Sunlight Makes Better Breastmilk?

May 14, 2008 theprincesspalace
Tags: breastfeeding

 

 

While remembering to breathe and eat healthy is more than enough for expecting mothers during pregnancy, now they just might get to relax by spending more time in the sun.

            According to a new finding reported by the Chicago Tribune, a Japanese study is now saying that staying in the sun longer can help increase women’s vitamin D supplementation, which will help them to produce better breast feeding milk as well as stronger bones in the fetus.

            Mother of a one-month-old baby girl, Marissa Thomas of Las Vegas, says that this study is nothing she has ever heard of.

“I did choose to breastfeed, but I didn’t know of anything about staying in the sun. I would think you should stay out of the sun…so you don’t like have a heat stroke or something.”

Thomas says she prepared herself for breastfeeding by reading books and researching on the Internet. But not once did she come across anything that said staying in the sun could help.

            Certified nurse midwife and family nurse practitioner, Kathleen Cavato of Nancy Church’s Obstetrics & Gynecology office, says the study does make sense and that she can see how it would play into pregnancy. However, Cavato says that mothers could also just take vitamin D supplements and be just fine during pregnancy.

            “I have not heard that being in the sun will help produce better breast milk. Expecting mothers can take a vitamin supplement to attain adequate levels of Calcium and Vitamin D.” 

 

            However, according to the Medical News Today website, even the regular use of prenatal multivitamin supplements is still not sufficient enough to prevent vitamin D insufficiency.

            A study was conducted in March of 2007 at the University Of Pittsburgh Graduate School Of Public Health.

            The administrator of the study, Lisa Bodnar, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., said “In our study, more than 80 percent of African-American women and nearly half of white women tested at delivery, had levels of vitamin D that were too low, even though more than 90 percent of them used prenatal vitamins during pregnancy.”

            Obstetrician and Gynecologist, Nancy Church, says that too much sun can be detrimental to a person as well. “Well it makes sense to a certain extent. You still have to be careful with exposing yourself to the sun too much as well. Too much exposure could lead to things such as skin cancer.” 

            Therefore one is left to ponder the burning question, “what is the right thing to do?”

            Expecting mother, Dachondra Cason of Miami FL., says she doesn’t believe half the studies that are given.

“These doctors they tell you stuff, and it’s hard to believe them. I have never heard of anything about staying in the sun to help make better breast milk.”

            The La Leche League Group of Chicago, Illinois, strives to educate women who want to breastfeed. 

 

            According to their website, Rickets occurs because of a deficiency in sunlight exposure, not because of a deficiency in human milk.

Multiple attempts were made to reach a spokesperson from the La Leche League Group for comment; however, the attempts were unsuccessful.

However on their website they mention that breastfeeding your baby, can help protect your baby from illnesses. It also says that breastfed babies have a decreased likelihood of allergies and dental caries.

The website also states that there is no such thing as vitamin D. That it is actually a steroid hormone that is produced in the body after the skin has been directly exposed to the UVB radiations in sunlight.

This is the most common way that humans maintain a sufficient amount of the hormone.

 

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Sources

 

 

 

 

Kathleen Cavato

Rn. C MSN

Certified Nurse Midwife/ Family Nurse Practitioner

773.233.6500

 

Nancy Church

M.D. Gynecologist & Obstetrician

773.233.6500

 

The La Leche League Group

www.llli.org

 

http://www.llli.org/llleaderweb/LV/LVAugSep03p75.html

 

 

Chicago Tribune

www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/health/chi-0401_discovery4_rapr01,1,936228.story

 

Entry Filed under: Health

2 Comments Add your own

• 1. budzi  |  June 10, 2008 at 2:41 pm

  natural supplements are the best to go with at all times no matter the excuses that people can advance to the contrary they remain the best.

  Reply

  • 2. theprincesspalace  |  November 3, 2009 at 2:30 pm

    Thanks Budzi!

    Reply

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