7 Amazing Tips to Keep in Mind Before Buying & Giving Vitamin Supplements to Children

As children are in their growth years, it’s important for them to get enough vitamins and minerals to ensure optimal health. A balanced diet provides enough nutrition for most children. An ideal balanced diet is always not possible, especially in the case of growing children, therefore supplementation with good quality and ideal dosage vitamins & minerals is important. To function and stay healthy, we all require our daily dose of vitamins and minerals too. Even if parents do everything they can in order to help their children develop good habits and eat a well-balanced diet, the issue of whether it's enough or not, always lingers in the mind. Do they require some vitamins or supplements to compensate for what they are lacking, particularly in the case of finicky eaters? These types of questions are always on top of the mind of every parent.

Supplements for Kids

Because each child's nutrient requirements change depending on their age, gender, size, growth, and activity level, so when parents decide to give their children vitamin supplements, the next question is which one to go ahead with. Multivitamins for infants are available as drops/ sprays and usually contain vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Multivitamins for older children are usually given as a sprays/ chewable tablet. Sprays are more convenient and offer more bio-availability in the body. Finding your child's favourite brand character may make taking vitamins easy and fun.

Tips to Keep in Mind Before Buying Vitamin Supplements

Most parents know that children need vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. But knowing exactly what nutrients and how much they need of each is not always easy. Learning a bit more about vitamins and minerals, can help ensure your kids are on the right nutritional track. You don't have to buy a new supplement just because it claims to improve your child's brain health or immunity. When purchasing vitamins and supplements for your children, every parent should focus on the following factors:

1. Vitamins A, B, C, and D, iron, calcium, and folic acid are the most important nutrients for a child's development, therefore be sure the vitamin supplement you are selecting for your children has most of the mentioned vitamins or minerals specified as an ingredient.
2. Certain medicines don't mix well with certain vitamins and minerals supplements, and can even have some side effects. So, if your child is on any medication, check with his or her doctor to see if it's okay to give supplements to the child
3. Get rid of the "more is better" mentality and avoid more dosage of supplements, excessive doses of vitamins, and more vitamins on top of a daily multivitamin can all be harmful. Even if your kid is unwell, you should not give him extra dosage in the hopes of fastening his/her recovery.
4. Supplements with extra ingredients should be avoided. Adding those extra ingredients might seem like a good idea, but the more substances you add, the more likely you increase the risk to have an undesirable side effect. Begin with only the vitamin or mineral that your child needs. Don't buy more than your child is capable of handling.
5. Keep supplements properly stored and always store them out of your child's reach and sight to prevent accidental over ingestions. After each use, return the medicines or supplements to their rightful location. This may sound a very little thing but sometimes a simple mistake can create a big chaos.
6. Children’s vitamins and supplements may come in fun colors and shapes, but they are not candy. Make sure you’ve told your child that vitamins are a kind of medicine—not a snack. This information should be clearly made understood to children to avoid over consumption.
7. Many vitamins and vegetable and fruit juices claim to provide your children with a full dose of veggies in a pill, gummy, or glass, but they frequently lack fiber. If these are your children's primary sources of fruits and vegetables, consider taking a fiber supplement unless they are drinking a high-fiber, 100 percent vegetable juice and consuming additional high-fiber foods.

Before buying any supplement ensure that the supplement contains enough nutrients needed by children, offer a balanced diet that includes a variety of foods and limits sweets and refined foods. Look at the label and check the RDA ( Recommended Dietary allowance / day) levels as per ICMR recommendations. A disturbing trend seen nowadays is that few parents are giving their children supplements bought abroad. This can be dangerous as recommended daily doses vary from country to country and are usually higher in Western countries. This applies to adults also.

Conclusion

Vitamin supplementation is recommended in most cases, whether as a result of decreased consumption due to poor dietary habits, scarcity of certain foods, imbalanced or restrictive diets, or insufficient absorption due to digestion issues. Even in children with Western-style diets it is important to search for risk factors that could influence vitamin status, as deficiencies are a common finding in this population. But it is most important to choose the vitamin supplement you want to give your child carefully. ForKids vitamin supplements for children are formulated by doctors and pharmacology experts and manufactured under stringent quality control procedures, ensuring adequate dosage, maximum absorption in the body and maximum efficiency. Trust only the experts for your child’s health and well being, as well as yours.