Vitamins and Your Kids

I hope you got a chance to read my article about Vitamins (The ABC’s of Vitamins). Now I would like to take the time to discuss vitamins and their specific indication for children. Essentially all of the details regarding each individual vitamin is the same regardless of the age of the consumer. However, children need different levels of each vitamin at different stages of their youth. In general, you do not need to be concerned with the intake of vitamins until your child is eating only solid foods. If you are breastfeeding, you do need to continue to take your prenatal vitamins. You body will naturally take all the necessary vitamins your baby needs from the stores in your body, so it is very important to be supplementing them to keep yourself healthy. Your pediatrician may choose to put your child on a multivitamin starting at about 18 months old. However there is no comparison to a healthy diet. If you can assure that your child is getting a majority of their minimum intake levels from their food, you will be ahead of the game.

Nature is Better

It is better to get your nutrients from natural, whole, unprocessed foods because of the obvious reason: chemicals, pesticides, and nutrient-loss during processing. It is also better because when you body receives it’s vitamins in their natural form (ie Vitamin C from oranges) your body is better able to break them down and process them. This of it as cutting out the middle man, your body doesn’t have to “sift” through the chemicals to find what it needs. It is a direct shipment to a worker that knows exactly what to do, no guess work, so no chance of it getting passed up. So if you can make the effort to follow the USDA’s food pyramid for children, you will ensure that they are ingesting all of their vitamins too. It is also important to look-up the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for children on each Vitamin. Most nutrition facts labeling on food is based on the RDA’s of adults. And since there are different amounts of each Vitamin for different age groups (for example Vit. A RDA’s are: 0-6 mos. = 400µg, 7-12 mos.= 500µg, 1-3 years = 300µg , 4-8 years = 400µg, and 9-13 years = 600µg) I will not post them all here but you can find them on www.usda.gov.

When Diet Isn’t Enough

I am well aware of the fact that you cannot get every child to eat spinach or broccoli everyday. This is when the multivitamins are useful, because even if your child is going through an “Orange Food Only” phase, they still need to have all their vitamins each and every day. Then comes the question – liquid, gummy, chewable or capsule/tablet. This really depends on the child and what they will take on a daily basis. Another item to address is Fluoride. Most cities have fluoride added to their drinking water. However if you live in an area that does not add it to the tap water, you will need to supplement.

Never Call a Daily Vitamin CANDY!

Let me make one thing clear: Never, ever, under any circumstances say that a vitamin is “candy” or “like candy” in an effort to get your child to take them. Vitamins are a form of medication, which means that it is possible to overdose on them. If a child ingests too much of a single vitamin it can have significant effects. By saying that it is candy, you may be setting up the stage for your child to seek out the bottle and eat it all. Of course, all medications should be kept out of children’s reach but things happen. You should also have the Poison Control’s Phone number (1-800-222-1222) in your phone directory. If you ever have to call, have the bottle of medication or vitamins in hand as they will need several pieces of information regarding what was ingested. You may also want to be proactive and call Poison Control to find out the indications for ingestion of medication that are always in the home.