Around the Web…

Some compelling links for your Wednesday afternoon:

• Experts say that today’s kids have 12 hours less playtime per week than previous generations — Today Show
• An update on the case of missing Florida girl Caylee Anthony — Jezebel
• Madonna is redefining motherhood at 50 — Bloomacious
• Breastfed babies may be at a higher risk for a Vitamin D deficiency and Rickets — New York Times
• Tips on infant and toddler car seat safety — MOMformation

Comments

Isn’t it obvious at this point that the little girl was killed by her own mother?

- anna on August 27th, 2008

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/vitamin-d.html

I thought the article on Vitamin D was very misleading. Check this link out if you exclusively BF your child. There is a great chart at the bottom showing you how much sun time a baby needs.

My daughter and I play outside every day. During our play, I make sure she’s getting some sun! I leave the diaper off too! Her little bum is too cute!

- BFing Mama on August 27th, 2008

I agree BFing Mama. I feel like the article was set up to look like breastfeeding could cause rickets. You have to read farther to say that it’s the deficiency, and that the deficiency can be caused by too much juice or too much time indoors.

The take home message? Doctors just need to remind moms who are going to breastfeed to take (or keep taking) supplements and make sure their children get time outside. The mother of that girl did nothing wrong by breastfeeding; she just didn’t apparently know to be taking vitamins. Likewise, I don’t think that doctors telling moms to take vitamins would keep them from breastfeeding, like the one doctor seemed concerned about.

Studies I read when researching breastfeeding for a class last year showed that most women decide whether they will breastfeed before coming to the hospital to deliver their babies. Introducing the need for vitamins is not likely to dissuade moms who are committed to trying out breastfeeding from doing so.

- MB on August 27th, 2008

I absolutely agree BFmama (of which I am too).
Thanks for the link.

- N.S on August 27th, 2008

My pediatrician told me right away to give the baby a vitamin supplement because breast fed babies are sometimes lacking in vitamin D. I was surprised because this is my 4th child and I’d never heard of such a thing. To be honest, it surprisd me too because I think of breast milk as the “perfect” food. However, it did not discourage me a bit from breastfeeding.

- melanie on August 27th, 2008

I don’t have children yet, but when I do I plan on trying to nurse all of them. I had no idea about the chance of a Vitamin D deficiency, but I think that I’d prefer to go the vitamin route rather than the sun route. I only say that because my family and I are all very fair skin; I burn very easily and since babies can’t use sunscreen until they’re at least 6 months old, if not older (which I think would defeat the purpose anyway, haha) I’d just feel safer giving my baby vitamins rather than giving them sun time at such a young age. Even though it’s only a few minutes, you never know what kind of skin damage is being done.

But I’m glad I saw this article. It was something that I never knew and while I’m probably several years away from having babies, I like to keep up with all of it and store information for later use.

- Cait on August 27th, 2008

my thought (and i could be wrong b/c i’m still a few months from breastfeeding) is that breastmilk is perfect so far as what the mother is putting in her body. if you are getting all your nutrients, your baby should get all her nutrients. if you are deficient, the baby will be too. isn’t that why docs say to take prenatals until finished breastfeeding?

- MB on August 27th, 2008

I live in the Netherlands and I gave my baby vitamin D drops from the beginning, we both have to take 2 drops a day. Here they tell you about this before your baby is born (if you plan on breastfeeding ofcourse.) And they also check how this is going regularly. My daughter loves the drops, when she sees me coming with the bottle she already opens up her mouth. So cute!
Anyway, I was quite surprised by this article, I didn’t know that this isn’t the case everywhere.
And they say they don’t want to discourage women but if you already get discouraged by this, you were never motivated in the first place I think. Because if they tell you all it takes is two drops a day.. what is the problem really? Not to offend anyone, ofcourse!

- Nika on August 28th, 2008

The article is about vitamin D deficiency and breastfeeding, but many people will see the headline on this site – “breastfed babies may be at greater risk…” without reading the entire article. I really wish that sites like this wouldn’t print headlines that could discourage people from breastfeeding. Given the health benefits of breastfeeding, it just seems irresponsible.

The real message behind this article is that vitamin D is very important and many people, including babies, aren’t getting enough of it.

I live in the Pacific Northwest where vitamin D deficiency is very common due to the cloudy weather. I currently take a high vitamin cod liver oil, which I started after finding out that my D levels were low. The cod liver oil works great and also has beneficial fats.

I say, keep breastfeeding, supplement with cod liver oil (infants and children can also take it), and spend time in the sun!

- Lucy on August 28th, 2008