Vitamin D has become one of those recommendations from health professionals that you just can’t ignore. Aside from being a must for any exclusively breastfed baby, the sunshine vitamin can be absorbed through exposure to the sun or by drinking milk, which is fortified with vitamin D. But most kids, at least those in Canada, can’t or don’t get nearly enough sunshine to reap the benefits of the minimum required amount of 400 IU per day (1,000 IU for adults) – especially since the use of sunscreen is essential, blocking vitamin D absorption.
Low vitamin D levels in kids has been linked to diabetes, metabolic disorders and rickets. The most basic benefits of D3-intake, on the other hand, include healthy development of strong bones and teeth; and in a country that’s been plagued by outbreaks of SARS and H1N1, it’s nice to know that it also may be an immunity-booster.
When The K Man was still just a wee thing, we gave him D-Vi-Sol. Gosh, he loved the taste of that stuff – we never had a problem getting it into him. But it was pretty sticky, and I knew it tasted so good because of the sugar content. Then we were at the Baby & Toddler Show and discovered Ddrops.
THE
GOOD
Baby Ddrops provides 400 IUs of liquid vitamin D in a one-drop daily format – and every drop is naturally sourced vitamin D3, without any other chemicals or additives, including sugar.
And it’s easy peasy to use! When I was breastfeeding The K Man, I’d just put a drop on my nipple and ba-da-bing! When he stopped nursing, I simply added a drop to his morning cereal. Miss Q, however, likes to just open wide and I Ddrop right onto her tongue. OK, sometimes the timing’s off and I miss. Surely it can be absorbed through the skin and is equally effective administered via the nose, right?
The PTPA Seal of Approval is also super-important, and means you can trust that this is a tried and true product.
What I love most is that I can rest easy if we have a lighter cow’s milk day or don’t happen to make it outside.
THE GAFFE
The first bottle I bought (in 2009) was about $15 for a full year’s worth of Baby Ddrops. When I went to buy the next one a year later, I tried three different stores and all I could find was a bottle with enough drops for three months – for $16! It’s the same-sized bottle, mind you, but it’s only a quarter full. Not sure what the deal is…perhaps the company decided its profit margin wasn’t quite wide enough? I continue to use Ddrops more than three years later, but it would be nice if the company would go back to the 365-day bottle and scrap the 90-day one – somewhere in the neighbourhood of its original price.
Also, it can take ages for one measly drop to drip out sometimes. It tends to be slower the emptier it gets.
Either way, I trust that we’re taking care of our sunny bambinos with every last drop.
THE GEARS (out of 5)
(I’d forgive the occasional lengthy drip lag-time if the 365-day $15 bottle came back on the market. Just sayin’.)
So…where can you get it?