Recommend your kids' vitamins

[indigo99]

My boys have been taking the Flinstones gummies, but I read that they don't contain iron and that iron deficiency is common in toddlers. Now I'm thinking about switching and like the idea of giving them something with DHA. I looked at some on amazon and read reviews saying that you should avoid vitamin A in kid vitamins so now I'm just really confused. Has anyone actually researched this and decided upon something good?

[mikala]

We use the Rainbow Light stars based on recs here. http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-MultiStars-Chewable-Tablets/dp/B000EEBWHM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1369964842&sr=8-4&keywords=rainbowlight+vitamins

I haven't researched the individual vitamins but they seemed acceptable when I first ordered them and DS likes them. They do contain vitamin A so I'm curious to hear what others have to say about that....

[Pinky]

We are using Smarty Pants that hqcecthe fish oil included. It was a toss up between those and the star lite ones for us.

[daisymommy]

Rainbow Light Nutristars or Multistars! I actually got crazy and printed out the ingredient listing of a ton of natural brands online, compared them all side by side, and liked what Rainbow Light had to offer the best. I take the women's and DH takes the men's as well.


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[kaharris83]

We do Nutristars based on a few threads here, which are different than the Multistars. http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-Multivitamin-Multimineral-Chewables/dp/B000EE9Y22/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369965407&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=nutruistars
We also give 2 of these DHA gummies a day. http://www.drugstore.com/lil-critters-omega-3-dha-gummy-fish/qxp181134

[ssand23]

We really like the Rhino line for kids from Nutrition Now. We buy them at Whole Foods but they have great prices online at Vitacost. We've been buying these for about 8 years now. http://www.nutritionnow.com/Rhino/

They have gummies in multi-vitamins and also omegas for kids (my kids love these, too), calcium, C and other varieties. They are all natural and gluten free, dairy free & nut free. And they actually taste good (I'd pass on their "Calci-bears" but the rest are good). I take them, too since adult vitamins bother my stomach.

[mommytotwo]

We switch off each day between Flintstones regular (with iron) and Flintstones gummies (no iron). My husband and I take them too. The adult Centrum vitamins with iron bothered my stomach, but the Flintstones ones do not.

[mikala]

We do Nutristars based on a few threads here, which are different than the Multistars. http://www.amazon.com/Rainbow-Light-Multivitamin-Multimineral-Chewables/dp/B000EE9Y22/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369965407&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=nutruistars
We also give 2 of these DHA gummies a day. http://www.drugstore.com/lil-critters-omega-3-dha-gummy-fish/qxp181134

Not to hijack, but can you explain the difference between the two and why you went with Nutristars? I think I saw them as interchangeable terms when I researched it awhile ago. I just looked at the nutrition facts for both and it seems like the Kids One that I linked above is similar to two of the Nutristars, but it isn't an exact comparison. It has more of some of the vitamins but less of others.

[indigo99]

Has anyone else read anything negative about including Vitamin A? Specifically, I think it's the retinol and not beta carotene, but it isn't recommended for pregnant women to take much because it can harm the developing baby. There are studies showing that it can cause you to lose calcium and weaken bones if you get more than you need. Of course we don't individually know exactly how much we need, but it seems safer to get a lower dose of this particular vitamin - especially since there are also studies showing that multi-vitamins often test as having radically different amounts of each mineral/vitamin than what they should.

eta: One of the reviews for the nutristars says that it has more than the Institute of Medicine's RDA for vitamin A (ages 4-8) and is getting close to the upper tolerable limit.

[ett]

My kids take the Trader Joe's chewables. I read up on the vitamin A issue a couple of years ago and I believe the problem with vitamin A is when it is retinyl palmitate and not beta carotene. (perhaps someone else can chime in with the details.) The Trader Joe's multis has vitamin A as beta carotene, which is why I chose them. They don't have iron though.

ETA: I just cross posted with you.

[kaharris83]

Not to hijack, but can you explain the difference between the two and why you went with Nutristars? I think I saw them as interchangeable terms when I researched it awhile ago. I just looked at the nutrition facts for both and it seems like the Kids One that I linked above is similar to two of the Nutristars, but it isn't an exact comparison. It has more of some of the vitamins but less of others.

I originally went with the Nutristars because they seemed to be recommended lots here. My DH came home with the Multistars from Whole Foods a few months ago when we were having trouble finding the Nutristars. He said they told him at Whole Foods they were the same thing with new packaging. We compared the ingredients and found they were different so we ended up returning the Multistars and ordering them on Subscribe and Save from Amazon. I didn't research the two to decide on Nutristars, just felt better using them since that's what we had already been using and I could get them for much less on Amazon. So no real good reason for picking Nutristars over Multistars. My DS1 is still under 4 so he only takes 1 a day.

[indigo99]

Hmm. Even if the beta carotene form of vitamin A is OK, I still don't want to give more than the RDA. It's misleading for the label to say that it has 100% RDA if it actually has more than that, but ... ugh. I'd have to look up the specific RDA for their ages and find the ingredient lists and compare. I'd like for some decisions to just be easy.

[ett]

Hmm. Even if the beta carotene form of vitamin A is OK, I still don't want to give more than the RDA. It's misleading for the label to say that it has 100% RDA if it actually has more than that, but ... ugh. I'd have to look up the specific RDA for their ages and find the ingredient lists and compare. I'd like for some decisions to just be easy.

What is the vitamin A RDA for kids? The TJ's chewables say to chew 1 to 2 pills for kids over 4 (I just give 1) and it's 1250 IU for 1 pill.

[indigo99]

I'm not sure, but this reviewer said it's 1,300 and the upper tolerable limit is 3,000 which is below what some of these vitamins contain.

eta: I found this:

For children: 1,000 IU ages one to three (upper limit is 2,000 IU); 1,333 IU ages 4 - 8 (upper limit is 3,000 IU); and 2,000 IU for 9 - 13 (upper limit is 5,665 IU).

Source: Vitamins - Introduction http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_vitamins_000039_1.htm#ixzz2UpqaVTdY
University of Maryland Medical Center

[athompson]

My kids take the Kirkland vitamins from Costco.

[indigo99]

So I decided that I have to do the actual research *sigh*, and I'm not having much luck. I want beta carotene only and the ability to give my child less than 1,500 IU of vitamin A.

There are other vitamins that have some toxicity at higher levels as well. Vitamin A, C, and D are three that have definite upper limits to avoid and are more serious to avoid overdosing on, but Vitamin A is apparently the only one that they all use too much of so that's what I'm using as my main criteria. Vitamin E also has an upper limit but apparently isn't even needed in a kid vitamin anyway.

Rainbow light kids one: contains the good and bad form of vitamin A and, at 4,000 IU, is over the upper dosage limit for children

Smarty Pants with omega 3s: dosage is 4 gummies at 5g sugar each (actually not a bad thing since you don’t need the full dosage and could take less but I want to avoid the retinyl palmitate which is what this has for vitamin A)

Rainbow light nutristars: contains the good and bad form of vitamin A; 2,500 IU vitamin A

Rhino gummies: contains only the bad form of vitamin A; 2,600 IU in 2 gummies

Flinstones gummies: 2,000 IU vitamin A in 1 gummy


I need to find the ingredient list for those Trader Joe's vitamins. They actually opened our first TJ here last year, but I never shop there since it isn't close to me.

[babyonway]

Not to hijack but does anyone know of a kids vitamin without vitamin A?


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[AnnieW625]

My girls take one Rainbow Light Nutristar; two are rec. for 4+, but we still just give one and sometimes they don't get them everyday. When I remember (which isn't often:bag) they get some Carlson's lemon fish oil in their yogurt. We tried gummies, but I didn't like giving them gummies because they were gummies and my kids love gummi bears and I didn't like that they thought they were candy. I will probably try the store brand Bengal Bites from While Foods or Sprouts if I can never find the Nutri Stars on sale. We have also used Costco's Chewables, Trader Joe's, and Flinstones Iron Free. The last three are iron free. If your child has constipation issues at all I would get an iron free brand. Iron can be very very constipating.


Has anyone else read anything negative about including Vitamin A? Specifically, I think it's the retinol and not beta carotene, but it isn't recommended for pregnant women to take much because it can harm the developing baby. There are studies showing that it can cause you to lose calcium and weaken bones if you get more than you need. Of course we don't individually know exactly how much we need, but it seems safer to get a lower dose of this particular vitamin - especially since there are also studies showing that multi-vitamins often test as having radically different amounts of each mineral/vitamin than what they should.

eta: One of the reviews for the nutristars says that it has more than the Institute of Medicine's RDA for vitamin A (ages 4-8) and is getting close to the upper tolerable limit.

Vitamin A is some serious stuff in high levels. I took Accutane in 1995 & 1996 when I was 18 and the high levels of vitamin A were the reason it could cause birth defects. I didn't have to do it but a few years later when Accutane was still on the market many doctors and or insurance companies required their patients who used it to take birth control.

Fast forward to 2008. We were trying to conceive baby 2 and I had been taken a liquid vitamin I had bought at Costco. I don't recall the brand, but I believe they had more than 5000iu of vitamin A. I remember seeing the bottle at Costco right after the loss and finally the light turned on in my brain and i thought of that. I have always wondered if that is what caused the chromosome disorder with baby 2.

[daisymommy]

Not to hijack, but can you explain the difference between the two and why you went with Nutristars? I think I saw them as interchangeable terms when I researched it awhile ago. I just looked at the nutrition facts for both and it seems like the Kids One that I linked above is similar to two of the Nutristars, but it isn't an exact comparison. It has more of some of the vitamins but less of others.

Nutristars have a higher level of all the vitamins and vitamins (like closer to or above 100%), plus some that the Multistars don't contain at all, along with some digestive enzymes, whole foods supplement ingredients for balanced health, etc.


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[marymoo86]

I don't give DD a multivitamin (yet). Is your DC's diet deficient (pick eater?) where a multi is necessary?

[daisymommy]

Your body will excrete out whatever it doesn't use in Vitamin C, not store it, and you can safely give kids 4K of vitamin D. So no worried there.


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[indigo99]

I don't give DD a multivitamin (yet). Is your DC's diet deficient (pick eater?) where a multi is necessary?

We started giving DS2 vitamins because we couldn't get him to take the liquid vitamin D, but I'm going to completely stop giving them to him now that I've looked into it more. We don't eat enough vegetables for sure, and he hates milk. I think I'll wait until he's older though.

DS1 does not eat. It isn't just that he's picky, but I don't think he ever feels hungry or full. It takes forever to get him started eating, and sometimes when he's entertained with something then he will just continue to eat until we stop giving him food. Other times, we just can't get him to eat at all, and this is with us feeding him because he really could care less if he eats or not.

[Sweetum]

I am confused - which is bad Vit A and which is good Vit A?

[ett]

I am confused - which is bad Vit A and which is good Vit A?

You want vitamin A as beta carotene, not retinyl palmitate.

[Gena]

In the past we have used Rainbow Light NutriStars. DS did fine with them until a shop clerk at our local vitamin store said to him, "Don't they taste terrible?" (They do, but who says that to a kid?) After that DS refused to take them.

Right now, we are not doing multivitamins every day. DS eats well and eats a good variety of foods. If he has several bad eating days (due to illness, travel, or the occasional moody phase), I give him the Children’s Chewable Multi-Vitamin/Mineral Wafer with Xylitol from Kirkman Labs (not to be confused with Kirkland from Costco).

Instead of multis, DS gets several specific vitamins and supplements a day to target his specific needs:
Vit B6 (high dose) & Magnesium
Vit D
Iron (prescription)
Folinic Acid & B-12
TMG (Trimethylglycine)
Omega 3s

We make adjustments as needed, but for now he's doing very well with these.

[Babymakes3]

I've been giving ds 2 of the Lil Critters Omega 3 dha gummies a day
http://www.drugstore.com/lil-critters-omega-3-dha-gummy-fish/qxp181134