When Is the Right Time to Introduce a Multi-Vitamin for Children into Your Child’s Diet?

Many medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dietetic Association recommend that healthy children should obtain their vitamins and minerals from their diet. However, they also stress that there are many health reasons that would necessitate a multi-vitamin for children.

Some of the reasons to introduce a multi-vitamin for children include:

• Being underweight
• Restricted diets
• Illness
• Exclusively breastfed 

Before you begin looking for the best multi-vitamin for children, it’s important to first take a close look at your child’s diet. You will want to ensure that they are getting plenty of fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. You will also want to minimize saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and sugar.

If there are gaps in adequate nutrition levels, it may be time to consider a multi-vitamin for children. Of course, it’s always a good idea to first consult with your child’s pediatrician prior to giving supplements. If a supplement will be helpful, you will want to look for a natural multi-vitamin for children that doesn’t consist of synthetic vitamins. These should be derived from natural food sources.

The top vitamins to look for in a multi-vitamin for children

• Vitamin A - Promotes growth and development, bone and tissue repair, healthy eyes, skin, and immune response. 
• Vitamin Bs – B vitamins help energy production, metabolism, as well as the circulatory and nervous systems. 
• Vitamin C – Promotes immune response and healthy muscles, skin, and connective tissue.
• Vitamin D – Promotes tooth and bone formation.
• Calcium – Promotes bone growth and strength.
• Iron – Builds muscles and is necessary for red blood cell production. 

Ideally, it’s best for your children to get these nutrients from the foods that they eat. This can only be accomplished if they are eating a wide range of whole, fresh foods and staying away from fast or processed foods. The most high-vitamin foods are fresh fruits and vegetables followed by low-fat dairy, whole grains, and lean meat.

Sadly, many children today are both overweight and malnourished because of poor diet. Shifting eating habits can be challenging, and a multi-vitamin for children can help with the transition towards a healthier lifestyle that includes a balanced diet, exercise, and nutritional supplementation.

Nature’s Plus has created a line of vitamins and supplements that are for a variety of specific dietary needs. Nature's Plus Animal Parade® supplements are designed to make nutritional supplementation easy for both parents and kids. Considered the best multi-vitamin formulas for children, Animal Parade promote good health with whole foods and green super-foods extracts and concentrates, bioflavonoids, botanical extracts, and naturally derived essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids.  And, they taste great which can enable your child to easily incorporate taking a supplement as part of their daily life.