Abstract
Background:
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Academy of Medicine recommend vitamin D supplementation for breastfeeding infants. However, compliance with this recommendation is poor. Maternal supplementation with vitamin D is a safe and effective alternative to achieving vitamin D sufficiency in breastfeeding infants, and mothers have indicated a preference for self-supplementation over infant supplementation.
Research aim:
We sought to explore Family Medicine clinicians’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding vitamin D supplementation recommendations for breastfeeding dyads.
Methods:
Fifty-six Family Medicine clinicians (including faculty physicians, resident physicians, and nurse practitioners/physician assistants) completed an online, anonymous survey regarding their knowledge and practices concerning vitamin D supplementation for breastfeeding infants.
Results:
The vast majority of clinicians (92.9%) correctly identified the American Academy of Pediatrics’ 2008 recommended dose for vitamin D supplementation in breastfeeding infants and estimated recommending vitamin D supplementation of exclusively breastfeeding infants 70.1% of the time. If all options were equivalent, clinicians would prefer to offer maternal or infant supplementation (50%) or maternal supplementation (37.5%) over infant supplementation (12.5%). Most (69.6%) preferred daily over monthly supplementation regimens.
Conclusion:
Family Medicine clinicians are knowledgeable regarding current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation in breastfeeding infants. They are also open to recommending maternal supplementation or offering parents a choice of maternal or infant vitamin supplementation.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
