In my most recent post on Vitamin D for children I mentioned that I would soon be receiving a bottle of Vitamin D drops (cholecalciferol or Vitamin D3) which contain 400 IU of Vitamin D per drop. While recommendations have now increased to 600IU daily of Vitamin D, I imagine that the 400IU should be sufficient for now for my son, at least as a supplement. So here I was two weeks back, with a tiny bottle containing 365 drops of Vitamin D in it (approximately $15 for the bottle, but remember that this has a year’s supply of the medication!)
So how successful has it been?
In a word, very.
The first two days were a little tricky. After nearly daily nose suctioning and eye drops for a bout of pinkeye, he was shrieking “No medicine! No Medicine!” He was similarly apprehensive to try the Vitamin D. But I gently told him that he had to try some and I put a drop on my finger and then in my mouth. For subsequent doses I would occasionally put a drop on my skin prior to nursing and he easily took the medicine. Soon after he realized it was not only low in volume but also tasteless, L began to request the vitamin on a daily basis.
Now, there is not a day when he does not ask for his dose of daily Vitamin D. I need to be careful what I wished for because the bottle is not child-safe and he definitely likes it. I do have to keep it out of reach and in a locked area, lest my son go around looking for it. But the first of my problems is over: he takes this medication willingly.
How to dose:
What do I have to do? I ask my two year old boy to stick out of his tongue and I turn the bottle upside down and allow one drop to fall onto his tongue. Easy peasy.
If your child is younger and you simply have to put a drop on your finger or on the nipple (of the bottle or the breast) and then allow your child to feed. So much easier than the 1mL smelly dropperful of medicine I used to forcefeed my baby beforehand! My only struggle (aside from the lack of the safety cap) is that this supplement is hard to find in stores, so when I recommend the medication to my patients and their families they look at me blankly. For now we have to order online but I am optimistic that this will be successful for many families as soon as they are able to source it! I wish that this was available more widely, so I do hope that more local pharmacies decide to stock this supplement!
This is what we use, too, so I’m glad to see your vote of confidence. My only complaint is that it’s easy to accidentally dispense two drops instead of one, since subsequent drops fall so quickly after the first. Maybe I’m just clumsy!
I am totally agreed with you there. It is tricky to just get one drop out at a time so I really have to look and watch. The directions say to have the bottle completely upside down which is difficult to do while also trying to get one’s child to take a drop! But I think there is definitely room for kid-friendly formulations like this. Unfortunately because of people accidentally overdosing on medications I think pharmaceutical companies want to go on the safe side with very dilute formulations of medications (case in point: Tylenol, which is no longer available in a highly concentrated formulation) but at least then I wish they would work on making medications a little less horrible tasting!