Well, prevention is always better than the cure, give your little one the most nutritious and complete vitamins that will help them grow healthy and strong.
You know nobody has a perfect diet and I know there's times in our busy lives that food isn't always as perfectly should be, so it's a bit of an insurance policy, so watch out for those very sweet chewable gummy type multi bits that you get in the supermarkets and from your local chemist and because generally they're quite low in nutrients and they're in forms that are fairly poorly absorbed.
You know, we do generally get what we pay for with with nutrients and you want to get a good quality one.
and then the question comes what about a multivitamin ?.
you know if you get a good multivitamin that has methyl B12 Methyl Folate.
some of the the B vitamins I often find those to be deficient very often, I'm finding the element magnesium to be low or calcium, so a calcium magnesium either as part of your multivitamin or as separate supplements not a bad idea either, so where do you start, where does it end.
Well, that depends on like I said at least take vitamin D, consider a multivitamin and then maybe especially if your child is suffering from any kind of chronic condition, get your child tested.
As well, no it's not ed and chewable supplements for kids, They got a bit of a pasting a few years ago, because there's some sugar in them, but it's better than nothing and it's a tiny part reliever of an everyday.
So, I can categorically state that unless you live in a very sunny climate and you're outdoors in the Sun a lot without sunscreen on you probably need some extra vitamin D, so should my child take vitamins.
So, you know there's not so much raw stuff going into our diet.
If you're going to choose a multivitamin and mineral, it's a bit like an insurance policy for your children's health.
Just to make sure that your child is getting all the nutrients, they need and to help prevent any deficiencies, but do be mindful that a multivitamin and mineral cannot replace a good diet.
You know, you have to get all the nutrition your child needs as much as possible from food, because we always absorb better from our food but you can top up with a multivitamin and mineral that's you know that's going to give you a little bit of a peace of mind that your child's getting everything that they need.
One of the questions I'm asked a lot by mums, is should I give my children vitamins and mineral supplements, so it really does depend on your child.
I've got two children they're 6 and 8 and particularly in the winter, I want to make sure that I'm giving them a daily multivitamin and mineral and we spend more time inside, so we're not getting so much sunlight and also less fresh food, so particular less vitamin C.
Vitamin D
now really important one is vitamin D.
Actually, in the UK, the Department of Health now recommend that all children under five, that's all children under five from around six months old are given a vitamin D supplement plus all pregnant and breastfeeding women should be taking vitamin D.
If your child is on a formula milk, do be mindful there might be some vitamin D added and our main source of vitamin D is the Sun, but we often don't get outside enough and a lot of us have having to put on factor 50/50 Sun cream which means that we're blocking the action of some of our skin which gives us that really important bitumen D and vitamin D is so essential for healthy we're finding links between bitumen D deficiency and so many health problems.
It helps to absorb calcium into the bones, so if we don't have enough vitamin D, we can't have get calcium in our bones which is why we're actually seeing rickets in some young children, which is a really serious and bone disease caused by vitamin D.
Deficiency the best way to take vitamin D supplements is add vitamin D3.
The most vitamin D3 is vegetarian often comes from sheep wool, so if you're vegan be mindful of that and but you can get vegetarian sources.
spectra cell micronutrient testing it measures the nutrients inside the white blood cells and They have found out of over a thousand tests They had one person whose nutrients were adequate, also they have found in the over a thousand kids who had some abnormalities, a very high percentage of children I'd say 60, 70 or 80 % are low in vitamin D.
Absolutely, at least vitamin D start while you're pregnant to continue right after birth.
Vitamin D3 and D2
Vitamin D3 which comes from plant sources and vitamin D2 is also vegan but it's quite poorly absorbed, so you really want to look for sources of vitamin D3 and you get two measurements of vitamin D3, it's either as IU or micrograms and so for a baby you're looking at 3 or 400 IU per day, for an adult about a thousand IU per day.
There are some food sources but very small amounts in oily fish and some eggs, but you're really not going to get enough to give you what you need.
If my children got an upset tummy or we're going on a long-haul flight to kind of places where sanitation is perhaps not quite so good or they're just a little bit stressed, you know actually I'll be giving them a probiotic and I think it's a good thing for children.
Generally, to have probiotics that's beneficial bacteria most days for babies.
If you had a baby that's had antibiotics or you're unable to breastfeed for any reason, it's really good for to look for an infant probiotic and bio cult do one.
There's loads of good infant probiotics available out there.
- Is there any danger in taking multivitamins typically not vitamin D ?
You would have to exceed, it depends on the age of the person.
Of course, an infant I wouldn't exceed two thousand, school-age kid I wouldn't exceed three or four thousand, an adult I personally don't go over five thousand international units per day, although you're not going to get in trouble with those levels.
People who take megadoses over ten thousand international units a day of vitamin D, could get in trouble the one vitamin to be careful about is vitamin A too much.