Children's vitamins - and sweetners

[Freddiecat]

We've decided to give DS (3) some multi vitamins as he is a VERY reluctant fruit and veg eater.

I went to Tesco to buy some - about 10 different ones to choose from. All chewable ones hence they have to be nice flavoured to get children to eat them. I can understand that.

What I cannot understand is this constant assumption that everything has to be "sugar-free" and therefore packed with artificial sweetners such as aspartame! Aspartame has been banned in the US because it's linked to cancer!!!

Basically all 10 contain aspartame. Does anyone know where I can get children's vitamins with good old fashioned sugar in them?!

I don't really give the kids much sugar anyway and would happily let them chew on a sugar lump in preference to this artificial stuff.

CAT me - ds1 can't have sweetners so we have to use non additive ones. i'm off to bed now so probably won't reply until tomorrow- but promise I will tomorrow am.

have you tried that abidec?

its a liquid and you use a dropper to add it to a drink. Suitable form birth, and they dont even know they are taking it!

it doesnt taste at all sweet and i cant imagine it has any sweeteners in it!

ds1 can't have abidec (contains peanut oil)

Saccharine's been banned in the US for ages. I don't think aspartame is.

Nonetheless, artificial sweeteners are strange and scary things.

aspartame's worse. Sends ds1 absolutely off the planet. There's a big article about it in this months Ecologist magazine (is it monthly). DS1's diet is crap (no meat, veg or fruit- hence the need for a good multivitmin) but at least he never has aspartame. Took me a long time to find a multivitamin he could have. Ditto toothpaste (often contains sorbitol which also has a bad effect).

It's like they assume that people who give their children vitamins feed them coco-pops and fizzy drinks and therefore the small pill needs to be sugar free.