vitamin questions

[shanniesue2]

ACK!  3rd time trying to get this post posted....

What do you see as the most essential vitamins for keeping yourself and your family healthy?

2.75 yo DS began group care in August, and it seems like he's been sick AT LEAST 1-2x/month ever since (and always on vacation or weekends--argh!)  We don't vaccinate and he still nurses 2-3x/day.  Up until going into group care he just hasn't been sick that much... he did have pneumonia once, and maybe 1 tummy bug... but other than that he just didn't get sick (he was in a very small home daycare--think 3 other kids)

So anyway, I want to start him on some kind supplement to help keep him from getting sick so much.  I can't really afford much. Every time I see $25+ on a bottle of vitamins, I get really discouraged and feel like giving up and just getting the vax (exagerrating a little on my reaction, but it's frustarting b/c we could get the shots-which I don't see as healthy, and won't get- for free)  So I would really just like to know what you think the most essential vitamins/supplements are.  And what brands are decent, but not over the top expensive?

[AllyRae]

For my 1 1/2 year old (who has selective IgA deficiency, so we really do try to make sure she's taking her vitamins, as well as breastfeeding), she takes 1/2 of a vitamin d tablet (Animal Parade), 1 food based multivitamin (Animal Parade), and 2 probiotics tablets every day.  Once she moves up to 2 years old (the minimum age on the vitamins, but her doctor knows she's taking half doses of the vitamins and is fine with it), she'll go up to 1 whole vitamin d tablet and 2 multivitamin tablets along with her probiotics. 

If she wasn't breastfeeding and didn't eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies willingly, I'd also add in a vitamin C in there too, and maybe zinc...but I don't want to "overload" her either since she does have other sources of vitamins.