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HEALTH & FITNESS

What’s the deal with vitamin D?

One of the main things I remember our midwife telling me, aside from breastfeeding basics and self care tips, was to give the girls Vitamin D daily because I was breastfeeding them. When I first heard about it I thought to myself,  wasn’t my little one a little young for taking vitamins? And wasn’t my breastmilk enough? The truth is no – as wonderful as breastmilk is for our babies, it doesn’t contain nearly enough vitamin D which our little ones need to support their rapidly growing and developing bodies.

Vitamin D has been known to have several important functions, one of the most vital is regulating our bodies absorption of calcium and phosphorus which the body needs to build strong bones. Breast-fed babies, like our girls, are at a higher risk of a vitamin D deficiency. As a result, the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend breast-fed babies get at least 400 IU of a vitamin D supplement per day and breastfed babies who live north of 55° North latitude (from October-April) should get 800 IU/day. As a result, the Canadian Paediatric Society recommend breast-fed babies get at least 400 IU of a vitamin D supplement per day and breastfed babies who live north of 55° North latitude (from October-April) should get 800 IU/day.

As our girls grow and even for us adults, we still need Vitamin D. Getting the right amount of vitamin D continues to support our bone health later in life, which is important as we age.

Living in the great White North, we don’t get enough vitamin D from the sun. For me being a person of colour, I also have to be even more conscious about getting vitamin D because people with darker skin don’t get as much vitamin D from sun exposure because dark skin absorbs less sunlight when compared to people with lighter skin. (Source:Harvard’s School of Public Health

Some may think an option to getting enough vitamin D would be eating vitamin D rich foods but in reality to get just 600 IU’s of vitamin D a day through your diet, you need to take in one of the following:

Six glasses of milk (I have a sensitivity to milk no that’s a no for me)

One medium sized fish (ok doable, but not everyday!)

20 eggs (wowzers!)

4 cans of tuna (that’s a lot of tuna!)

Remember that’s just 600 IU of vitamin D, it’s actually recommended that adults take in 1000 IU of vitamin D daily and for pregnant women that number increases to 2000 IU!!! That’s a whole lot of eggs!!

Thankfully we have supplements available to us that can help us get the vitamin D we need on a daily basis. For our family in particular, we love using Ddrops!

We were first introduced to Ddrops when we got samples from our midwives. I also tried other brands but I really fell in love with the ease of being able to give the girls their vitamin D just by using one little drop.

While I was on maternity leave, my best friend Shani told me about an audition for a commercial they were shooting featuring moms and babies and I decided to go. Little did we know the commercial was for Ddrops! We ended up being casted for the campaign and it was really a great experience to be a part of it all – not only to be in a commercial with my daughter but also to be a part of promoting a product that we use in our everyday lives already.

I look back at that commercial it just amazes me how much Scarlett has grown over the past few years and how Ddrops has played a role in both her and Savannah’s growth!

 

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About Author

I'm a wife and mother blessed with two beautiful girls. A city girl at heart living in the 'burbs and this is my journey. This is a long walk through life!

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