Vitamin D Day

What does Sunday 31st March mean to you?  It's Easter Sunday, yes.  It's the first day of British Summer Time.  You've lost an hour's sleep.  You've got to plan some horrible trick to play on your other half tomorrow morning.  But as well as all that, it's the first ever Vitamin D Day!

The Growing Up Milk-man!

Dr Chris Steele (him off This Morning!) has joined forces with Growingupmilkinfo.com to launch Vitamin D Day, aiming to address parents' misconceptions about Vitamin D, and raise awareness of the role diet can play in supplying this essential vitamin.  I was shocked to read that British toddlers are only getting 27% of their daily recommended Vitamin D intake, especially when it's one of the easiest vitamins to increase in a toddler's diet.

While Vitamin D is naturally produced in the body with exposure to sunlight, there is only so much sunlight in the UK, and if the sunshine isn't there, you can't get out in it, as well as the associated skin cancer risks.  Oily fish, eggs and breakfast cereals are other dietary sources of Vitamin D, which helps children absorb calcium and develop strong & healthy bones & teeth.  I've had a number of bone injuries myself, so I'm eager to make sure Squeaky's bones are as strong as can be so she avoids similar problems when she grows up.  2 beakers of Growing Up Milk provides 73% of the daily requirement, so it sounds simple to me.

Squeaky is still a fussy eater, even at the ripe old age of three, so I do look out for ways to make sure she gets the balanced nutrition she needs.  Growing Up Milk is something that's been part of our lives ever since I went back to work & finished breastfeeding, and I'm confident that it's helping to support her development.

One thing I really like about the growingupmilkinfo.com website is their toddler meal planner. I've found it quite hard to find out what portion sizes a child should be eating, and whether or not Squeaky is eating enough.  I've found this is really useful to put my mind at ease about how much a portion should be, and given me a few ideas for other things to try with Squeaky.  We're getting there, slowly.

Disclosure: Statistical information in this post has been provided by growingupmilkinfo.com. I have not received payment for this post, and have not been told what to write. I have chosen to share this information because I found it of interest & relevance to my own situation, and hoped it to be of use to others. The choice whether or not to breastfeed, and when to cease doing so, is a personal one, please read my other posts on the subject.

50 Shades of Grey?

There’s a certain irony that the summer’s big blockbuster book seems to share its name with the way most of this summer has turned out, isn't there? I’ve seen at least 50 shades of grey clouds of late. I know the sunshine has finally made a very welcome appearance, but until the last couple of days, I thought we'd skipped straight through to November.  I meant to post this last week while the weather was still all miserable, but I've been busy, so here you go now.

I saw something recently about 50 Shades of Grey, suggesting that because seemingly the entire female population of the country is engrossed in reading a rather mucky book and, well, getting a bit jiggy, there’s going to be a baby boom in about 8 months time. Hmmm. The entire female population except me, obviously. I honestly have no interest in reading about someone else’s made up sex life, I read the first couple of chapters as a free download, and I prefer my reading matter to be a bit better written. If you want to read it, that's your choice, but I've never been one for over-hyped bandwagons - I still haven't read Harry Potter for the exact same reason.

Anyways, I then spotted something else while I was randomly clicking around the outer regions of the internet, saying that a deficiency in vitamin D can affect men's sperm counts, and as we all know, vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin, made by our bodies on exposure to the sun, something there's been a lack of this summer thanks to the 50 shades of grey clouds. So, is there going to be a baby boom or not then? Maybe mother nature is just making sure that even if the women of the UK are getting a bit frisky, there’s no real risk of a population explosion because the blokes are all shooting blanks due to the weather!

Well, I can't do much about your fella's little fella, I'm afraid. Tell him to pop to the shops & buy some supplements if you're worried that all your jiggy might go to waste. But there's a more serious side to all this cloud. The months of April - October are the only time in the UK that our bodies have chance to make vitamin D, which we store up for the rest of the year. In adults, that's one thing, but in children, with their growing bodies, it can present a major health risk.

Leanne Olivier, nutritionist and spokesperson for growingupmilkinfo.com, comments: “Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin. The cloud cover on rainy days has an obvious effect on sunlight, making the sky dark and grey; however, what are less obvious are the knock-on effects of a miserable summer’s days on our toddlers’ health.

“It doesn’t just mean less time playing outdoors; this reduction in exposure to sunlight can be really significant - especially between the ages of one and three years, when toddlers experience a huge period of growth and development and need essential nutrients to support this.”

With the poor weather we’ve been experiencing, it’s more important than ever that toddlers get enough vitamin D from their daily diet.

British children’s vitamin D-poor diets¹, combined with low uptake of supplementation, a lack of knowledge amongst parents about their specific nutritional needs, plus a typically British summer, mean toddlers could really be missing out. All toddlers are considered to be vulnerable to low vitamin D in the diet while those who rarely play outside, don’t eat oily fish, don’t take supplements, or who have darker skins² or cover up for cultural reasons are thought to be particularly at risk.

In the absence of summer sun, nutritionist Leanne recommends a simple combined approach parents can take to ensure toddlers are meeting their vitamin D needs:

· Take a daily children’s supplement of vitamins A, C and D

· Give two 150ml beakers of Growing Up Milk daily providing about 70 per cent of a toddler's daily recommended nutrient intake of vitamin D

· Include food sources of vitamin D in the diet: oily fish once a week and fortified margarines and breakfast cereals, egg and liver!

· Enjoying the summer (April-Oct) sun safely, while taking care not to burn, can provide the benefits of vitamin D

Statistical information in this post comes from the Toddler Census, a survey of  over 1000 mothers carried out in July 2011.  

References:

¹.  Bates B et al. National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2008/09-2009/10

² Advisory Committee on Nutrition. Update on Vitamin D. Position statement by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition. London. TSO, 2007

How Clean Is Your... Beach?

No, I haven't caught a dose of the Kim & Aggies, don't panic. I'm still me.

With the financial climate not looking like it's going to get a great deal healthier at the moment, more & more people are likely to be staying within the UK for their holidays this year.  It's like the 1970's all over again.  We're actually really lucky in the UK, blessed with around 11,000 miles of coastline, according to Ordnance Survey (the map people).  OK, not all of that is accessible, and even that which is, it's not all the white sandy beaches of our dreams, but they're ours, and need our help.  I was lucky enough to grow up on the coast, and spent many happy hours on the beaches nearby, swimming, climbing, collecting shells, and generally being a kid.  I'd like Squeaky to have the same privilege.

My parents still live by the seaside (I moved, boooooo), but in a fortnight's time, Squeaky & I will be off to one of my childhood haunts, Sand Bay, near Weston-super-Mare, to join in with the Marine Conservation Society and their Big Beach Clean Up event, sponsored by Marks & Spencer.  There are Beach Clean Ups going on across the UK over the weekend of 11-13 May 2012, so there's bound to be one near you.  We were already planning to visit my parents, so we're going to their local event, rather than one closer to home (in case you were worried that my carbon footprint would be bigger than the impact of my beach cleaning).

It's been a good while since I've been to Sand Bay, I'm interested to see how time has treated the area, as well as seeing what interesting items we might find on the beach.  Apparently, during a similar clean up event, Marine Conservation Society volunteers found all sorts of things, including a plastic skeleton & a portable toilet!  Not to mention the cans, bottles, and plastic bags you'd expect.

The Marine Conservation Society are making quite a day of it, with children's activities and a barbecue for volunteers at our location, but each location varies.  Take a look at the map and see if there's a beach clean up going on near you (nowhere in the UK is more than 70 miles from the coast, so you stand a chance), and join Squeaky & I in cleaning up our beaches.  If the weather's nice, we'll get an added dose of vitamin D, if not, I'll just introduce her to the delights of a British seaside holiday!

Oh, and I've had confirmation that equipment will be provided on the day, just bring suitably outdoor clothing - wellies/boots, coats & clothes you don't mind getting a bit mucky!

If you can't make it, or you can, but your children can't, why not visit School Of Fish, the children's website for the event? There's games, downloads, "codcasts" (I love that!), and all sorts of info so you and your family can get involved even if you can't make it to the beach.  See you there!

Nature's Plus Animal Parade Vitamins Review

Gosh, is it 2012 already? 11 days in and not a Squeak!  It's been kind of busy around here with Christmas, New Year's, my birthday, the impending SqueakyBirthday, and general STUFF, but hey, we're back.  Did you miss us?

Well anyways.  You remember not long back, I posted about Vitamin D deficiencies in toddlers?  It was quite apt that Nature's Plus sent me some of their Animal Parade vitamins for Squeaky to try, following that post.  I got a bottle of multivitamin, and a pack of samples of Vitamin D3.  They're normally recommended for children aged 2 and over, so as Squeaky isn't 2 until next week, I checked with my health visitor that it was OK for her to take them, and she was quite happy. I'd advise you to seek appropriate advice if you're not sure whether supplements are suitable for your child.

The vitamin supplements are tailored for children's needs, and are sugar free, vegetarian & have natural flavourings.  The tablets are animal shaped (I've seen  hippos, elephants, lions & tigers so far, but there may be more!) and are chewable.  Here's a learning point for me.  Chewable is not the same as chewy.  Chewy is jelly-like, or like chewits.  Chewable is hard, solid tablets that you can crunch or suck, like polos.  I didn't know this, so I was a bit surprised to find hard tablets & not the jellies I was expecting.

That didn't stop Squeaky enjoying them.  The multivitamins are natural cherry flavour & the Vitamin D3 are black cherry (I'm not quite sure of the difference, but I have the same problem with yogurts!), which seemed to go down very well.  I don't like artificial fruit flavours, so it was good to see that the flavours were natural.  The tablets are coloured with rosehip, which makes them look quite pretty, BUT.  If your child is anything like Squeaky, the tablets will be in & out of their mouths really quite a bit.  Not because she didn't like it, just because it was something new & she needed to look at it.  A lot.  Thankfully, with the colours being natural, they washed off her face easily, and came out of her pyjamas in a single wash, so no worries there. (Yes. I know. They're boy's PJs. She chose them and wouldn't let go.)

It's hard to tell with a toddler whether a supplement is doing any good.  Let's face it, they're whirlwinds at the best of times, so the judgement can only really come with whether or not she likes them.  She's come back for more every day so far, so that seems to be a positive reaction from a very fussy eater.

I'm glad to have found something that she will happily take, I do honestly worry about what she eats, even though I know she's just being a toddler, and being fussy because she can.  There's only so much toast & marmite that one child can eat, so including a daily vitamin supplement means I can be confident that she's getting the balance she needs.  It won't stop me trying to get her to eat a more varied diet, but it does stop me worrying if she doesn't.

Nature's Plus Animal Parade vitamins are available through Amazon and other sources. (I am not an Amazon Affiliate, I will not gain anything through use of this link)

Disclosure: I was provided with a bottle of multivitamins & a pack of Vitamin D3 tablets free of charge for the purpose of this review.  I was not told what to write, and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience only, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

Vitamin D - The Sunshine Vitamin

Vitamin D is really, honestly, quite easy to come by.  It's free, and made naturally in our bodies as a result of exposure to sunlight.  Trouble is, there's not a lot of that around at the moment (you might have noticed!), and shockingly, 9 out of 10 toddlers aren't getting enough Vitamin D to meet their nutritional needs, either naturally or through supplements.

Vitamin D helps with bone growth, and can prevent rickets in children, and osteoporosis in adults, as it helps regulate the calcium levels in the body.  That's something I know about, thanks to a couple of broken ankles, and surgeons giving me dire threats about bone density scans & the like.

Our lifestyles have changed so much over the last 30 years or so, modern toddlers don't get the same levels of Vitamin D that their parents and grandparents did.  Reliance on cars for even short journeys, greatly increased use of sunscreen, more time spent in front of the tv & computer rather than "playing out", all reduce the amount of exposure to sunlight and therefore the amount of Vitamin D floating around in children's bodies.

Image Credit

So, what can we do?  Get out in the sunshine!  Ten minutes a day through the summer months (April - October), without sunscreen, can give a child enough exposure to the sun's rays to produce enough Vitamin D to store in their bodies for the winter.  But really, do we risk our toddlers' skin with exposure to the sun without sunscreen?  And even if we did, that's not going to be enough for some people.  Those living in the north (sorry Northerners!), and those with Black or Asian skin won't get enough sunlight this way, so something else is needed.

The Department of Health recommends all toddlers receive a daily supplement of Vitamins A, C & D.  Those who receive milk tokens (or Healthy Start tokens to give them their proper name) are also entitled to free supplements, and in certain areas of the UK, you may be able to get free supplements from your health visitor even if you're not on benefits(though you might well have to ask).

In addition to a supplement, you can try to include Vitamin D rich foods in your toddler's diet. A lot of breakfast cereals & margarines are fortified with vitamins, another good reason not to skip breakfast!  Oily fish, egg yolks and liver are also good sources of Vitamin D (and yeah, good luck with those).

You can also include a specially formulated Growing-Up milk into your toddler's day.  Squeaky is a DEMON for being a fussy eater at the moment, but two beakers of Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk gives her more than half her daily Vitamin D requirements, so I know she's off to a good start each day, even if she spends the rest of the day refusing to consider anything other than toast.

Cow & Gate Growing Up Milk are sponsoring me to attend the CybHer conference in May 2012.  The statistical data in this post came from The Toddler Census, a questionnaire answered by over 1000 parents in July 2011.