enough?

Vitamin D is particularly important for babies during their first 12 months of life. During this time, bones are growing rapidly, and vitamin D along with other vitamins for infants are necessary to facilitate healthy growth and development.

A growing number of health care providers are now encouraging parents to give their infants a daily vitamin D supplement. However, there is still some debate over how much should be given.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the recommended dosage of vitamin D is now 400 IU for infant health.

According to Hope Weiler, a professor in the school of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University, “There’s sometimes a feeling that more is better. But until now, no one had compared the popularly recommended daily doses of vitamin D to see what will result in optimal health for infants.”

Interestingly, debate over vitamin D for infants is global. For example, the recommended dosage in France and Finland is 1,000 IU. However, in Canada, the dose is 400 IU. The Canadian Pediatric Society takes the recommendations even further by recommending that infants receive 800 IU of vitamin D in the winter months and 400 in the summer.

Vitamin D is often called the sunshine vitamin because most healthy individuals produce enough of the vitamin with exposure to the sun. However, infants and babies who are protected from the sun and who aren’t consuming vitamin D fortified foods are often deficient.

Most researchers now believe that there are no advantages of giving high dosages of vitamin D for infants that exceed 400 IU per day. And, in the case of infants and older babies who are obtaining vitamin D through fortified formula, there may be no reason to supplement at all.

However, vitamins for infants, particularly vitamin D, are often beneficial to those who are breast fed and have minimal sun exposure. For these babies, liquid drops of vitamin D3 can be a smart option. The best choice for vitamin D for infants offers the bioavailable form of vitamin D along with complementary nutrients to optimize absorption and utilization.