Do people still give thier kids vitamins?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes , I give them those gummies as well as a calcium pill. Because they don’t drink milk and don’t like dairy.

Which calcium pill do you give?

A regular adult horse pill. My kid can swallow pills (10 years old). They also have calcium gummies.

[Anonymous]

Multivitamins are very cheap insurance. "Expensive urine" whiners are spending far more on their "good diets" that they are being a mug about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a Youtube short with a pediatrician listing 5 types of she is recommending parents avoid. Gummy vitamins are #1 on her list (which makes it the last one in the video - about 1 minute in).
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/fnaiLFdxIfo

I don't trust someone who doesn't even know where the vitamins are in a gummy vitamin.

[Anonymous]

You live in America, not South Sudan. Your kids don't need vitamins.

[Anonymous]

Iron
Vitamin D

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a Youtube short with a pediatrician listing 5 types of she is recommending parents avoid. Gummy vitamins are #1 on her list (which makes it the last one in the video - about 1 minute in).
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/fnaiLFdxIfo

I don't trust someone who doesn't even know where the vitamins are in a gummy vitamin.

She's not wrong about that, there are some exceptions but most are just sprayed on and there's dosing issues.

Now gummy vitamins generally do not contain iron which is the thing you get concerned about kids over eating vitamins. But they're basically candy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, multivitamins are a scam. If bloodwork shows a deficiency, you treat that issue. Otherwise you're just making expensive urine.

Healthy varied diet covers all needs.

Oh noes, a whole extra 10 cents a day! How will we survive such extravagance!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you have any left ?

lol

[Anonymous]

Flintstone with iron

[Anonymous]

For the "expensive urine" people -- if your kid is actually eating a truly varied diet and getting plenty of iron then sure -- they'll just pee out the excess nutrients.

But most kids don't eat truly varied diets. Even the good eaters who aren't that picky. They have veggies they like and veggies they don't -- maybe they love carrots but will just push kale around on their plate. Maybe they are good with dairy but iffy with meat (that's my kid). They'll eat things but they might not eat much of it and they might eat it sporadically.

Vitamins help plug the gap. Because my kid is basically a vegetarian by default and can be hit or miss with other sources of iron, we do vitamins with iron. I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff in there that just goes right through her, but they are cheap and it's not hard.

No gummies though -- they are bad for your teeth and most are not nutritionally as useful as a mass market chewable like Flintstones. They are preying on the paranoia parents now feel about processed foods, but they are also processed. And also terrible for teeth and generally don't have iron and don't offer useful values of other key nutrients.

Flinstones ftw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No gummies though -- they are bad for your teeth

Gummie junk is bad for sure. Bananas are even worse for your teeth. Many people seem to not realize that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Multivitamins are very cheap insurance. "Expensive urine" whiners are spending far more on their "good diets" that they are being a mug about.

Cheap insurance against what? Be specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the "expensive urine" people -- if your kid is actually eating a truly varied diet and getting plenty of iron then sure -- they'll just pee out the excess nutrients.

But most kids don't eat truly varied diets. Even the good eaters who aren't that picky. They have veggies they like and veggies they don't -- maybe they love carrots but will just push kale around on their plate. Maybe they are good with dairy but iffy with meat (that's my kid). They'll eat things but they might not eat much of it and they might eat it sporadically.

Vitamins help plug the gap. Because my kid is basically a vegetarian by default and can be hit or miss with other sources of iron, we do vitamins with iron. I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff in there that just goes right through her, but they are cheap and it's not hard.

No gummies though -- they are bad for your teeth and most are not nutritionally as useful as a mass market chewable like Flintstones. They are preying on the paranoia parents now feel about processed foods, but they are also processed. And also terrible for teeth and generally don't have iron and don't offer useful values of other key nutrients.

Flinstones ftw.

Even if they aren’t eating a perfect varied diet. Majority of foods made with flour in the U.S. are fortified. Even kids living on a chicken nugget diet in the U.S. aren’t going to get scurvy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, multivitamins are a scam. If bloodwork shows a deficiency, you treat that issue. Otherwise you're just making expensive urine.

Healthy varied diet covers all needs.

My kid is 8 and we have never once done bloodwork. Is this routine?

It was required when my kid started school in DC, to check for lead.

But that's great that you've never had an issue that would require bloodwork! If your kid had a health problem, the doctor would have recommended it, and it might turn up a deficiency that you might treat with a specific vitamin/ mineral. Typical kids do not need a multivitamin, unless their parents let them subsist on a diet of chicken nuggets or something.

I feel like this is going in circles though- most kids do not have bloodwork unless there was an obvious issue, so how would you know if there's a specificdeficiency? My nephew was found to be anemic when testing for lead- they would never have known otherwise. I actually asked my ped about testing for iron deficieny after this because DD is not a big meat eater and ped said there was no need because DD eats eggs and black beans occasionally. If it's not something peds will test for seems safrer just to give a multiviatmin to fill any gaps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No gummies though -- they are bad for your teeth

Gummie junk is bad for sure. Bananas are even worse for your teeth. Many people seem to not realize that.

Bananas are different. Bananas *can* be bad for teeth because of the starch content, but as long as you're not eating like 3 bananas a day and you brush your teeth regularly, there's no danger.

Gummies are bad for teeth even if only eaten occasionally, and they can easily get into the parts of your teeth that are hard to reach with a toothbrush. If you are militant about flossing and not already cavity prone, it's maybe not the worst thing, but kids often don't floss as often it as well as they should and you may not know how cavity prone they are.

Which is why most dentists will tell you bananas are fine but gummies are a "never" food.