Childrens vitamin supplements

[Oceanbliss]

I'm considering giving dd5 vitamin supplements. Are they beneficial or just a waste of money. Do you give your children vitamin supplements and have you noticed any positive differences in energy, concentration, mood, behavior, less colds etc?

Mine is 5 & has had supplements for the last 3.5 years. I think there is some benefit but hard to assess. She was lactose intolerant as a baby so had restrictions in her diet, plus we are vegetarian and post 3 she was (and is) a poor eater who only eats few things. However she's not poor on immunity & does not fall ill much. I think the supplements have helped. She does have low stamina & gets tired easily as she's very skinny but I think thats mainly due to insufficient protein. She's never so exhausted that I've suspected low iron. Never tested her so I'll never know what's working & what isn't.

Mine have vitamin supplements that look (and taste) like gummy bears. I don't know about the benefits per se but they enjoy it, it's a good bribe to make them get dressed and they never forget to remind us they need to take them! I don't think it can do any harm.

Thanks for the replies. Hmm still not sure whether to give vitamins or not. Might do a bit more research.

I was recently told by a health visitor that the recommendation is now to give vitamins to all children aged 6 months to 5 years.

all children should take at least a vitd3 supplement.
if they are vegetarian or don't eat fish a omega3 and iodine supplement would be good as well.
vegan - must have b12 supplement in addition.

the rest can usually be covered by a sensible diet.

I give my DD vitamin D during the winter months (aprox October to March).

I am not a fan of having/giving vitamins just for the sake of it, I think it is always better to get used to eat well so you have all the nutrients from your food. Having said that...I am lucky that my DD eats quite well normally, but when she is going through a phase of not eating so much, I sometimes give her vitamins for my peace of mind. I do have vitamins at home normally, but I do not give them to her all the time (I have been doing it for last few days because she is not eating as well as usual!).

I agree, best to find foods that give the most vitamins. If you keep artificially pumping vitamins into someone's body, they become resistant to them so I would just be wise about which ones you select, the higher concentration or whatever they say may not be better.

Everyone knows it is always better to find foods that provide the necessary vitamins but a lot of parents, including myself, sometimes struggle to get their children to eat as healthily both at home and in childcare/school, when they eat out with friends at the weekend as they should. We use vitamins as a top up, but not to replace healthy eating as much as possible.

@JessySH what do you mean "they become resistant to them"? Do you mean their bodies don't absorb the vitamin as well? Did a quick google and cant find anything saying this, genuinely interested if you have links to this. I agree higher concentrations of some vitamins i.e. vit A can cause issues.

My HV recommendation was till 5. I don’t rely on it to keep my dd healthy, I rely on diet for that.

Additionally my DH has a health condition. There isn’t a genetic predisposition for our kids but his constants said that they give their children vitamin D as a possible preventative measure against a variety of diseases, so we do a multi vitamin for those reasons too.

If you keep artificially pumping vitamins into someone's body, they become resistant to them

bollocks.
if your vitamin intake is higher than your need you pee them out.

I never heard about vitamin resistance either, no idea about that.

However...if your vitamin intake is higher than your need you pee them out, that's only true for some vitamins (water soluble ones). Some other vitamins, like vitamin A, you cannot pee them out and are toxic in high amounts (that's why in multivitamins they only add a bit of those vitamins but not too much, as if someone has plenty of those vitamins through their diet already, then it could be a problem if you add a suplement on top)

We use haliborange liquid for DD who is 21 months. She's happy to take it off the spoon.

Thanks for the replies. I think I might introduce a good quality multivitamin. She eats healthy foods but is a bit fussy.