Is there any concern about giving young children vitamin supplements?

[pookey]

I have just read optimum nutrition for your child by Patrick Holford and have been pretty much convinced to give my 3yo omega oils supplement and a multivitamin but I am slightly nervous that there may be an argument against vitamin supplementation that I am unaware of. The type of thing making me nervous is that I have just scanned an old thread on the bf topic about a study which showed that babies given a high iron supplement has lower IQs than those on a formula with lower levels of iron.

Also does anyone know if I take pregnacare will this be beneficial to my 20 mo bf daughter, I dont want to risk an overload if she gets supplements in my milk and also from sep tablets for her?

Any advice appreciated

[pookey]

sorry, by high iron supplement I meant a formula with higher levels of Iron added.

[pagwatch]

If you get a good quality vit supplement that is MADE FOR BABIES AND YOUNG CHILDREN. you should have no problems

EFAs are fabulous and are not harmful but again get the best quality you can afford that are screened for heavy meatal and don't contain e numbers and various flavourings and shit ( I am looking at you haliborange )

Nordic naturals are fantastic. Eye-Q is very good

[pookey]

Thanks Pagwatch, I have ordered the eskimo kids liquid for my ds and am trying to decide on a multivitamin for him now. I am just concerned that maybe I am trusting the book I read a little too unquestioningly!

[pagwatch]

well I would think you were trusting it too much if you get the supplements but feed your child on burger king every day.

Good diet is the most important thing but supplementing can help. My DS has a faddy diet and supplements help keep him healthy and EFAs helped him speak after months of delay. So I don't need any more convincing

[pookey]

Thats intersting pagwatch, good to hear they have really helped your son. DS speach has always been quite good but motor skills are not so good so it will be interesting to see if oils help at all with that (obv not expecting him to start turning cartwheels and writing his name over night). DS diet is quite faddy. He will eat raw carrots cucumber and some fruits if we dont buy biscuits or give him too much toast but he likes food to be 'clean' and 'closed' no ragged edges or bits sticking out etc so he likes chicken dippers or fish fingers with chips. He had a major coughing crying fit at the prospect of eating a non breadcrumb wrapped dinner last night! I received the eskimo kids EFA oil this morning less than 24 hours after ordering so will see if he will take it after nursery.

[cheesesarnie]

ds2 is vegetarian and up till about a year ago was intolerant to cows milk produce so we searched for a suitable vitamin supplement for him-searched and searched and searched in fact!and paid lots of money for one that was ok for veggies.he wouldnt take it....

but we realised that he was getting a healthy balanced diet anyway so should be ok without supplement.everything he was 'missing out on' by being veggie as others told us often,was replaced elsewhere.

[pookey]

How frustrating cheesesarnie! At least you wont have to shell out for the expensive vitamins on a regular basis. DS took his 'medicine' dont know if thats cos he was expecting it to be calpol which he is rather fond of

[cheekychopsmum]

What age can children start taking Eskimo Kids?

[pookey]

Sorry not replied earlier cheekychopsmum, it can be taken from 1 year old until 12 yrs its an oily sweet liquid and it can be added to food or given from a spoon. I am giving ds a bit less than a full spoon because he has had salmon this week. The Holford book suggests giving less if your child has some fish nuts and seeds and has a chart indicating how much to supplement based on age, which for younger children is less than the dose eskimo kids appear to suggest.

[Dillydaydreamer]

It really depends on your dds diet. With children who already have a balanced diet with plenty of fruit, veg, meat and dairy it really shouldn't be necessary.
I do give my dd1 also 3yo a multi vit because she went through a phase of not eating much meat and I felt she was anaemic and wanted to boost iron and vit c.
Any extra unnecessary vitamins will be excreted in urine usually but if the mineral and vitamins aren't being absorbed it could potentially affect urine output due to the change in osmosis through the kidneys. Most children should cope with this fine. Use with caution is my advice. There are many unlikely sources of all vitamins and minerals.

I do have to say that after taking vitamins for a while my dd has regained her appetite and is less lethargic but it could have been coincidental iyswim.

[pookey]

Thanks DDD thats interesting about the changes in urine output. DS has been looking very pale recently and the tiny improvements in diet, plus I guess potentially the EFFA supplement (it has 1 or 2 other vits aswell) seem to be helping a tiny bit already. Originally I was planning to give both the EFA supp and a multi vit but I think I will just give him the EFAs and then a multi vit supp for a while once he has finished the EFA bottle.