*Maternal and Infant Vitamins
Vitamin D is important for healthy bones, muscles and teeth.
It is recommend that the following groups take a daily Vitamin D supplement:
- Pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers
- breastfed babies should be given a daily supplement from birth (around 2 weeks old) containing 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D to make sure they get enough
- formula-fed babies shouldn't be given a vitamin D supplement until they're having less than 500ml (about a pint) of infant formula a day, as infant formula is fortified with vitamin D
- children aged 1 to 4 years old should be given a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin
Services Offered
- Children and Families
- Weight Management
NHS Lanarkshire provides free vitamin D to all pregnant and postnatal women, breastfeeding mothers and all children aged 0-3 years.
Pregnant women should ask their community midwife for their free supplyof Healthy Start vitamins throughout their pregnancy and initially after birth, these contain vitamin D, folic acid and vitamin C.
Postnatal mothers up to one year and for the duration of breastfeeding can ask their Health Visitor or Family Nurse or collect their supply from their local Health Centre or library.
Children's vitamin Pro Health Vitamin D drops are available at over 60 venues throughout Lanarkshire including Health Centres, Community venues, libraries and voluntary organisations.
Some of these groups also hold vitamins for postnatal and breastfeeding mothers. Ask your Health Visitor or Family Nurse for more information. Contact Susan Short at Susan.Short@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk for more details.