Calcium is very important for baby’s growth, it is a life-sustaining element and also very important for baby’s bone growth and development, and calcium deficiency most commonly causes rickets. Nowadays, parents are very sensitive to the issue of calcium supplementation for their children, and in my clinic and consultation, many questions are related to calcium supplementation for babies. In fact, calcium supplementation for babies is not that mysterious, and many babies are not actually calcium deficient. Are these symptoms calcium deficiency? Determining whether your baby is calcium deficient is a technical task. There are some symptoms of calcium deficiency circulating on the internet, and many mothers are like, “My baby fits this one, so my baby must be calcium deficient, so he needs calcium supplements.” Is this right or wrong? We have collected some symptoms of calcium deficiency, together with a look, if the baby has these symptoms, does it really mean that the baby is calcium deficient? 1, the rib cage turned out Children, especially within 6 months of the baby exist physiological rib cage turned out, which is related to the baby is using the stomach to do breathing exercises, and some rib cage turned out because the waist of the pants is too tight, too high, affecting the development of the rib cage related. So the rib cage is not necessarily representative of calcium deficiency. 2, sleep is not real night terrors, night cries caused by the baby sleep is not solid for many reasons, may be because of eczema itching, too full or hunger, dreams and many other reasons caused. And now one of the most common reasons is the parents. When the baby cries at night, mom and dad go to hug him and coax him, making the baby develop the habit of not hugging and not sleeping without coaxing. In fact, it is very natural for babies to wake up at night, some babies can wake up and go back to sleep on their own, and babies who have developed bad habits rely on mom and dad. So sleep does not necessarily mean calcium deficiency. 3, pillow baldness circle In fact, most of the direct cause of pillow baldness is due to sweating in the area and friction with the pillow resulting in baldness, generally before 4 months of age babies who do not turn over will have more or less. Many babies wait until they start to turn over, and their hair grows naturally after they are not always lying down and rubbing the back of their heads. So even if there is pillow baldness, parents should not worry too much, it does not mean that it is a lack of calcium. 4. Late teething and uneven teething In fact, the timing of teething varies greatly from individual to individual, and most babies will grow teeth within one year of age. Teething is related to genetics, congenital development of the dental bed, and whether to chew and bite often before teething. Some babies are too finicky with complementary foods and do not chew their teeth enough, so their teeth grow later. Perhaps the baby’s father is late in teething, then the baby is also likely to be late in teething. 5. Delayed closure of the front chimney gate Closing time ranges from 4 to 26 months, but most babies close between 12 and 18 months. In fact, if the fontanelle closes early, as long as the head circumference is growing normally, it can mean that the intelligence is developing normally. Late closure does not necessarily mean calcium deficiency. If your baby has these symptoms, it does not mean that he is necessarily calcium deficient, that is, calcium deficiency will have these symptoms, but having these symptoms does not necessarily mean that he is calcium deficient. It is not appropriate to use these single symptoms to determine whether your baby is deficient in calcium. How can I correctly determine if my baby is deficient in calcium? In fact, it is not that simple to determine whether the baby is calcium deficient, we need to combine the following aspects to determine. The first is the mother’s pregnancy history, the second is the baby’s birth history, the third is the feeding history, and the fourth is the work and rest habits. After knowing these, and then according to the above symptoms, to do the necessary auxiliary tests to determine whether the calcium deficiency. Parents use what they have learned on the internet to determine if their baby is deficient in calcium is not very reliable. We still need to go to the hospital and let the doctor determine whether the baby is deficient in calcium. In fact, within 3 years old, especially within 1 year old, dairy products are the staple food for babies, and the calcium content in milk powder is actually very rich, so children get a rich source of calcium from food, and from the calcium itself, there is generally no deficiency. In other words, during infancy, drinking milk is also supplementing the element calcium, so infancy may not require additional calcium supplementation, but it does require VitD supplementation. Vitamin D supplementation daily within 2 years of age Vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium. This is because the body is not very good at absorbing calcium. What is vitamin D? Vitamin D is what promotes the absorption of calcium, making the 10% increase to 50%. For example, a dairy-based baby may have enough calcium in a day, but because of the lack of vitamin D, the calcium cannot be absorbed, and the body’s actual calcium intake is insufficient, which may eventually cause calcium deficiency. Therefore, the calcium deficiency or rickets is usually referred to as nutritional VitD deficiency rickets. We determine whether the human body is at risk of rickets by referring not to the value of trace elements or the value of bone density, but to the value of 25 hydroxyl VitD in the serum. The VitD content of natural foods, including breast milk, is low, and there is almost no vitamin D in breast milk, although extra vitamin D is added to formula, but it is based on a certain amount of milk for the baby. So, in general, to prevent rickets, but we still recommend daily vitamin D supplementation within 2 years of age. Some mothers have expressed concern in their consultations that too much vitamin D can be toxic. It is true that too much vitamin D supplementation can cause toxicity; it can cause hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, suppression of the central nervous system and ectopic tissue calcification. However, generally speaking vitamin D overdose is very large, vitamin D is relatively not so easy to topic poisoning, supplementation supplementation vitamin D is still relatively safe. For sensitive people say more than 4000-8000 a day for a continuous period of 1 month before it will cause poisoning. Normal and reasonable supplementation of vitamin D does not overdose. Therefore, we recommend that every baby take a daily supplement of vitamin D. There are two ways to supplement vitamin D. One is what we commonly call cod liver oil. We recommend 400 U/d until 2 years of age for full-term babies 2 weeks after birth, and 800-1000 U/d immediately after birth for premature babies, low birth weight babies, twins or multiple births, changing to 400 U/d after 3 months. new idea (oral rather than injectable). Another good method, which is also very low cost and environmentally friendly and safe. That is sunbathing. The following chart shows the relationship between sun exposure and calcium supplementation. Many parents think that sun exposure is a calcium supplement, but sun exposure is actually a vitamin D supplement rather than a calcium supplement. For example, if your baby is more than one year old and has a milk intake of about 500, a 500 ML formula contains 200 IU of vitamin D. If you can get 1 to 2 hours of sunlight every day with sufficient sunlight, theoretically, you can get a good amount of vitamin D without additional supplementation. In theory, it is possible not to take extra vitamin D supplements. However, the baby should be evaluated with regular pediatric checkups. How do babies get sunlight? When it comes to sunbathing, it seems very simple, but it is actually a big learning curve. We have searched the internet for some parents’ confusion about sunbathing, so let’s solve them one by one. 1. Is it okay to sunbathe at home? VitD’s ultraviolet rays are mainly UVB, short wavelength, poor penetration, glass, plastic film, clouds, and even paper have a great blocking power. So you can’t sunbathe through the glass. 2.Is it useful to go out in the sun on a cloudy day? If it is cloudy, the clouds will have a blocking effect on UVB, but there will still be a certain amount of UVB being exposed. 3.It’s cold outside in winter, and the baby wears a lot of clothes and a hat, leaving only the little face outside, is it useful to sunbathe like this? Synthesis is more or less related to the bare skin. The absorption of UV rays can also be affected by multiple layers of clothing, including sitting in the stroller. It is not necessary to be outdoors in winter, you can open the glass window and be on the balcony, sunbathing the back of the head and the little bottom. In short, if formula-fed babies have more than 700-800ml of milk per day, add one capsule of cod liver oil per day, have more than one hour of outdoor sunlight, and do not have chronic diarrhea, malabsorption and other chronic diseases, they are generally not easily deficient in calcium. Adding supplementary food to the baby, in fact, we should pay attention to the supplementary food to eat more calcium food. For example, calcium-supplemented rice flour, or tofu, shrimp, these calcium-rich foods. In fact, we just need a balanced diet, especially for infants, as long as the amount of milk to ensure that the food contains enough calcium elements. Then we have to absorb this calcium, and the method is to supplement vitamin D.