Should I give vitamins to my child?



source: google



Before you can get the answer for the above, you need to know on what is your children’s eating behaviour. Is your child a picky-eater, aren’t eating regularly or your child does not have any problem in eating all that you serve?

If the former is your answer, then definitely your child might need the vitamins.

If the latter is how your child normally having meals, then your child are not encourage to take the vitamins; at least until they reach 4-5years old.

According to the experts, it is not necessary for children to take the supplementary vitamins.  By right, they can get their vitamins and minerals needed for their development through their healthy and balanced diets. This includes calcium and vitamin D from milk and dairy products, vitamins C from orange juices, protein from chickens or fishes, healthy fats from olive oils etc.

But, if that is the case, why are there are so many different types of multivitamins being offered in the market nowadays?

In today’s world, it is quite impossible for the parents to provide healthy home-cooked meals for their children; daily. Most of the time, the children normally had take-away meals or frozen foods. Since our children do not eat right most of the time, then taking vitamins may offset some of the lacking. However, it is best to consult with the medical doctor or paediatrician to best assure that what we give them is necessary and suitable for their age and development. Wrong information or wrong products given to them might become a toxic and can be dangerous to them. Vitamins can be a good thing for them but too much of good thing can be a fatal.

Children who need vitamins are those:-

-          Picky eaters i.e. who do not simply eat regularly and always avoid eating healthy meals

-          Kids who normally have fast food, processed foods, snacks etc

-          Children who is on medication; in a chronic medical conditions such as asthma

-          Children who is on vegetarian diets i.e. need minerals such as zinc or iron

Tips on giving vitamins to your kids

-          Try to get a chewable vitamins or in the shape of cartoons or animals if your kids try to avoid taking the vitamins

-          Be alert and monitor your child when giving the vitamin. They may not finish them or throw it out of our sight or might be taking more doses than their needed.

-          Keep the vitamins out of their reach

-          Avoid relying too much on the supplementary; instead try to commit and focus more on natural and fresh minerals in providing them a healthy and balanced nutritious meals

Supplementary vitamins may be beneficial as a back up in the development of our children but be rest assure that we provide them the necessary minerals through the freshness and nutritious balanced meals.

Does Your Child Eat Right & Healthy?

We as parents need to understand that our children should be equipped with nutritious meals in order for them to live well throughout and to reduce the risk of health disease associated with poor eating habits. Thus, it is important that we start and educate them as early as birth so that our children can develop and continue to like these healthy and nutritious meals.

However, due to the time constraint and work pressure, our children often follow unhealthy diets. The worst part is that it is through by example of their parents. Working parents going out for work as early as 7.00 a.m. and back only about 8.00 p.m. or even later than that. Once we are back at home, we do not have the time to prepare meals and just bring along pre-packed meals from outside or just heat the frozen food in the microwave oven. It seems that; this is the only choice that we have!

Our children that have been educated of such habit may tend to become a picky eater. They will only like to eat fast food, simple meal such as pizza, fries etc which can be very oily and definitely unhealthy.

Having healthy food is one thing, and eating at the right time is another aspect. Children, from toddler to early teenagers tend to have meals as their wish and not accordingly. Munching and taking snacks in between meals likely to make them full once the heavy meals time come. So, these children tend to skip meals and only depend on snacks.

Thus, we need to know and get involve directly on what comes in to our children in order to get them alert and healthy in order to keep their brain function at the most optimum condition through healthy eating.