Pediatricians are paying close attention to how the diet influences the development of children from the earliest of ages. A healthy diet from infancy may prevent the development of certain ailments. Rickets, for instance, is a skeletal disease which softens the bone matter and leads to deformities and stunted growth. Although uncommon in the United States, cases have been reported in 2000 and 2001, predominantly among children who were breast-fed exclusively.

As a means of prevention, American pediatricians now recommend doubling the daily dosage of vitamin D so far suggested as being sufficient for a healthy development.

Studies have shown, however, that a vitamin D dosage increased by 100% will have undeniable beneficial results in the long run. The reason for an additional increment of the vitamin is due to the fact that children are not getting a healthy dosage by natural means. Thus, a grand total of 400 international units of vitamin D administered daily, since a child’s first days of life, are considered appropriate by pediatricians.

But why the need for these supplements in our infants’ diets? Upon analyzing results from different studies, children aren’t getting enough vitamin D and are at risk to develop rickets. Traditionally, breast-feeding was the best nurture for infants, yet vitamin D is missing from the mother’s milk, given the vitamin D-deficient diet a new mother must respect.

Vitamin D can be found in vitamin D-fortified milk, but also in oily fish and fortified cereals. Children can neither be exposed to sunlight, a vitamin D provider, as too much sunlight heightens the risk of developing skin cancer.