Vitamin D Toxicity in Young Breastfed Infants: Report of 2 Cases.

Abstract

Vitamin D toxicity in infants is not uncommon, and has been reported as early as the 1930s, usually due to antirachitic treatment with very high doses of vitamin D. This usually involves administration of 600 000 IU vitamin D2 oral or intramuscularly (termed “stoss therapy”) resulting in vitamin D toxicity symptoms related to hypercalcemia.1-4 Most of these case reports occurred outside the United States. Recently, there are reports of vitamin D toxicity in very young breastfed infants, mostly in the United States, from inadvertent overdose with highly concentrated vitamin D formulation obtained over-the-counter or from free-standing stores (Table 1). Table 1. Case Reports of Breastfed Infants Who Had Vitamin D Toxicity.