One of the most common questions I get is “Do my kids need a multivitamin and which ones do you feed your kids?”. Since I’m not a pediatrician, this post is about my experiences and expertise as a certified holistic health coach and a science-backed wellness product creator. For advice on what each individual child needs, your pediatrician is still your best resource. With that being said, I do have children who have had allergies and learning disabilities and when you’re in the thick of dealing with those, it’s really easy to go down the path of wanting to throw anything at those problems, even if some of them have been temporary. When it comes to the cleanest children’s vitamins, I have definitely moved to a “less is more” approach and it seems to be working well for us. Here’s what we do on most days:
Vitamin D
The cleanest children’s vitamins likely have some vitamin D in them. Vitamin D helps support immune health, mood and mental health, prevents excessive inflammation, and supports bone and heart health as well. You can certainly get vitamin D from fatty fish, egg yolks, UV-exposed mushrooms and fortified foods, but it’s usually not enough and with vitamin D providing such a wide variety of health benefits, I like to add some to my boys’ diets. I love these vitamin D drops because they’re easy to drop into water, a smoothie, or whatever your kids drink in the morning. This formulation of vitamin D includes vitamin K2, which aids with absorption of vitamin D. One bottle lasts a really long time and does not have to be refrigerated. It’s also small enough where I can pack a bottle and take it with us on a trip. Easy peasy.
Probiotic
This may surprise you, but I’m actually not a huge fan of daily probiotics. I believe they definitely have a place when you’re actively trying to work on healing your gut, but I prefer to take a whole-foods approach and not just rely on probiotics for optimal gut health. You can check out all my tips on gut health here. For my own boys, I tend to cycle on and off with probiotics and I tend to increase these during “sick season” to help strengthen their immunity as well. Ther-biotic makes a great probiotic you can mix into smoothies, but for little kids, this chewable is also a good option. I particularly like the Saccharomyces Boulardii strain for inflammation support, gut health, and immune health. If you’re traveling to a country where the water or food supply may be questionable, you’re going to want Saccaromyces Boulardii to be one of the strains in your probiotic.
Quercetin
Quercetin is another supplement that I like to use right before spring or fall allergies hit. We take quercetin during the seasons as well. I used to be a once-a-day Zyrtec girl the entire allergy season myself, until I intensely focused on healing my gut, bringing down inflammation, and calming my nervous system. I know that sounds easier than it is in reality, but it was absolutely worth it for me. Aside from the occasional sneeze, I no longer have seasonal allergies. I’ve tried the same (but less intense) approach with my boys and although it hasn’t been equally successful, we are down to just a few Zyrtecs per season for them now. Quercetin, bee pollen in our smoothies, and local, raw honey are all part of my daily regimen to help combat seasonal allergies.
Which Vitamins To Stay Away From
Aside from vitamin D, the occasional probiotic, and quercetin during pollen season, we really don’t supplement the boys with anything else on a regular basis. If you feel the need to supplement your children, I would recommend sticking with reputable brands such as Pure, Thorne, Now, and Klaire Labs. If there’s one type of vitamin I try to stay away from as much as possible, it’s a gummy vitamin because these tend to get stuck in every cranny of your child’s teeth and cause cavities. Not worth the minimal synthetic vitamins you’re getting into their little bodies.
Like I mentioned, when it comes to the cleanest children’s vitamins, I’m a big fan of using a whole-foods approach. We definitely don’t nail this every day, but I try my best to include a wide variety of colors and different types of foods in my boys’ diets to help build up their immunity and gut health. KOR shots (photo below) are my pricey go-to when I haven’t kept up with vitamins and we’ve run out. What questions do you have about children’s vitamins? Are you using any right now? Comment below!
