At what age can you take cod liver oil? Parenting experts are here to answer your questions

According to parenting experts, it is very important for babies to supplement with cod liver oil. You can start supplementing with cod liver oil fifteen days after the baby is born. At the beginning, the baby is still relatively small, so the amount supplemented is less, and you can gradually increase the amount.

1. How much cod liver oil should a normal baby eat every day

According to a large number of studies, babies need 10 micrograms (equivalent to 400 units) of vitamin D and 400 micrograms (equivalent to 1330 units) of vitamin A every day. If they eat more, they will be stored in the liver and subcutaneous fat, but excessive intake can cause poisoning. However, as long as the daily intake of vitamin D does not exceed 20-25 micrograms (800-1000 units) and vitamin A does not exceed 2000 micrograms (6670 units), it will not be an overdose.

2. How old should the baby be to start supplementing with cod liver oil?

Cod liver oil should be supplemented from 15 days after the baby is born (that is, the third week), initially one drop a day. If the bowel movement is normal, you can increase the dosage to 2 drops per day after a week, and gradually increase it until you take one pill per day. As long as the baby does not have diarrhea, continue to eat this medicine until the age of 2 years.

3. Vitamin D supplementation in daily diet is not enough

The content of vitamin D in daily food is very low. Even in breast milk, the minimum content is only 10 units of vitamin D per liter. Even if the mother takes cod liver oil, the vitamin D in breast milk is no more than 70 units per liter, far from meeting the baby's daily requirement of 400 units. The content in other foods is even less, such as only 25 units in every 100 grams of pork liver and no more than 50 units in each egg. Therefore, relying on food to supplement vitamin D is like a drop in the bucket and is far from enough.

4. Babies over 2 years old should get more sun exposure

If the baby's skin can be directly exposed to sunlight, it can synthesize the primary product of vitamin D (D3 precursor), which can slowly turn into vitamin D3 according to whether the human body needs it and be used by the human body. After the age of 2, babies have many opportunities to be exposed to sunlight, so they generally do not need to take cod liver oil anymore.