Chicago - Breast-fed infants need a Vitamin D supplement to ward off rickets because exposure to the sun is no longer a safe way to provide the needed nutrient, a doctors group said on Monday.
Rickets is rarely fatal but can soften bones and result in bowing of the legs and impede growth, as well as causing respiratory and heart problems, said a physician who co-authored a policy statement for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The policy statement, published in this month's issue of the academy's journal Pediatrics, said the number of cases of rickets in the United States has crept up in recent years.
Breast milk contains many valuable nutrients but not enough Vitamin D to meet the daily requirement of 200 international units. Exposure to the sun's rays normally generates Vitamin D in the skin, but applying sun block stops that process.
"The normal source of Vitamin D for a baby is sunshine. The problem is we can no longer recommend that babies be put out in the sun because of the risk of skin cancer, which has increased significantly in the past several years, probably because of the diminishing ozone layer," said Dr Lawrence Gartner, a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and one of the authors of the policy statement.
Baby formula contains Vitamin D but breast-fed babies likely need a liquid supplement, which is squirted into the baby's mouth with an eyedropper, he said.