fish oils - advice needed!

[angel31]

I have heard that fish oils are really useful to help kids concentrate etc. i have a very active 13 month old ds who can't concentrate on anything for more than two minutes at a time, not even to have a book read to him! At what age can fish oils be given to little ones and do they work? And i do know that it is normal for toddlers not to concentrate for long periods of time but it wold be great if he could concentrate for long enough to have the adventures of spot read to him!!!

13 months is probably too young for many children to listen to a story tbh. It depends on their language development- adult directed attention comes with language development.

Fish oils are good but most of the preparations say not to give to a child under 2- although providing you don't give fish liver oils you probably wouldn't do any harm. (fish liver oils cointain too much vitamin A) Are you still bfeeding? A better option would be to take fish oils yourself. Or if you are still giving formula to buy one with LCPs in it.

The other thing to watch with fish oils is that you buy a brand that has been purified as unpurified ones will comtain high levels of pollutants such as mercury.

Another alternative is hemp or flax oil- either taken in food (although it tastes a bit nasty) or massaged into the skin.

My 13 month ds has organic flax seed oil for eczema. It just tastes a bit bitter so I mix it into something sweet to disguise it. You have to keep it in the fridge and mix it into cold food only.

It may be a coincidence but ds will sit through three or four stories. Are you letting ds turn the pages? You may not be able to read a story in a traditional way, he may want to skip around, go back and that's fine. He loves "where's spot" because he can lift all the flaps and I make animal noises. He will wriggle off my knee if I try to read the words that are written in Spot stories though, I think they are quite dull for kids his age.

Thanks for those. yes, ds is far more interested in opening and closing the book than actually looking at any of the pages! It sounds like he may be a bit too young for fish oils at present tho' would like to hear if anyone else has had any experiences of them with older ones.

Opening and closing book is reading at this age. Then one day you find them sat "talking" at their book and pointing at the pictures. I'm sure he is enjoying it, even if it's not yet much fun for you.

We read a similar article and I in my innocence went out and bought some Cod Liver Oil capsules; however, CLOil apparently is not the same as Fish Oil and does not have the same effect.

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angel31 - don't panic, 13 months old is very, very young. Take your lead from him - don't fret about these things, it's wasted time on your part. If it's any consolation, my ds - just turned 4 - can't get enough of being read to now, but has the attention span of a gnat at most other times.

Froot - what brand do you give your kids? Am very interested to know. Thanks.

interesting....... froot, what age did you start yours on their various oils?!

I got stuff from that website too and pierce the capsule and add the contents (strawberry flavoured) it to ds's milk. He seems to either like it or not notice - certainly hasn't complained. He's 2.6.

I find "Eskimo oil" really good, the regular oil has a lemon flavour and the childrens version has a tutti fruiti flavour. both are sugar and additive free, both suitable from few months old.
add them to yoghurt if still doesn't like taste.can buy in any good health store.