Vitamin K is provided by bacteria in the intestine.  Newborns are born 
sterile, and need to be colonized by mom's friendly bacteria, with help 
from human milk.  When babies are not breastfed or they don't have 
immediate skin to skin contact with their mother (and contact with her 
perineal area during birth) it could take them longer to become 
colonized, and the early vitamin K doses help prevent bleeding until 
this colonization happens.  Sometimes hygeine works against us in small 
ways.

For vit D, mom is supposed to give baby a store to last the initial 
months, and sun exposure is supposed to continue giving baby enough.  
Many moms are vitamin D deficient in areas where they cover up a lot 
(Islamic nations) and can't even give their infants enough vitamin D to 
store. Many Scandanavian countries have a tradition of taking Cod Liver 
Oil to provide vitamin D that is much less available from sunlight in 
Northern lattitudes. Vitamin D is important for not only calcium 
metabolism but for the immune system as well.  If infants are not able 
to get enough sun exposure without unduly  increasing their risk of skin 
cancer they might need supplementation.

Recent experiments by a doc in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere have shown 
that large maternal doses are necessary in order for enough vitamin D to 
be available in the milk to meet the infants' needs without sun 
exposure.  If I remember correctly, moms needed about 4000 IU daily in 
order to meet their infant's vitamin D needs.

Hope this information gives you what you need to answer mothers' 
questions on these issues.
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html