Just like adults, even the youngest children naturally need a supply of vitamins. They receive most of them through breast milk, but some we must administer 'from the outside'. Which ones and how much? Let's shed some light on this today. Proper supplementation is most important for infants who do not have the opportunity to obtain essential vitamins from food other than breast milk and whose bodies are not yet able to produce micronutrients themselves. Breast milk is a very important and the most nutritious food a mother can offer her baby. Therefore, it is very important to support breastfeeding, even if it hasn't always been the case. However, there are substances that occur in breast milk in small amounts or not at all, and the baby is dependent on their supply 'from the outside'.

We must not forget about vitamin D in children. In the Czech Republic, it has been preventively administered to all babies for several years, primarily as a prevention of the disease called rickets (Latin: rachitis). This vitamin is actually a hormone and is important for many other reasons such as proper bone metabolism, immune system function, protection against heart and oncological diseases, or its influence on the transcription of certain genes. Recently, numerous pieces of information have appeared all around us about the positive effects of vitamin D (which it certainly has!) and the necessity of supplementing it with dietary supplements from various advertisements. Always read the composition of the given dietary supplement, and for babies, always consult a pediatrician about the dosage of the specific preparation. The most important source of vitamin D is sunlight and, potentially, dietary sources. Above all, we should promote a healthy lifestyle that ensures sufficient natural sources of vitamin D (eating fish at least twice a week, as well as dairy products, poultry, breast milk, or fortified infant formulas, etc.). Supplementation should only come into play when we are truly unable to ensure sufficient natural intake of vitamin D. However, few of us can manage this in today's world, and most of us lack it to a greater or lesser extent. And as mentioned above, the source from breast milk alone is not enough for babies, so always prefer to give a drop of vitamin D to newborns or infants.

Dětem kojeným a živeným umělým mlékem od druhého týdne života v průběhu celého 1. roku podáváme vitamín D3 (cholekalciferol) v dávce 400–500 IU denně, což zpravidla odpovídá jedné kapce preparátu.

 

Za tolerovatelnou horní hranici denního příjmu vitamínu D u zdravého kojence je považováno 1 000 IU. Toto zahrnuje i příjem vitamínu D v kojenecké formuli, příkrmech (pozor na obohacení příkrmů, např. kaše s vitamínem D) nebo potravinových doplňcích!

Často na doplňcích najdete jiné jednotky, které si musíte převést:
Vitamín D3 ve zdrojích: 1 μg = 40 IU (tedy např. 10 μg / 400 IU vitamínu D3.
 

Do zdrojů vitamínu D musíme počítat např. i olej z tresčích jater. Pokud tedy podáváte tento doplněk stravy, určitě se podívejte na obal, kolik v něm vitamínu D je, a přepočítejte dle uvedeného vzorečku na IU. Celková dávka nesmí u dítěte přesáhnout 1000 IU!

 

Plošná suplementace pro děti staršího jednoho roku není dle doporučení nutná, pokud děti nepatří do rizikové skupiny – na což by vás pediatr upozornil. Nicméně opět, kdo z nás hlídá dostatek ryb v jídelníčku? Pokud si nejsme jistí, můžeme provést odběry či budeme důkladněji hlídat zdroje.
 

Já osobně však doporučuji suplementovat vitamín D ještě i ve druhém roce v zimních měsících. V našich zeměpisných šířkách je totiž v této době málo slunečního svitu a náš příjem ryb je většinou velmi nedostatečný.

 

Vitamin K plays an important role in the blood clotting cascade (when there is too little of it, blood clots poorly, which can lead, for example, to stomach bleeding or from the umbilical stump, very rarely even to brain bleeding). For newborns who have low vitamin K – and it is also true that breast milk contains very little of it – it is important to administer it externally to provide sufficient prevention of the so-called hemorrhagic disease of the newborn.