When it
comes to your children and vitamin supplements, you should know that
most children do not need extra or supplemental vitamins or minerals.
If you base your children’s diet on the food guide pyramid,
according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, you
shouldn’t need to give your child vitamin supplements.
However, it is important to know that of all the age groups, children
can be the one that is the hardest to control when it comes to diet.
Children don’t understand what it means when something is
essential for their bodies, and they are much more prone to being picky
eaters or having poor diets. If you child is eating a special diet,
they might need more vitamins or minerals. These can include
vegetarians, children with allergies, or children that have religions
which state certain foods shouldn’t be eaten.
The most
important thing for you to keep in mind when it comes to making sure
that your child has a healthy diet is to ensure that they are getting
the proper amounts of the right kinds of vitamins and minerals. If this
isn’t happening because of what they are eating, you either
need to change what they are eating, or make sure that they are getting
the vitamins in another way. Vitamin supplements can be purchased in
kid-friendly shapes and flavors, so it shouldn’t be a problem
to have your child take them.
There
are
several vitamins and minerals that are going to be important for your
child to have enough of. These include, especially, iron, which is
needed in children to prevent anemia. This usually happens if children
aren’t given enough extra iron after they are six months old,
which happens often if a baby drinks cow or goat milk instead of
formula. Young and adolescent girls are also at a risk of having an
iron deficiency.
Another
important thing that children need is calcium. This is something that
is completely necessary for healthy bones and teeth. If children are
drinking milk and eating dairy products, they are probably getting
enough calcium, but if they aren’t, you might need to
supplement this in their diets.
Note: Calcium can
also be found in certain vegetables such as broccoli
It is also
important that children are getting fluoride. This helps to build
healthy teeth. However, it is important that they only get enough
fluoride, and not too much, so don’t add to their intake
unless your dentist or doctor thinks that you should.
If
you
don’t think that your child is getting enough vitamins or
minerals, you should consult with your doctor to make sure that you can
find a good balance and a good children’s multivitamin for
them to be taking.