Children's whole foods multivitamin?

[Rasa]

Apologies in advance if this has been covered--I tried several searches in different categories and couldn't find what I was looking for...

I'm worried my child (4.5) isn't getting adequate nutrition through her diet because she's become so picky in the last couple years. I know (hope) this will pass in some time (years?) but would really like to give her a children's whole-foods based multivitamin supplement in the meantime. Preferably something gummy or a tablet that's 'tasty' (she's not going to be able to swallow capsules).

I'd like it to have folate in it. She's been shying away from dairy recently so I'm starting to wonder about her calcium levels. I give her vitamin D drops but she won't let me test her vitamin D level, so I've no idea if it's adequate.

There is NO WAY this child is going to voluntarily take any form of FCLO so I try to get her salmon, halibut (pretty much the only seafood she'll eat) as often as I can, but I feel it's not enough. She eats some amount of pasture eggs pretty frequently too.

She's unfortunately (for my comfort level) VERY suspicious of any kind of mixture--even not wanting smoothies, etc. most of the time, no sauces, no mixtures of ground up meat items, etc., so it's hard to 'sneak' in hidden nutrition. She won't touch any kind of dark leafy green but will eat many cruciferous veggies and any legume.

OK, thanks in advance for recommendations!!

[blueridgewoman]

We haven't found any whole foods type vitamin (which I'd consider to be an herbal preparation or something that contains various vitamins and minerals) but we really like the multi that Dr. Mercola sells on his site. It has more minerals, etc than most other kids' vitamins and they're chelated. No corn syrup or anything and they taste like a flintstones multi or something.

[MyLittleWarrior]

I take the Rainbow Light prenatals (nursing a newborn) and give my 2 and 4 yo the rainbow light kids chewables. They beg for them daily, and we've had to instill a rule that only mommy can give out vitamins, because they'd ask daddy and he wouldn't know if they'd had them yet or not. I thing RL is a pretty good brand and it's food based.

[Rasa]

Thanks for the replies. That was a good video about children's multivitamins on Dr. Mercola's site.

I've been doing some more searching and am unable to find ANY kids multivitamin with folate in it--actual folate (5-MTHF) not folic acid. Hmm...maybe I'll have to forget that one and offer lentils and broccoli everyday

In general I don't want to give a multi-vit cause I'm not sure she needs all the stuff and the more I learn about which forms of vitamins are the best for absorption, bioavailability, etc etc, the more my head spins. But trying to figure out what she may be deficient in food-wise and how to best supplement that is really hard!

[tanyalynn]

I don't know of a kids' vitamin with actual folate either, I've been wishing I had something to recommend to people, so I'm subbing.

You don't think there's any way your daughter could be motivated to learn to swallow pills? Last fall my daughter was sure she could, she was 5 then, and we tried with an easy starter pill, and she could, but it meant my 3yo was also motivated and so very quickly I ended up with both kids swallowing pills, adult-sized ones in fairly short order. Motivation's a great thing if you can help it happen.

[mama1803]

Originally Posted by Rasa

Thanks for the replies. That was a good video about children's multivitamins on Dr. Mercola's site.

I've been doing some more searching and am unable to find ANY kids multivitamin with folate in it--actual folate (5-MTHF) not folic acid. Hmm...maybe I'll have to forget that one and offer lentils and broccoli everyday

In general I don't want to give a multi-vit cause I'm not sure she needs all the stuff and the more I learn about which forms of vitamins are the best for absorption, bioavailability, etc etc, the more my head spins. But trying to figure out what she may be deficient in food-wise and how to best supplement that is really hard!

This is what I am considering for my kids--

http://www.thorne.com/Products/Multiples/prd~VMC.jsp

[mossbackmom]

We give our kids Juice Plus Chewables, no additives or corn syrup. It is great because what they do is juice (at low temperature) 26 different fruits and veggies, dry that juice mixture and make it into a gummy! So it is whole food, meaning you get everything that the fruit/veg had in the first place and it is bio-available b/c it is not isolated/fragmented vitamins and minerals. My kids love them and I feel assured that they are getting all that important stuff even if their day to day diet isn't up to snuff!
You can probably google it, or find it at www.juiceplus.com
You do have to purchase through an independent distributor, not available in stores. It costs us $26 a month for both the fruits and veggies. DH loves to eat them too! Hope that helps!

[JoyMC]

from what i can discern, Juice Plus Gummies are 85% corn syrup and 10% beef gelatin, leaving room for very few fruit and veggie nutrients. i have family members who sell (and PUSH) Juice Plus and i keep coming back to look at them. they do have a chewable wafer which seems a lot less offensive, ingredient-wise, but we haven't tried it yet. (google to read the opposing sides on the Juice Plus Gummies issue, b/c of course there are others who claim they're fabulous.)

and some formulations of Rainbow Light tested really high for lead here: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environ...itamins-082803

this is all internet sourcing, so take it with a grain of salt, but just be sure to do your research before you buy anything! i've been looking for a whole-food multi for my daughter, too, but haven't found anything i really like yet. i'll be checking this thread.

[Koalamom]

I wish I could be of help but I just make my almost 3 yr old eat apple sauce with all her supplements in it. She really doesn't like it, but I tell her tough, and she gets it down. I would love it if she could swallow capsules instead. There is a really great thread call "Hiding Supplements in nutrient dense foods". I will post it when I find it.

[Koalamom]

Here it is:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...in+dense+foods

[courtney_c]

Megafoods Kids and Us are mini tabs and have TONS of whole foods and super foods in them. They do have folic acid in them, but seem to be one of the best whole foods vitamins I have found. We currently take nature's plus animal parade vitamins which are good too... Just not as great a megafoods. Once my son is old enough, we'll probably switch!

[mama1803]

[QUOTE=Rasa;15099412]Those Thorne Children's Basic Nutrients ones sounds really great--thanks! I talked to DD today about taking a pill and her first reaction was no way, no how. I related to her how I learned that I COULD swallow pills when I was little and she was humored and intrigued (not something I'd recommend but I remember swallowing first plain and then peanut m&ms without chewing them).
[QUOTE]

Neither one of my kids can swallow pills yet. One reason I am considering the Thorne multi is that is says the pills can be opened and the powder added to food.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by mama1803

Originally Posted by Rasa

Those Thorne Children's Basic Nutrients ones sounds really great--thanks! I talked to DD today about taking a pill and her first reaction was no way, no how. I related to her how I learned that I COULD swallow pills when I was little and she was humored and intrigued (not something I'd recommend but I remember swallowing first plain and then peanut m&ms without chewing them).

Neither one of my kids can swallow pills yet. One reason I am considering the Thorne multi is that is says the pills can be opened and the powder added to food.

I've used Thorne supps for the kids for a couple years now, they do open quite easily. They actually re-close quite well too--I've done that at times when I wanted to split a dosage between different times.

If you're going to open them anyway, I'd look at the adult Basic Nutrients multivits and see if the ratios seem appropriate for your situation. I'd think just using 1 of the Basic Nutrients (an adult full dosage is 6, though I could see situations where an adult would just choose to take 3 or 4) would probably be cheaper than the kids' vitamin. If you want more minerals, they've got a couple multi-mineral formulas (biomins and citramins, I think) and again, a smaller-than-adult dosage would really make those bottles last a long time.

[sunshinestarr]

This isn't chewable but it's got folate.. I don't know, I came across it and I thought I'd post it. It's really a prenatal vitamin but has a lot of good stuff in it, whole foods based.