what vitamins/supplements/whole foods/herbs etc. do you believe to be beneficial for your toddler?

[nycmom18]

i have only supplemented my 2 yr old with probiotics and vitamin d3 in the past. right now its just probiotics. im starting to feel like i should be giving him a multivitamin because we might wean this winter, and i dont know why else

im interested in the following from what i've read:

-bee pollen
-nettles
-d3
-multivitamin
-cod liver oil (i wouldnt have to do d3 then right?) i also worry about quality and mercury in fish etc.
-magnesium (is this a great supplement all around or just for those hyper kids?)

whats your regime like?

[YayJennie]

We culture kefir, so both my son and I get probiotics from a kefir smoothie each morning. I also add krill oil to my son's smoothie (I take mine in capsule form) and during the winter months I plan to supplement with vitamin D, since we live in upstate NY and even in the summer we have lower vitamin D levels. That's it though. I try to focus on a healthy, well balanced diet with lots of fruit and veggies and no sugar

[springmum]

2 year old DS gets:

almost daily:

vit d
probiotics (bottle and/or fermented food)

occasionally (will do more regularly this fall)

nettle infusions
raw honey/propolis
CLO

When sick:

elderberry syrup
vit c if I can get it in
garlic/raw honey/lemon juice if needed

[nycmom18]

oh yes! garlic lemonade-thank you for reminding me now, i always thought raw honey was the most health beneficial, but i recently heard that the darker the honey, the healthier. any info?

[nj's_mom]

DD gets every day- kefir, CLO, organic whole foods multivitamin.

Sometimes- echnicea (sp?) mixture, raw honey, coconut oil (I make a delicious warm tea w/ c.o. and raw honey)

When sick- sometimes homeopathy, sometimes herb mixes, etc.

And most importantly- I try to stick as much healthy whole foods into her every day as I can. We do kefir smoothies for breakfast with tons of organic fruit, tons of veggies and hummus with lunch and dinner, basically as much good healthy food as I can squish into each meal. And I try to make snacks and treats healthy, too- even if it just means organic.

[nj's_mom]

Originally Posted by nycmom18

oh yes! garlic lemonade-thank you for reminding me now, i always thought raw honey was the most health beneficial, but i recently heard that the darker the honey, the healthier. any info?

I spoke to a beekeeper who sells honey at my local farmer's market ,and she told me that the color of the honey just meant the bee visited different plans. Different flowers/plants make different color honey.

[dachshundqueen]

Daily:

Multi with iron (my kids have a tendency towards borderline deficiency)
d drops
CLO
liquid cal/mag citrate

Liz

[MountainMamaGC]

Green smoothies.

Dark leafy greens, fruit, coconut milk, and a squeeze of lemon oh and some vanilla. DD loves them and she loves watching me add the stuff to the blender. Sometimes I add flax oil.

Orange flavored fish oil.

We do a multi somedays to cover any gaps, but not everyday.

In the winter we do vitamin D and C.

[crunchy_mommy]

We try to get most of our vitamins from food (in the absence of any actual deficiencies -- I have food allergies which made me deficient in a couple things so in situations like that we supplement but not in a typical way, we do irregular supplementing). DS is also still nursing a ton. So he only gets occasional vitamin D (might do this more regularly in the winter) because we live in the Northeast & it's hard to get it otherwise. Some of the foods we try to give him frequently (though not necessarily daily, we aim for variety) are avocado, coconut milk, peanut or almond butter, flax seed, and lots of fruits & veggies.

Interestingly, I just read a study (only one study & I didn't have time to carefully evaluate it) showing a correlation between daily multivitamins & higher incidence of breast cancer in women. I've always felt that multivitamins are simply not a great idea & possibly dangerous, for many reasons, and it seems more research lately is starting to back up that theory -- though admittedly I still like the idea of vitamins as 'insurance' and I'm not sure yet what we'll end up doing when DS eventually weans.

[nycmom18]

Lydiah, we love our green smoothies every day too! our recent fav:

kale, banana, frozen mango and raspberries, water, and a splash of pineapple juice.

ds gobbled it up faster than anything!

crunchy_mommy, i feel the exact same way about multivitamins, i would like them as "insurance" but dont really believe they are the best thing for my child. maybe im getting that preparation itch for sick season or something!

those of you that use CLO, could you tell me what brand you use? over the past year on mothering my head is spinning on whats best