Vitamin D before, during, and after pregnancy

Tuesday May 1, 2012

The more vitamin D mom takes, the more benefits for her and the future child.

The benefits to mom start about 2,000 IU daily average (2000 IU costs less than $15 per year)
Substantial benefits proven for 4,000 IU taken during pregnancy (fewer complications, lower cost)
Best benefits at 6,000 IU - this much is also needed if breast feeding without supplementing the infant
Taking > 2,000 IU raises the cost, primarily due to cost of Co-factors

IU	Cumulative Benefit (by VitaminDWiki.com)	Blood level	Co-factors	Calcium	*$/year**
400	Less Rickets 3X less adolescent Schizophrenia Fewer child seizures	20-30 ng/ml	Not needed	No effect	$3
2000	2X More likely to get pregnant naturally/IVF 2X Fewer dental problems with pregnancy 8X less diabetes 4X fewer C-sections (>37 ng) 4X less preeclampsia (40 ng vs 10 ng) 5X less child asthma 2X fewer language problems age 5	42 ng/ml	Desirable	< 750 mg	$15
4000	2X fewer pregnancy complications 2X fewer pre-term births	49 ng/ml	Must have co-factors	< 750 mg	$75
6000	Probable: larger benefits for above items Perhaps prevent 2nd autistic child ~hs~~hs~ clinical trials underway Just enough D for breastfed infant		Must have co-factors	< 750 mg	$85

You buy fairly low cost vitamin D and co-factors (more expensive if liquid and/or vegan)
Using a low cost size of vitamin D - such as 5,000 IU, as often as needed. (50,000 IU costs even less)
Example: 5000 IU every other day if you only want an average of 2500 IU
Test vitamin D levels of those moms who are at high risk for being vitamin D deficient
~hs~~hs~~hs~$30 for a blood test about 6 weeks after starting vitamin D to check that mom is getting enough

The above is the summary of the Overview of Vitamin D for Moms and babies, updated May 1, 2012