Vitamin D for Babies and Toddlers: 400 IU From Birth, 600 IU From Age 1

Why vitamin D

Vitamin D helps your child build strong bones and prevents rickets, a softening of the bones that can occur in growing children. All children need it, starting shortly after birth, and breast milk usually does not provide enough.

How much

By how your baby is fed

• Breast milk only, or breast milk and formula: give a 400 IU vitamin D supplement every day, starting shortly after birth.
• Formula only: infant formula is fortified with vitamin D, so no supplement is needed if your baby drinks 32 ounces or more a day. See how to choose an infant formula.
• Eating solid foods: include foods with vitamin D, such as some fish (salmon, light canned tuna), eggs, and vitamin D-fortified products — yogurt, cereals, some 100% juices, and, from 12 months, pasteurized, unsweetened whole cow's milk.

A vitamin D supplement can also help if your child isn't getting enough from food.

Cow's milk: age matters

After 12 months, pasteurized, unsweetened whole cow's milk is a great source of vitamin D; most milk sold in stores is fortified with it.

Before 12 months, cow's milk is not recommended: it may put a baby at risk of intestinal bleeding, has too many proteins and minerals for a baby's kidneys to handle easily, and lacks the right nutrients.

Talk with your child's doctor or nurse at the next checkup if you have questions. CDC also answers questions about vitamin D and sunlight and has micronutrient facts.

Sources

Based on "Vitamin D," Infant and Toddler Nutrition, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain. A stock photograph is not reproduced.