vegan vitamins

[jenn09]

i have been on this site too long
1) trying to find this topic
and
2)reading lol

i need to go home lol
anyways

i want to raise my child vegan
actually i AM going to raise my child vegan

one question
what is a GREAT multi-vitamin
that is of course vegan
non-synthetic (i don't know if all vegan vitamins are non-synthetic)
meaning it's not man made, comes from the earth

i've been reading alot about vitamin b12
and iron and all that stuff
im vegetarian transitioning to vegan ( im still trying to get over cheese), but even as a vegetarian i never really cared for my health
until i had a daughter
and now im stressing out
wondering what to do and what to give her and what types of vitamins
and i saw some prices of them
yeah...

but im going to give her what's best, so i can sleep at night knowing that she's getting all her nutrients

so
inform away please
thank you for reading this

oh and im trying to make this as soy and gluten-free as possible!!
thank you!

[jenn09]

or maybe i was being a little strong with the description
since all of you are vegans or vegetarians, what brand of vitamins or supplements do you give your children??

[Koalamom]

We like Garden of Life brand. And we try to use whole food supps first if we can like herbal infusions.

[Sayward]

Originally Posted by bluebirdmama1

We like Garden of Life brand. And we try to use whole food supps first if we can like herbal infusions.

Garden Of Life is not vegan - it contains D3. There was a bit of a scandal and after pressure from Whole Foods, G of L will now be changing their label and taking off the 'vegan' claim. Just fyi.

[Baby_Cakes]

How old is your daughter?

I personally take Rainbow Light prenatal vitamins, a sublingual b12 supplement, a D2 supplement, and a DHA supplement.

I give my DD (18 mo) a liquid toddler DHA in her sippy cup (though she is still nursing, it's not as often).

As long as you feed her a healthy, balanced diet, I wouldn't freak out about adding supplements. If you feel like she needs something specific, look into it. You really don't need supplements if your diet is balanced.

[Sayward]

OP - I don't know a good vegan children's multi-vitamin yet, because my son is only a month old and I haven't began my research yet!

But, in my extensive prep work and research, I have formed some thoughts on vitamins and supplementation.

I think vegan children should be supplemented with these vitamins (a multi on top is up to the parent, depending on the quality of diet I guess) -

1) B12, a sublingual or liquid
2) D, a liquid drop. They don't make a vegan one as far as I can tell. I'll be giving my son either of these 2, because they are the only ones I have found that do not have weird additives/sugars/carriers/extra unnecessary vitamins - here or here.
3) DHA, from microalgae. This one is SO important.
4) A calcium-complex that contains K2 (and D if you're not supplementing elsewhere). D and K2 are both critical to calcium incorporation, which your child needs for bone and tooth growth. Calcium alone is not enough!

As far as other vitamins, I'm less worried. Iron can easily be obtained dietarily - add a spoonful of Blackstrap molasses each day if you're worried about it.

There's a lot of info out there, and a lot of MISinformation out there (I responded to your post in the B12 thread, not sure if you saw it). It can be overwhelming, I know, but just remember that you're doing the best thing for your child by being aware and raising them on veg*n whole foods.

Luck!

[Sayward]

Oh also, vitamins are expensive. Thats just a fact. But that's a health thing, not a veg*n thing (omnis should take vitamins too).

Basically, staying healthy is just going to cost more than ignoring your health and eating crap!

[catnip]

My daughter takes Source of Life Animal Parade Chewables and the Little Critters Calcium-Vit D gummies. I don't worry about the little bit of sugar in them. It won't hurt her. She eats hemp seed on oatmeal and in smoothies, and I put flax oil in her smoothies, too.

She was lacto-ovo vegetarian until she turned five, and is now vegan by her own choice.

[jenn09]

Originally Posted by Baby_Cakes

How old is your daughter?

I personally take Rainbow Light prenatal vitamins, a sublingual b12 supplement, a D2 supplement, and a DHA supplement.

I give my DD (18 mo) a liquid toddler DHA in her sippy cup (though she is still nursing, it's not as often).

As long as you feed her a healthy, balanced diet, I wouldn't freak out about adding supplements. If you feel like she needs something specific, look into it. You really don't need supplements if your diet is balanced.

She is 11 months, I just found out about this B12 stuff when i decided i want her to have vitamins so i can be sure that she's getting all her nutrients, i have to go to school at night, and my mother babysits and i tell her what she needs to eat and put all the dishes together, yet when i come home i find out my mother only fed her beans and fruit,which kinda messes up the portion i try to feed her on cause since i was never a healthy veg. i now try to go by a sample meal guide to make sure my daughter's getting everything,but as i say again, my mother ya know, just does it her way... lol

the only thing im really worried about is the B12, she's still breastfed and am focusing on to continue bf her at LEAST till she's 2. that's my goal

i went to a natural food health store that's run by an herbalist, and she widdled in her book and found a thing on b12 (i knew more about than her lol) and the paper said something that's high in b12 is wheat germ...along with chicken cheese and other meat and dairy...so i broke down the gluten free thing and started adding wheat germ to her in small amounts until i find a multi for her,cause it's better than meat and dairy and there were actually suggested herbs for her to use to but i didn't want to give her any of those because i wasn't familiar with them. i also give her nutritional yeast....herbalist said it was ok to feed to youngins

[jenn09]

Originally Posted by Sayward

OP - I don't know a good vegan children's multi-vitamin yet, because my son is only a month old and I haven't began my research yet!

But, in my extensive prep work and research, I have formed some thoughts on vitamins and supplementation.

I think vegan children should be supplemented with these vitamins (a multi on top is up to the parent, depending on the quality of diet I guess) -

1) B12, a sublingual or liquid
2) D, a liquid drop. They don't make a vegan one as far as I can tell. I'll be giving my son either of these 2, because they are the only ones I have found that do not have weird additives/sugars/carriers/extra unnecessary vitamins - here or here.
3) DHA, from microalgae. This one is SO important.
4) A calcium-complex that contains K2 (and D if you're not supplementing elsewhere). D and K2 are both critical to calcium incorporation, which your child needs for bone and tooth growth. Calcium alone is not enough!

As far as other vitamins, I'm less worried. Iron can easily be obtained dietarily - add a spoonful of Blackstrap molasses each day if you're worried about it.

There's a lot of info out there, and a lot of MISinformation out there (I responded to your post in the B12 thread, not sure if you saw it). It can be overwhelming, I know, but just remember that you're doing the best thing for your child by being aware and raising them on veg*n whole foods.

Luck!

yes i did see your comment
thank you

looks like i'll have some other things to be looking up besides b12
i've been reading alot about how synthetic drugs actually do more harm than help

my mom's friend was telling me about this guy at dherbs.com, and all this crazy stuff he talks about

and he actually sells "formuals" of herbs for people to take instead of that other stuff that's in our market, because his is make out of herbs, it sounds much safer than all those synthetic chemicals we are using

so im so confused
i wish there were vegan mamas i can talk to in person to help me out but this is as close as im getting ( i live in a sorta small town in the south where alot people it alot of me and think it's crazy that i dont lol)

[jenn09]

Originally Posted by catnip

My daughter takes Source of Life Animal Parade Chewables and the Little Critters Calcium-Vit D gummies. I don't worry about the little bit of sugar in them. It won't hurt her. She eats hemp seed on oatmeal and in smoothies, and I put flax oil in her smoothies, too.

She was lacto-ovo vegetarian until she turned five, and is now vegan by her own choice.

yeah i tried feeding my daughter hempseed by putting it into her food,i would grind it and everything and she kept getting it stuck in her gums lol, so i was just like whatever, maybe when you get older ill try it again lol

i make brown rice crackers/biscuits with grounded flaxseed in them, she loves them!

that is so awesome that she chose vegan on her on!

[es1967]

Originally Posted by jenn09

yeah i tried feeding my daughter hempseed by putting it into her food,i would grind it and everything and she kept getting it stuck in her gums lol, so i was just like whatever, maybe when you get older ill try it again lol

i make brown rice crackers/biscuits with grounded flaxseed in them, she loves them!

that is so awesome that she chose vegan on her on!

My 3 yr old loves hempseed and eats it by the spoonful. I love it in smoothies. Makes it really smooth and creamy. I have a vitamix so it really
works well.