Do you give your kids vitamins and do you think it works?

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I give my ds and dd vitamins every day and I think they seem to have fewer colds and illnesses than most others in their classes. Are there any other committed vitamin users and if so what are the favoured varieties?

Nope. I give my children a varied and healthy diet. I don't like giving more money to The Man than I have to. The Man is a con artist! And I don't like the idea of my children growing up thinking they have to pop pills to be healthy.

Sorry. I'm sure there will be plenty of people along soon who agree with you.

Who is The Man?
I give them a varied diet, I just think that it supplements it.

Ds2 has quite a lot of supplements but he has quite a limited diet which we are working on (he has asd so the rules of you will eat what I give you don't apply!)

Ds1 has a good diet and no supplements.

Neither get ill very often

I've never bothered with vitamins either, just plenty of fruit and veg, and my children are pretty healthy. I agree that a lot of it is a marketing con, and I think most of the research has disproved any connection between massive vitamin C doses, for example, and not getting colds.

There is some interesting stuff coming out about the possible relationship between low vitamin D levels and illnesses like MS, but that's more to do with lack of sunlight in northern climates. We're not in Scandinavia/Scotland, and I make sure my DCs get outside for a reasonable amount of time every day, so I don't think there's any need for supplements.

I do give them supplements with added omega three, apparently it can help with concentration and they need all the help they can get (one suspected ADD, the other ADHD).

I give them vitamins and they are obscenely healthy...but I have never not given them vitamins so I don't know what they would be like without. They do have a reasonable diet, plenty of exercise eyc and that probably helps more..

I think vitamin supplements and bottled water are the two greatest marketing cons of recent years. With the possible exception, in some circumstances, of vitamin D.

I give them an ordinary multivitamin in winter. The vitamin D recommendations (which are not as well known as they should be) recommend this up to age 5. Also one DC is a picky eater, so it counteracts possible dietary gaps.

I've given my dd vitamins since she was 6 months old, mostly because I'm worried about vitamin D. We are in Scotland and don't see the sun very often though. She's never ill!

Mine have them when they remind me.
They have the cheap tesco/asda multi vitamins. The consultant suggested it on the basis that although their diets were good, it wouldn't do them any harm and very very possibly might help.

We always had vitamin D when we grew up in Sweden and so did everybody else; haven't bothered here in the sunny south of England.

DD has multi-vits, Solgar because so many vitamins and minerals in the. DP and I are foodies but she resolutely resists fruit and veg. We have no choice and I hope it helps redress the balance. We're working on the fruit and veg though. She picks one a week and has to try a little a day.

BTW - dd has gone long periods without vits, fruit or veg and hardly been ill. When she was a baby/toddler and lived on my pure fruit, veg and meat preparations she had one cold and ear infection after another.

I try adn get my ds to take vitamins as he also is very fussy about what he eats. However haven't yet found one that he likes so dd takes them while I try another brand!!

I give ds a multivitamin as he is under 5. I would say he is averagely healthy.

I give them a spoonful of Wellbaby liquid that i keep in the fridge when they have a cold. Makes me feel like i am doing something- not sure it makes any difference but makes me feel better!

My 13 month old DD eats really well. I had assumed that, unless fussiness and food-refusal kicked in, she wouldn't need supplements. However, at her 12 month check the HV told me the NHS recommend it for all under-3s. I have had a half-arsed look on the Internet and can't find anything suitable that doesn't cost a fortune. Maybe I needn't bother.

I have a fussy eater, so it just gives me a bit of confidence that she has what she needs.