Hello Marie!

Since the vitamin D issue is, as you are discovering, still definitely a
moving target, I doubt the exam would ask you for a definitive answer.  Keep
in mind that if you inform yourself as much as you can on the topic, and
there is a question about vitamin D for breastfed babies and their mothers
on the exam, you can annotate your thoughts about the fairness/validity of
the question -- if the question causes enough stir, it will be thrown out of
the scoring.

Anyway, since 2008, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 400 IU/day
for all breastfed babies, whether they are supplemented with ABM or not,
starting within the first few days of birth.  As an IBCLC, this is one piece
of information you can pass along to mothers.  I also share with them the
current research that is being done by Dr. Carol Wagner and her team, which
offers supplementation levels and supposes optimal vitamin D levels in
lactating mothers for pregnancy and during lactation.  You can read more
about her work here (the article begins on page 27 of the journal I'm
pasting a link to):

http://media.clinicallactation.org/2-1/CL2-1.pdf

If you familiarize yourself with Dr. Wagner's work, I believe you will have
as good a handle on the controversy as you need at this point.

Best of luck to you and your group on the exam!  :)

--Diana Cassar-Uhl, IBCLC in upstate NY

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