The National Breastfeeding Guidelines for Health Care Providers from the
Canadian Institute of Child Health (1996) states:

"New guidelines from the Canadian Pediatric Society, Infant Nutrition
Committee, will recommend that infants receive Vit. D (10 mcg. or 400 IU)
daily, until weaned. A number of factors contribute to this recommendation:
1) the low level of Vit D in breast milk and the difficulty in determining
maternal Vit D status, 2) the low risk of Vit D administration, 3) the
northern Canadian climate which limits exposure to sunshine, 4) the
increasingly prevalent use of sunscreen which inteferes with Vit D synthesis
during sunny months and the ongoing occurrence of Vit D deficiencies
(rickets) in some Canadian populations.  (S. Zlotkin, MD, Chairman of the
CPS Nutrition Committee, January 24, 1996.)"

I believe item 4) is particularly referring to recently arrived immigrant
women who are dark-skinned and who culturally keep their babies very bundled.

Jack may have some comments about these new guidelines and may have the
actual wording of the recommendation if it has now been published. The above
quote was a personal communication in Jan./96 with the Chair of the CPS
Nutrition Committee.

Leslie Ayre-Jaschke, BEd, IBCLC
Peace River, Alberta, Canada