Functional indicators of vitamin D adequacy for very low birth weight infants
Journal of Perinatology (2018), doi:10.1038/s41372-018-0098-7
Sarah N. Taylor, Amy Wahlquist, Carol L. Wagner, Viswanathan Ramakrishnan,
Myla Ebeling & Bruce W. Hollis
Most studies have found that more than 600 IU is needed, even for normal births
Various studies also adjust the dose with infant weight
- Search VitaminDWiki for "VERY LOW BIRTH WEIGHT" 335 items as of May 2018
- Many preemies need at least 800 IU of vitamin D – RCT May 2013
- 1600 IU was the conclusion of three JAMA studies
- Preemies need 1,000 IU of vitamin D – RCT Sept 2017
- Premature infants (30 weeks) who got 800-1000 IU of vitamin D were much healthier – March 2017
Infant-Child category starts with
- No consensus on MINIMUM International Units (IU) for healthy infant of normal weight
- 400 IU Vitamin D is no longer enough
Was OK in the past century, but D levels have been dropping for a great many reasons.
FDA doubles the amount of vitamin D permitted in milk – July 2016 - No consensus: range is 600 to 1600 IU – based on many randomized controlled trials
- Review of 400 IU to 2000 IU daily and higher if non-daily
- Fewer pre-infants were vitamin D deficient when they got 800 IU – RCT Feb 2014
- 1600 IU was the conclusion of three JAMA studies
1000 IU recommended in France and Finland – 2013 - appears to be a good level - 5X less mite allergy after add vitamin D
- Child bone fractures with low vitamin D were 55X more likely to need surgery
- 75 % of SIDS had low vitamin D
- Children stayed in ICU 3.5 days longer if low vitamin D – Dec 2015
- 5 out of 6 children who died in pediatric critical care unit had low vitamin D – May 2014
- Infants have gotten free 400 IU of vitamin D in Turkey since 2005, More for longer would be even better – Feb 2022
- Preemies should have vitamin D supplements – reaching an agreement – April 2021
- Vitamin D loading dose was as effective as daily dosing (rickets in this case) – RCT July 2021
Having a good level of vitamin D cuts in half the amount of:
- Asthma, Chronic illness, Doctor visits, Allergies, infection
Respiratory Tract Infection, Growing pains, Bed wetting
Need even more IUs of vitamin D to get a good level if;
- Have little vitamin D: premie, twin, mother did not get much sun access
- Get little vitamin D: dark skin, little access to sun
- Vitamin D is consumed faster than normal due to sickness
- Older (need at least 100 IU/kilogram, far more if obese)
- Not get any vitamin D from formula (breast fed) or (fortified) milk
Note – formula does not even provide 400 IU of vitamin D daily
Infants-Children need Vitamin D
- Sun is great – well known for 1,000’s of years.
US govt (1934) even said infants should be out in the sun - One country recommended 2,000 IU daily for decades – with no known problems
- As with adults, infants and children can have loading doses and rarely need tests
- Daily dose appears to be best, but monthly seems OK
- Vitamin D is typically given to infants in the form of drops
big difference in taste between brands
can also use water-soluable form of vitamin D in milk, food, juice, - Infants have evolved to get a big boost of vitamin D immediately after birth
Colostrum has 3X more vitamin D than breast milk - provided the mother has any vitamin D to spare - 100 IU per kg of infant July 2011, Poland etc.
More than 100 IU/kg is probably better 845 items in the category Infant/Child See also - 34 pages in VitaminDWiki had BREASTFE*in title as of Jan 2022
- "BIRTH DEFECTS" 172 items as of July 2016
- Stunting OR “low birth weight” OR LBW OR preemie OR preemies OR preterm 1940 items as of Oct 2018
- 96 VitaminDWiki pages contained PRETERM or PREEMIE in title as of Aug 2021
- "SUDDEN INFANT DEATH" OR SIDS 214 items as of Dec 2020
- Overview of Rickets and Vitamin D
- Youth category listing has
174 items along with related searches - Down's syndrome and low vitamin D - several studies
- Rett syndrome associated with low vitamin D, treated by Omega-3
Free PDF is online at Sci-HubObjective: To identify the vitamin D status to optimize calcium and bone health in preterm infants.
Study design
Very low birth weight infants had measurement of 25-hydroxyvitamin D status and markers of calcium and bone health from birth to term age. Piecewise linear regression modeling was performed to identify a 25-hydroxyvitamin D threshold associated with stable parathyroid hormone concentration and bone mineralization.Results
In a cohort of 89 infants at term age, femur BMC and density increased linearly with 25-hydroxyvitamin D status until reaching a threshold of 48 ng/mL and 46 ng/mL, respectively. Parathyroid hormone status decreased as vitamin D status increased until reaching a plateau at 25-hydroxyvitamin D of 42 ng/mL.Conclusion
Preterm infant vitamin D status was significantly associated with PTH status and femur mineralization with suggestion that achieving a specific 25-hydroxyvitamin concentration is associated with optimal calcium homeostasis and femur bone mineralization.From the PDF
The median (interquartile range) intake through the study were- vitamin D 609 (519,678) IU/day,
- calcium 182 (141, 244) mg/kg/day
- phosphorus 122 (85, 165) mg/kg/day
Very low birth weight infants were OK with 600 IU of vitamin D plus Calcium and Phosphorus – May 20183700 visitors, last modified 15 May, 2018, This page is in the following categories (# of items in each category)