Importance of Vitamin A for Children’s Health and Immunity – Parenting Tips

Pearl Princess |
Haibunda

Wednesday, 24 May 2023 10:55 WIB

Jakarta –

Vitamin A has many benefits for the health of the child’s body. If children are deficient in vitamin A, they become susceptible to various infectious diseases, including measles.

Children who are deficient in vitamin A are more likely to experience more severe measles symptoms and complications. Because of that, the government made a program in February and August by giving children vitamin A.

You can get vitamin A capsules yourself at the nearest health facility. Starting from hospitals, health centers, poskesdes, medical centers, practicing doctors, private midwives, to posyandu, for free.

Dosis vitamin A

Giving a dose of vitamin A cannot be arbitrary, Mother. There are 2 types of vitamin A capsules that can be given to children according to age, namely blue capsules and red capsules.

View from the official site promkes.kemkes.go.id, a blue capsule filled with vitamin A at a dose of 100,000 IU for babies aged 6 to 11 months. Meanwhile, the red capsule contains vitamin A at a dose of 200,000 IU for children aged 12 to 59 months.

Benefits of vitamin A

Still quoting from the site promkes.kemkes.go.idVitamin A is involved in the formation, production and growth of red blood cells, lymphocytes, antibodies as well as the integrity of the body’s lining epithelial cells.

Vitamin A can also prevent night blindness, xerophthalmia, corneal damage and blindness and prevent anemia in postpartum mothers.

Apart from that, there are also other benefits of vitamin A that you can know about. The following row summarizes from the page Healthline:

1. Protect the eyes from blindness

Vitamin A is very important for maintaining eye health, Mother. This vitamin is needed to convert the light that enters the eye into electrical signals that are sent to the brain.

In fact, one of the first symptoms of vitamin A deficiency is night blindness known as nyctalopia. Night blindness occurs in people with a deficiency of vitamin A, because this vitamin is the main component of rhodopsin.

2. Supports the immune system

Vitamin A plays an important role in maintaining the body’s natural defenses. This includes the mucus barrier in a child’s eyes, lungs, intestines, and genitals that helps trap bacteria and other infections.

Vitamin A is also involved in the production and function of white blood cells that help capture and clear bacteria and other pathogens from the bloodstream. This means that a lack of vitamin A can increase susceptibility to infection and delay recovery or healing when the child is sick.

Read more on the next page, OK!

For mothers who want to share about parenting and can get lots of giveaways, let’s join the HaiBunda Squad community. Click list HERE. Free!

See also the following video on multiple immunizations to prevent measles:

(first)