Saturday, December 1, 2007

Vitamins To Grow On

Weapon X takes 2 vitamins everyday; DHA and a general multi vitamin. Why? X is picky… darn picky. He mainly eats flax waffles, O's, blueberries, whole wheat pasta, and the special sauce (apple). Sometimes he fits in some grapes (cut lengthwise), pears, cashews, and almond slices.

I grew up on veggies, so I do offer veggies daily. But I sadly dispose of every single piece because he refuses to eat them (though he does like to feed them to me!). The exceptions to his ban on veggies are sweet potato fries and veggie chips (fried squash, carrots, green beans, and taro). He loves them. He specifically searches out the zucchini pieces. I just don't want to feed him a steady diet of fried foods, so we limit our offerings of these awesome chips. We buy them at our local market in the bulk section.

DHA For Brain And Eye Development
Researchers tout the benefits of DHA for heart health in adults and for brain and eye development in children. Read a great report on NPR about DHA here.

The Nordic Natural soft gels that X takes can be swallowed whole or chewed. They are round, and about the size of a pea. X chews them and seems to like/tolerate them, which baffles me. They are flavored with a "Strawberry Essence." I am not sure what that means, but it does cover a large portion of the cod oil taste. I can still taste it, but as long as X doesn't care, that is what matters. We always offer these before the gummy bears, because he LOVES the bears and knows he has to get through these to get to the gummies :)

Weapon X takes 4 soft gels which equals 1 serving and provides:
Calories: 9
Fat: 1g
DHA: 125 mg
EPA: 82 mg
Other Omega-3s: 45 mg
Vitamin A: 130–300 IU
Vitamin D: 1–4 IU
Vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol): 14 IU

Gummy Bear Multi-Vitamin For Picky Eaters
X takes 1 Rhino Gummy Bear (by Nutrition Now) per day (2 bears equals 1 serving). He has never once snubbed his nose at these yummy gummies, and I cannot tell the difference between these and regular gummy bears. Rhino has a wide variety of supplements for children. We have only tried the bears, but will definitely try some of the other offerings in the future.

My only issue with the Rhino bears is the sugar. They taste so great because they don’t skimp on the sweet stuff. Of course, he only eats one bear, so it's not like he has a whole bag.
2 gummy bears contain:
Calories: 15
Carbohydrates: 4 g
Sugars: 3 g
Vitamin A (as retinyl palmitate): 2,500 IU
Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid): 18 mg
Vitamin D-3 (as cholecalciferol): 60 IU
Vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopheryl acetate): 15 IU
Vitamin B-6 (as pyridoxine HCL): 0.7 mg
Folate (as folic acid): 240 mcg
Vitamin B-12 (as cyanocobalamin): 4 mcg
Biotin: 60 mcg
Pantothenic acid (as calcium d-pantothenate): 5 mg
Iodine (as potassium iodide): 37 mcg
Zinc (as zinc citrate): 2.2 mg
Choline (as choline bitartrate): 10 mcg
Inositol: 10 mcg

*Note that the gummy bears do not have any iron, and we chose them partially for this reason. If you want to provide a supplement to your child that has iron, Nutrition Now also offers a supplement called Rhino Iron.

Only For Toddlers Who Have Mastered The Art of Chewing
Both the DHA and multi-vitamin should only be taken by toddlers who are good chewers, have molars, and are willing to take their vitamins while sitting down. They are labeled for ages 4 and up because of the potential choking hazard.


Keep Out Of Reach Of Children
X begs for the gummy bears. This reminds me that all vitamins should always be kept out of the reach of children, especially vitamins that taste like candy. Vitamins are good for you in the right amounts, but fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and iron build up in the system and can be toxic when taken in larger doses.

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