Vit D supplements recommended for under 5's

[hectors house]

At the Childminding conference I attended at the weekend the County development officers said that ALL children under 5 should be taking Vitamin D supplements - I have found a link that explains why - apparently most of the Vitamin D comes from sunshine but now that everyone smothers the children in sun block and the foods that we eat don't provide enough Vitamin D, children are at real risk of their bones not developing properly and there is a modern day outbreak of Rickets in children.

Vitamin D in children | Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust

So the solution seems to be to either not rush to cover children up with clothing, hats and sun cream or to give them a supplement as although I know all the children I look after have healthy diets it is really hard to get enough Vit D without the sunlight.

Two mindees arrived yesterday with sun cream in their bags, I have e-mailed them all the information we received, is anyone else putting sun cream on mindees yet?

[loocyloo]

I don't put sunblock on until the sun is very warm and we are out in it for more than about 10-15 mins.
Generally in summer I ask for long sleeved 100%cotton tops and sunhats.

Interesting reading though.

[VeggieSausage]

I ensure all children get some sun and my own children get a lot of sun, the chemicals in sun cream are not good either. I buy Hemp sun cream by Yaoh which doesn't have lots of the nasties in and also as a sufferer of prickly heat which is activated by sun cream this stuff doesn't spark that off either.....

[shortstuff]

Thanks for the update its really good information.

I dont use sun cream this early in the year. I have always tried to encourage DS to play out in the sun for short whiles too. Who knew I was actually doing it right for a change.

[QualityCare]

I think there probably is a genuine risk of a lack of vit D only because of personal experience and l don't use sun block or cover up as l don't feel the cold much, l was prescribed medication towards the end of last year and at the same time started to get very painful aches and pains, as one of the side effects of the tablets was aches and pains l put up with it thinking it would settle down only it got worse, went back to Dr and said l wasn't going to take them any more as my quality of life was so bad and painful, she said it wasn't the tablets but a lack of vit D as we don't absorb enough now as not enough sun light and to take a supplement 1 week of 3 times normal dose then normal dose, no blood test or anything, as soon as l took vit D everything settled down.

[AdeleMarie88]

No I haven't started to use yet, I tend to start end of April, and even then I ask for long sleeved cotton tops and sun hats.

I fully agree a little sun is very beneficial!! Common sense hopefully prevails here. I don't know about other parts of the country, but in London, it's peaked at 18degrees; lovely- but not sunblock weather!

Enjoy the sun x

[hectors house]

I did about 11 years ago get sunburnt on 22nd March as it was my grandad's 90th birthday party and we were lucky enough to be able to sit in the garden all afternoon, but I was sat in one place, but children are constantly moving around between full sun and shade and when playing are twisting and turning so not likely to get burned at this time of year.

In my day my mum never put sun cream on us until we went a bit pink and I never wear suncream in this country unless sitting on a beach. As the article on the link I posted says, sun cream actually blocks out UVB more than UVA (although it is UVA which is the main cause of skin cancer).

[shortstuff]

its kinda strange as MIL is getting over a skin cancer but it was on a part of her body that has never seen the sunlight. It puzzled me a bit as I always thought it was excessive sun that caused it.

[AdeleMarie88]

I think we can all agree, if I was 26degrees tomorrow, we wouldn't not apply sun cream because it was march, we just need to be sensible xx

[munch149]

Apparantly to get enough vitamin do from sun you need to let your skin go slightly pink. This would not go down well ever so if your concerned use the supplements