Keeping your newborn healthy

There's a good reason many new moms try to keep their babies from being exposed to a lot of people until they are a bit older. Those people are bound to carry viruses and if it happens to be RSV, it can be deadly. I know people who have had newborns in the hospital and on respirators because they contracted RSV. It's just not worth it-especially if your baby is born during cold and flu season. Here's one thing you can do to prevent your baby from getting RSV.

FROM NBC: Pregnant women who take vitamin D can prevent a respiratory illness in newborns called RSV. That's the finding of a new study published in the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study suggests that out of the 5-million RSV cases every year in the United States, a million fewer kids would get the respiratory virus if more pregnant moms took vitamin D supplements.

Mikensi Gilbert is six months pregnant. She's been taking vitamin D supplements for this pregnancy. Mikensi Gilbert/Expectant Mom: "It helps with fatigue. It helps with, um, energy." Her first pregnancy was tough. so her mom, who reads a lot of medical studies, recommended she boost her vitamin D intake. Mikensi Gilbert/Expectant Mom: "She knows that I had a difficult time with jae with my pregnancy. I think she was just thinking of me."

Gilbert had gestational diabetes with her son, Jae. This time she's expecting a smoother pregnancy. Mikensi Gilbert/Expectant Mom: "Just had our ultrasound reports read to me yesterday and everything's good. He's healthy. He's growing like he should."

She hopes by taking vitamin D, she can keep him from getting RSV once he's born. Dr. Marcus Blackburn/Pediatrician: "Vitamin D plays a large role in very many systems of the body." Dr. Marcus Blackburn says as for how effective vitamin D is in preventing RSV, it's hard to say. Dr. Marcus Blackburn/Pediatrician: "It's very common. Most children are going to get it by the time they're two. All kids have been exposed to it."

The symptoms mimic a cold. And Blackburn says taking vitamin D may just reduce the severity of RSV in infants. "Vitamin D is not the cure-all for respiratory and other health problems, but doctor's say it's still very important for overall health. just how much to take, though, is still up for debate."

Dr. Marcus Blackburn/Pediatrician: "Right now in this study they quote it as 400 international units. so, that's the same as a newborn child. Although there have been studies that have shown up to four thousand international units. Vitamin D is something that you can have toxicity from so that's something that we're still working out." Blackburn recommends all pregnant women check with their doctor on how much vitamin D to take along with other prenatal vitamins.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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The Guilt over Vitamin D

I have heard the warnings. I have read the reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics. I have even bought the stink'in vitamins. Are my kids get a daily Vitamin D supplement? Nope. I can't stand trying to remember to bug my husband to give it to them. I still have liquid Vitamin D from a year ago that is only supposed to last a month. I started giving it to the baby, but then I forgot. There are some doctors who think Vitamin D supplements are not necessary. I guess that's why I haven't made it a priority. And because I have too many things to remember.. I really think I will spend this weekend getting organized. Do you give your kids a Vitamin D supplement? Do you ever forget?

FROM NBC: We've been hearing a lot about vitamin D lately. Some studies are showing that vitamin d might help lower the risk for several kinds of cancer and maybe diabetes too. And lots of doctors are beginning to test their patients' Vitamin D levels.

But we haven't heard much about Vitamin D and children.Some doctors believe that kids aren't getting enough D, and it could be making them sick.

Problem is, most pediatricians aren't testing for it. Benjamin Smolen/14-years-old: "You're coming home. You're tired. You're aching." 14-year-old Benjamin Smolen was just a freshman in high school, but all of a sudden he was in constant pain. He says his whole body ached. He was getting headaches and feeling exhausted all the time. Benjamin Smolen/14-years-old: "It went on for weeks."

So Benjamin actually asked his mother to see the doctor? Marilyn Berzin/mother: "The pediatrician is like the last person he ever wants to see." His mother is a doctor, Dr. Marilyn Berzin is a DC dermatologist. Because benjamin is an active tennis player, she thought he'd simply pulled a muscle. But after he spent weeks complaining of things like severe body aches and stomach pain, she became concerned that it was something more serious.

Doctors tested him for everything from arthritis to Muscular Dystrophy to Lyme Disease. Marilyn Berzin/Mother:"Everything came out normal except that he had a severe Vitamin D deficiency." Doctors say most kids probably aren't getting enough vitamin d, a compound that aids in the absorption of calcium, which builds strong bones. when adults don't get enough d, they often suffer from Osteoporosis. But when kids don't get it, they never actually develop strong bones.

Dr. Laura Tosi is a pediatric orthopedist at Children's National Medical Center. Dr. Laura Tosi/Pediatric Orthopedist: "Teenagers will stop taking vitamins and particularly our girls will stop drinking milk." Tosi says she's seeing more and more kids coming to her bone health clinic with low Vitamin D levels. One study out of New York found that 70 percent of American kids aren't getting enough D. Researchers believe it's because kids aren't playing outside like they used to and they're not getting enough sunlight, which helps the body produce vitamin d on it's own.

Dr. Laura Tosi/Pediatric Orthopedist: "Now more and more kids are couch potatoes, so they're not getting d from the sun." According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, kids under 18 should be getting at least 400 international units of Vitamin D each day. Considering one glass of milk only has 50 to 100 units, Tosi says kids need to be taking supplements. That's what Benjamin is now doing. Immediately after his diagnosis, doctors give him 50-thousand units of Vitamin D once a week for 8 weeks. now that his levels are back up, he's taking a smaller dose daily to get what he needs.

Dr. Marilyn Berzin/Mother: "Within about 3 weeks he started feeling a lot better. he grew immediately about two inches." Benjamin Smolen/14-years-old:"Tennis felt a lot better, being able to do it. i have a lot more energy, more active, stopped hurting." Doctors say they don't regularly test for vitamin d levels in kids because it's expensive and there isn't one reliable test for it. But there are changes to vitamin d recommendations coming down the pike in the future, so testing may become more prevalent.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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Babies need more Vitamin D

I finally got some liquid Vitamin D for the baby. I am only giving it to him on the days he doesn't go outside. Hopefully that will be very few days with Spring here! My other boys are also getting a supplement. I am not a big vitamin person, but I have seen a lot of research on the lack of vitamin D in kids-- and it's coming from groups that typically have differing views. I am still breastfeeding, so my baby is probably getting less vitamin D than a formula fed baby. New research shows even formula fed infants may need a vitamin D supplement! Do you give your baby a vitamin D supplement?

FROM HEALTH.COM/CNN: (Health.com) -- The vast majority of infants in the U.S. are not getting the vitamin D that they need, even if they are fed vitamin-enriched formula, a new study has found.

Roughly 9 out of 10 breast-fed babies receive less vitamin D than experts recommend, according to the study, which was conducted by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among formula-fed babies, fewer than 37 percent consume the recommended amount.

It is well-known that breast-fed infants are at risk for vitamin D deficiency. But the study findings suggest that most babies will require a supplement regardless of how they're fed.

"We have to educate moms and the health-care community that vitamin D supplementation is something that they should do [and] recommend," says the lead author of the study, Cria Perrine, Ph.D., of the CDC's division of nutrition, physical activity, and obesity.

The study, published this week in the journal Pediatrics, comes amid growing awareness of the extent - and the health risks - of vitamin D deficiency in both children and adults. Known as the sunshine vitamin, because the human body produces it when exposed to sunlight, vitamin D is essential for healthy bones, a strong immune system, and a range of other bodily processes.

In children, too little vitamin D has been associated with bone softness and an increased risk of heart disease later in life, among other health problems. In 2008, the nation's leading organization of pediatricians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, doubled its recommendation for the amount of vitamin D that infants and children should consume daily, from 200 to 400 international units.

Health.com: The most important nutrient you're not getting

"Most infants will require a vitamin D supplement to reach the new AAP recommendations, while in the past we only thought that breast-fed infants would need supplementation," says Perrine. "Formula-fed infants would need to consume a liter of formula a day to meet the new recommendations, and most infants don't do that - especially those who are being fed with both formula and breast milk."

New mothers should discuss vitamin D supplements with their pediatricians, Perrine adds. (Although it takes just 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure for the body to produce a day's worth of vitamin D, the AAP discourages sun exposure for infants younger than 6 months, and advises the use of sunscreen after that.)

Health.com: Why you need vitamin D now

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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Vitamin D Deficiency is higher than most think

We have been hearing about vitamin D deficiency since research was released last year. Now, new research is showing the problem is greater than we thought. My baby is due in just a few weeks and now I am wondering if I should be giving him a liquid supplement. I doubt I will be taking him out much this winter. We keep getting reports about the swine flu spreading like crazy this fall.. then there's RSV... and the list goes on. I am not saying I will make him a hermit or anything, but I doubt he will be getting 15 minutes of direct sun a day. So I think this is something I should consider.What are your thoughts?

FROM NBC: We're all used to hearing about the dangers of getting too much sun: tonight, a warning about how our kids aren't getting enough. The proof is in what researchers are calling "shockingly low" levels of Vitamin D, the one we get from sunshine, found in kids' bloodstreams. Here's NBC Chief Medical Editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman. Naomi Fowler already knows that sunshine is important for her three-month-old son Griffin. "My pediatrician expressed concern that children and adults don't get enough Vitamin D, so she suggested a multi-vitamin to supplement the D." In a study in the Journal Pediatrics, researchers report seven out of ten American children have very low levels of Vitamin D, levels too low putting them at potential risk of heart disease, weak bones..even rickets. DR. MELAMED "We were rather shocked when we saw the numbers ." Roughly 9 percent of those age 1 to 21 -- about 7.6 million children, adolescents and young adults -- have Vitamin D levels that could be "deficient" Another 50.8 million -- have higher levels of vitamin D, but still low enough to be considered "insufficient" And one group at particular risk -- African American girls. Their dark skin filters the sun automatically lowering Vitamin D levels. In the 1930's Vitamin D was added to milk and pediatricians believed weak bones and rickets would become problems of the past. But children substituting sports drinks for milk and spending hours in front of one screen or another is taking a toll. Dr. Melamed, "4 hours a day of using computers or watching TV or playing video games they were 60% higher Vitamin D deficiency." Getting Vitamin D is free. It means going out in the sun for just 10 - 15 minutes a day. That amount of time without sunscreen is not enough to hurt you and could ward off serious illnesses--illness like osteoporosis, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. Disease pediatricians are seeing early and that can follow people well into adulthood.

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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Double your Vitamin D

From ABC: The American Academy of Pediatrics is doubling its recommended amount of vitamin D for infants, children, and adolescents. The move comes amid increasing concern that kids aren't getting enough vitamin D to keep their bones healthy, but doctors say boosting vitamin D could also help fight off serious diseases such as diabetes and cancer.

American children aren't getting enough vitamin D to ensure healthy bone strength, according to doctors at the American Academy of Pediatrics. As a result, the organization is DOUBLING the D for infants and children of all ages - from 200 international units to 400 international units per day.

Experts are concerned by reports of American children suffering from Rickets - a bone softening disease that is easily prevented with adequate vitamin D. But getting enough vitamin D is difficult to do through diet alone, as the nutrient is not found naturally in very many foods.

Many doctors now advise spending 10 to 15 minutes per day in the sun to trigger vitamin D production in the skin. Drinking fortified milk also helps, but the new recommendations say infants and children will likely need supplements to get the full amount.

Increasing levels of vitamin D may have health benefits beyond strengthening bones. Research has also linked low vitamin D levels in adults to greater risk for cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

I go back and forth on multi-vitamins for my kids. If I am going to start spending the money on vitamin D, maybe I should get a multi-vitamin. Then again, if they don't need the other vitamins, maybe not. But will those little Flintstones vitamins harm them? I doubt it. So right now I am thinking about picking up some multi-vitamins that contain an adequate amount of vitamin D. Do you give your kids vitamin D supplements?

-NewsAnchorMom Jen

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