Breastfeeding your baby? Take Vitamin D3 every day or get daily sun exposure.

Until recently scientists haven’t appreciated the fact that breastfeeding mothers need daily Vitamin D3. Nursing mums could have 50-60 ng/ml of measurable 25(OH)D (a metabolite of Vitamin D3) in their blood but no measurable Vitamin D3 in their breast milk. Why? After Vitamin D3 has been turned to 25(OH)D it cannot enter the breast milk. Vitamin D3 has a half life in the autocrine system of roughly 24 hours, so in order for it to have a meaningful impact on cellular functions, you need a new supply of it every day. The only way to get Vitamin D3 in breast milk is by dosing daily - either by sun, diet or supplementation. The latest research of Grassrootshealth and Dr. Bruce Hollis, Professor of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina indicates that 6,400 IU/day is necessary for breast feeding mothers to attain sufficient vitamin D (to the value of 400 IU/day for the infant) in their breast milk. More on appropriate daily sun exposure in Healthy Parents, Healthy Baby and Healthy Parents, Healthy Toddler.

Vitamin D and the brain

Dr. Thomas Burne, Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland agrees that skin cancer is certainly a health problem (particularly in Australia), and that has become a major focus, given that there are very few examples of the real issues of a frank vitamin D deficiency (e.g. rickets). However, he says that the long term effects of vitamin D insufficiency e.g. osteoporosis, immune compromise including cancer, schizophrenia (due to pregnancy deficiency), cardiovascular disease and more are all around us. Vitamin D is essential for the optimal development of the foetal brain.

Messages from the medical profession are still mixed, confused and conflicting, but Burne is in no doubt about the pressing need to reverse the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. He cites evidence that sunlight stimulates production of Nitric Oxide (NO), reducing blood pressure, saying that this effect alone would far outweigh the issues of skin cancer (which can be cut out or burnt off). 

Cognitive deficits due to vitamin D deficiency are not confined to the infant, but are also apparent in older animals. These are subtle effects but affected rats definitely exhibit a form of attention deficit. They also have muscle weakness, they can’t swim well, can’t float, have multiple other problems. The active form of vitamin D (D3) or 25(OH)D is a cheap, simple way to reverse some of these deficits. 

Find out about supplement dosage during pregnancy and the need for more when you're breastfeeding.