How old should children take cod liver oil?

Cod liver oil is a nutrient needed by babies. It is very helpful for supplementing vitamin A and promoting the growth of liver skin. However, babies should not be given too much cod liver oil, as it can easily cause symptoms of poisoning. Therefore, it is recommended that babies can start eating a drop of cod liver oil 15 weeks after birth, and can add appropriate amounts every week. You can stop eating cod liver oil when the baby is 2 years old.

What is the best age to take cod liver oil?

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.

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.

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.

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.

What are the benefits of cod liver oil

1. Cod liver oil is often used to prevent and treat vitamin A and vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin A is very helpful for maintaining normal visual function, immune system and reproductive system health. Theoretically, it is not easy to be deficient except for premature infants, children in underdeveloped areas and pregnant women. However, chronic diarrhea may cause vitamin A loss, leading to symptoms such as dry eyes and night blindness. Vitamin D helps promote the body's absorption of calcium and phosphorus, promotes bone and tooth development, and maintains normal metabolism; vitamin D deficiency can lead to rickets, osteomalacia, etc.

2. Cod liver oil can promote metabolism, enhance immunity, resist radiation and cancer, clean blood vessels, and promote fat metabolism.

3. Applying cod liver oil to the roots of eyelashes can also stimulate the growth of eyelashes.

The above is some information about the best age to take cod liver oil. I hope it will be helpful to you. From this, it can be seen that it is best to take cod liver oil until the age of two. Moreover, cod liver oil is not only suitable for breastfeeding babies, but also for children with night blindness. Cod liver oil can effectively relieve night blindness.