Vitamin D is essential for the growth, bone development, and health of infants and young children. To see how prevalent vitamin D deficiency is, researchers tested blood vitamin D [25OHD] levels in 380 infants and toddlers at one of their routine health visits.
To make sure your infant or child is getting adequate vitamin D, be sure they get at least 10 minutes in the bright sunshine on bare skin daily or take a vitamin D supplement especially in winter months, or both. Just be sure the infant doesn't get any sunburn.Gradually expose the infant over several days to just a few minutes of sun exposure to build up their tolerance for 10 minutes at a time. Multiple short exposures are safer than a single, long exposure to the sun.