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An Increase in Rickets in African-American Children and Breastfeeding: The Correlation + Other News
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Physicians across the country are seeing a marked increase in rickets cases among African-American children these days. Many attribute this rise in cases to the lack of sun African-American babies and toddlers receive because they're indoors in daycare all day long, most days. Physicians are also citing WIC's successful breastfeeding programs for the increase in rickets cases.While formula and most foods we eat are fortified with vitamin D, breastfeeding has no vitamin D at all. This simple fact, however, should not discourage you as a mom from breastfeeding your baby. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of your child's life does not automatically equate to rickets. Be sure to talk to your doctor and have him or her recommend a quality vitamin D supplement that you can take. If you're on WIC, you can get this supplement for free in most cases. And if all else fails, be sure to spend ample time outside this spring and summer in the sunshine. Let the sun's rays bask down upon you and your little one and you'll be perfectly fine.
In Other News: Uh-Oh! A Melbourne mom was groped while breastfeeding. Moms, be sure you're careful when breastfeeding in public. I know this is an isolate
d incident, but still exercise caution. The world is simply crawling with crazies!What a sight to behold! 3608 moms breastfeeding -- at once.
Breastfeeding keeps new moms happy (my words). A new study finds breastfeeding helps curb postpartum depression.
One of the best breastfeeding positions is placing your baby on your tummy, a new British study finds. I always found this position to be annoying, but apparently it works for some.
Labels: health, rickets, vitamin D, WIC
posted by Jennifer James @ 6:29 PM,
2 Comments:
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At May 6, 2007 12:49 AM,
The Bear Maiden said...
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I have to tell you... dark-skinned babies absorb light (because they're supposed to) and this is why rickets plagues us more than other folk. A SIMPLE solution for brown-skinned breastfeeding babies is a few minutes of sunlight every day. Another thing I personally attribute to rickets is the annoying habit we have of over-bundling our babies. I can't tell you how many of our babies I see bundled so that *nothing* shows. So of course they're not getting any vitamin D cuz they're not getting any light.
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At May 9, 2007 1:38 PM,
Jennifer said...
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You're right about everything you said. Just getting the babies out in the sunshine would prevent it all.
Thanks for stopping by!
