Advice on vitamins and oils for 1 year old

[suejonez]

later this year, I will be travelling overseas to adopt a child about 1yrs old, because of poor nutrition in the orphanage I'm keen start them on vitamins and omega 3/6/9 oils as soon as possible.

A few questions for anyone with some knowledge in this area.

1 - I bought multivitamin drops in Boots today formulated for children under two and the label says it contains peanut oil. Is that right? I thought you shouldn't give peanuts to children under two. Should I take them back or is there no need to be so precious?! It says don;t give if there is a peanut allergy but I won;t know if they have one as peanuts are on most central ASian orphanages feeding schedules.

2 - all the omega three oils and fish oils aimed at children say from 3 years old but I think I read at the weekend taht its OK to give a teaspoon of flax oil (or was it hemp seed oil) to babies over 6 months and that it has the perfect ratio of 3/6/9.

Baby's previous diet will have been predominantly starchy carbs and cows milk (obviously no bf) with the occasional egg.

3 - any other advice? - all suggestions need to be portable and practical for a 6 week expedition!

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Sorry, suejonez, I can't help, I'm afraid, but I can bump it.

Hi Suejonez - how exciting for you!!!

I Had 2 multi-vitamins that were recommended to me -

1. Abidec - is suspended in peanut oil

• supposed to be good, but supply is dodgy at best

2. Dalivit - no peanut oil

• loads of info on each of these products if you google them.

I think ( and I could well be wrong) you should be able to use peanut-based products after 1 year only if there is no history of allergy in the family - again, I think err on the side of caution if you don't know for sure.

The local pharmacy stocks Dalivit and a big bottle lasts ages!

As for the omega oils, I don't know enough about them to advise, but I would think that you should start getting the lo on to a proper diet first and then see where you are in 6 months time.

My Paedie said that the most important thing for children is the "big 3" - Vitamin D, Zinc and Iron -
Best of luck with everything - I am sure it will all be fine.

Good luck with everything suejonez. Can't you just buy good healthy food while you're there? Plenty of fruit, fresh fruit juice, vegetables and some fish and see what the GP recommends when s/he has actually seen the child?

Message withdrawn

Thanks - yes am getting very excited but so hard not knowing when I can go. It's a bit like being told - well you may be pregnant for 1 year or 2 years or maybe a little more, we're not quite sure yet.

Best practice is not to change diet too dramatically so plan to introduce a range of foods relatively slowly. have been advised to top up for the first six months as those vitamins and minerals which collect will be severely depleted. It's not uncommon to get institutionalised children with rickets - don;t think I can bear being out there with them for up to 6/7 weeks without thinking I'm doing something constructive IYKWIM.

The other problem with going to GP is that most GP's are used to middle class babies (around here!) and take the "if baby looks OK then must be OK rule of thumb" which has been proven to be a problem in some cases. BAAF (british adotion and fostering) recommend gp's run a whole battery of tests when you get back but many of them don;t see the point. My GP wasn't very supportive of me adopting so I'm reluctant to ask her advice on anything now!

Coolmama - I have the abidec one - think I'll go back and swap it for the other if they have it. Most orphanage children are anaemic so I must remember to take something for iron as well. Will take some formula with me so I know it has iron so maybe that will be enough without a suppliment.

For a vitamin, we give DD1 Floradix + iron. You can get it gluten free as well.

Eskimo Kids omega 3 oils, but I'd strive to get them from diet as much as possible, including hiding them in dressings and sauces.

There are loads of threads about omega 3/fish oils in the archives - about a year ago people couldn't get enough of talking about them here.

Obviously will plan to get as much as possible from diet but want to supercharge for the first few months - also I'm not sure my russian is up to asking for specific foodstuffs yet! Can ask for meat but would have to take pot luck as to what kind of meat I ended up with - can small children digest horse meat?!

That's a good question, sue. I'm not sure about horse meat.

We found the Floradix really gentle and you can add it to the child's juice or water and it goes down a treat. In fact, the makers of Floradix also make one called 'KinderVital' that might suit your child's needs better.

Omega 3s can be harder to get down b/c it's harder to disguise the taste, but I suppose if you can get him/her used to it it wouldn't hurt to give it a bash.

On the threads in archives, there are discussions about the mercury content in some products that you might want to read.

Also, don't forget a Bug Buster or Nitty Gritty comb in case of lice/nit problem!

hi that is really good news. i read recently in the observer food supplement i think about nutritionist Jane Clark she adopted a child who had rickets and
talks at length about the road to good nutrition will try and find article

I think I'll try to swap mine for the floradix. Lice shouldn't be a problem as they shave the childrens heads periodically so very very short hair but scabies is a bigger problem and difficult because most GP's won't prescribe you with anything to take with you. Also giardia is a big problem and again difficult to get the antibiotics to take - might try a private GP.

that would be fab sfxmum - it may be her I was thinking of when I thought I'd read something at the weekend. It wasn;t my paper though so couldn't really run off with it!

have a look atthis

Giardia is AWFUL! Please be careful and take along some clean syringes and tubing for IV treatment to take w/you to hospital should you fall ill.

I picked it up in Nepal and it was NOT pleasant.

YEs I'm taking latex gloves and hypodermics and syringes (plenty left over from IVF!) though hadn;t though of tubing.

Giardia is VERY common in the orphanages as it spreads so easily. Is quite comprehensively covered in the adoption training though as its one of the commoner things the children have. They don't seem to suffer as badly form it as we foreigners as I guess they have a degree of immunity. It can be a bugger to clear up though.

tell me about it!

yeah, they may reuse tubing, so best take some along. in fact, if you can get hold of a few IV kits all the better.

and a friend who can get them to use them on you if you are too ill to know what is what.

yes, i speak from experience, unfortunately!

also had Hep A in Venezuela and was too ill to really be able to look after my health.

thanks SFXmum I can identify with that article so much - the ridiculous things some social workers ask. Anyway very helpful - I wonder if she'd email what suppliments she gave her daughter or if thats a bit cheeky.

sue,
In some Russian towns there are private (American?) hospitals, in Moscow for instance, where you can pay to have your child seen to and get any tests you want done and you won't need to speak Russian.

If you're in a big town, there are big western style supermarkets now where you take a cart and help yourself. It's only in smaller places you have to go to the counter and tell the assistant what you want.

Thanks Sssandy, but I'll only be in a big city for the last two weeks of the trip, will be out in the sticks for the rest of it (probably - though I don't know yet which town I'm going to). Also far, far fewer Kazakhs speak English than Russians and even in selfservice supermarkets you need to be able to read Russian (here's hoping mine is good enough by then).

The child has to have a medical as part of the immigration procedures into the UK, but again that'll be towards the end of the trip and I'd like to be as self reliant as possible in the early days. I also don't think I'm going to feel like dragging me and my brand new addition around town until I've worked out some kind of routine, so I'm keen to go prepared so that I can spend the first few weeks just focussed on bonding.

I didn't realise you were heading for Kazahkstan! Bet people will be very helpful to you as a foreigner there. Sounds like a real adventure. Are you hiring an interpreter or just going to deal with things yourselves?

suejonez just wanted to wish you and your family all the best,take care do let us know ow you get on

I'll be using an interpreter for all teh important bits - visiting the orphange and talking to the staff and going to court but will be using my night school Russian for the rest of the time. The Kazakhs have a reputation for being very welcoming to strangers - think it's part of their nomadic heritage, visitors always have to be offered food and drink.

When I get a date to travel everyone will hear about it! Thanks for the advice - I'm armed to go shopping at the weekend now.

suejonez - ask the orphanage if there is a way you could have or buy some small thing (pillow /case / sheet // piece of clothing ) from there for your lo to keep for the time being - just a small comfort for lo - friends who adopted a cambodian baby did that for a bit and she said it seemed to help soothe and settle. Might be worth a try.

How exciting, Sue. Hope you hear a date soon.

Like other posters, we give our ds Floradix and Eskimo fish oil. He's had a little of each daily/every other day since he was six months old. I used to stir them into puddings - Organix or homemade fruit purees especially - but this year (now ds is two), just started giving him both together in a tiny cup, and he just drinks it.

Both need to be refrigerated after opening, though, which might not help. Our healthfood shop did once have Floradix samples in lots of little 10ml bottles - maybe contact the manufacturers directly? And you could take fish oil capsules and burst them as needed. Have seen chewable capsules for kids, where the oil inside is fruit-flavoured. Maybe an option, as no refrigeration needed?

A vitamin/mineral alternative, if you'll be feeding new baby milk, is BioCare's Vitaforte Banana. It's a powdered vitamin and mineral supplement, in a base of freeze-dried banana/fructose/potato, and mixed with milk, it makes a lovely-tasting drink. You can buy it online. One 150g bottle would last 30 days - might stretch to your six weeks, given that you'll be taking supplements/new foods steady to begin with.

HTH - and all the very best with your adoption journey.