Our family loves Jessica and her whole practice. We feel well cared for, seen and heard! In this day and age of quick doctor visits and high costs of care, the care we receive here is integral to wellness.
How to protect your child’s immune system, mood, growth & development all year long.
If you’ve ever wondered whether your child is getting enough vitamin D… you’re not alone.
Vitamin D deficiency is extremely common in kids — especially for families living in northern climates with long winters, shorter days, and months without consistent sun exposure.
Here at Well-Rooted Pediatrics, we test vitamin D levels regularly, and we see a pattern over and over again: kids who struggle with frequent illness, fatigue, mood swings, bone pain, or slow recovery often have low vitamin D levels.
Let’s break down why this matters so much — and how you can help your child thrive.
Most children simply don’t get enough vitamin D through sun exposure or food. Here’s why:
Above a certain latitude (hello, Midwest winters), our bodies can’t make adequate vitamin D from October through April — even on sunny days.
School, sports centers, devices, winter activities… sunlight isn’t built into modern routines.
Egg yolks, salmon, sardines, and fortified foods help — but they rarely provide what rapidly growing bodies need.
It means kids get even less from sunlight.
The result?
Vitamin D deficiency is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in children.
Vitamin D isn’t just a “bone vitamin.” It plays a major role in almost every system in a child’s body.
Low vitamin D increases susceptibility to colds, flu, respiratory infections, and lingering symptoms. Kids with optimal levels get sick less often and bounce back faster.
Vitamin D affects serotonin, dopamine, and overall nervous system regulation. Deficiency is associated with irritability, anxiety, low mood, and sleep challenges.
Children need vitamin D to absorb calcium properly. Low levels can impact bone strength, posture, and even growing pains.
Vitamin D acts as a hormone in the body. It helps regulate blood sugar, metabolism, and inflammation — all essential during rapid growth.
Studies show vitamin D influences cognitive function, attention, and focus.
In short: kids who are vitamin D deficient feel it in more ways than one — even if symptoms get brushed off as “normal.”
Parents often tell us, “I thought this was just my child’s personality,” or, “Isn’t every kid like this?”
Common symptoms include:
Not all kids show obvious symptoms — which is why testing is key.
You’ll never truly know your child’s vitamin D status without a lab test — and supplementing blindly isn’t safe, either.
At Well-Rooted Pediatrics, we test vitamin D through a simple blood draw to:
✔️ Determine your child’s baseline
✔️ Personalize dosing recommendations
✔️ Prevent deficiencies from worsening
✔️ Track levels over time to keep them optimal
Vitamin D dosing is very individualized.
It depends on weight, current levels, absorption, genetics, diet, and overall health.
This is why we always recommend testing before beginning long-term supplementation.
For many families, especially in the Midwest, the answer is often yes — but with guidance.
Kids grow quickly, burn through nutrients faster, and can’t rely on sunlight or food alone.
Supplementation is often needed to:
But again — the dose matters, and testing helps us get it right.
We take a holistic, root-cause approach to vitamin D, including:
Because your child deserves to feel strong, healthy, and balanced — not just get through the season.
Vitamin D is one of the simplest, most powerful ways to support your child’s overall health — especially during long winters and high-illness seasons.
Testing is easy. Supplementation is simple. The benefits are enormous.
If you’re wondering whether your child’s levels are where they should be, we’re here to help you find out — and support your family with a plan you can trust.
🌿 At Well-Rooted, we offer functional medicine telehealth services in Illinois (IL), Wisconsin (WI), Iowa (IA), Florida (FL), North Dakota (ND), Arizona (AZ), Maryland (MD), Oregon (OR), Virginia (VA), Delaware (DE), Massachusetts (MA), Nevada (NV), New York (NY), New Hampshire (NH), and Colorado (CO)—no matter where you are, we’re here to support your family’s health journey!
📍 Local? Visit us in Crystal Lake & Oakbrook, IL!
✈️ Not local or in a telehealth state? A single in-person visit each year allows for telehealth follow-ups for one year! We have families who travel from states away for the care they need.
☎️ 815-322-9300
Our specially-trained New Patient Coordinators are ready and waiting to answer all of your questions!
Our family loves Jessica and her whole practice. We feel well cared for, seen and heard! In this day and age of quick doctor visits and high costs of care, the care we receive here is integral to wellness.
Jessica and the staff at her practice are phenomenal. We have a great experience every time we go, and love that the focus is on natural and holistic methods to the extent possible when treating our little one. We are so glad we made the Well Rooted choice!
As an overwhelmed expecting mother, I was becoming extremely defeated as I interviewed pediatricians to help me care for my son when he arrived. As a nurse, I was searching for someone collaborative, respectful, patient, and would be able to provide insight and guidance with more depth than what I could quickly access on a Google search. Jessica and the staff of Well Rooted is a God-send, exceeding my expectations every visit! Jessica is extremely present during very visits, despite whatever is happening outside the exam room door. She is incredibly kind, gentle, patient and with excellent clinical skills and judgement! She has also been immediately available to me via phone on the weekend, when I have had a concern. I just love her and the entire staff at Well Rooted so much and I couldn’t recommend them enough!
Yesterday I took my daughter for her 4 year well visit and preschool physical. I had a great experience. I saw Valerie at the Oak Brook office. She answered all of my questions and did a through physical. In addition, recommend some things to incorporate to better my daughters digestion.
We don’t go to the Crystal Lake Well Rooted anymore since we moved going over to OakBrook. We saw Victoria was absolutely fantastic. She saw my son for the first 9 months of his life, and she not only provided phenomenal care for him, but also for myself as a newly postpartum mom. They are very respectful of your decisions as a parent at Well Rooted, and it’s nice to not feel like you’re being gaslit by medical professionals. I like how they have holistic remedies available for purchase as well. They also provided me references to lactation consultants, chiropractors, etc as well. My son is now almost 2 and thankfully very healthy. We love Well Rooted!
