My kids are grown now, but I didn't regularly give my kids vitamin pills. There is a lot of evidence that vitamin supplements may do more harm than good. Many foods like cereal, milk and OJ are already fortified with vitamins. I know that it can be difficult, but the best way for kids to get vitamins is through fruits and veggies.

Another mom who did not give vitamins because I didn't trust the labs who sanctioned them. And this subject has been in the news again recently. Sneak good nutrition into the things they like. Blenders are a God Send for feeding picky kids. Tomatoes cover most greens if they are blended and most kids like catsup.

The trick is to hide nutrients.

Hi, Peyton, I try to find gummies that have iron in them, but any kind my DS (5 years old) will eat is what I want. (This is in contrast to his cousin, who begs for celery and broccoli at the grocery store.) Anyway, if DS is shopping with me he votes for superheros, etc. Right now we've got "Marvel Heroes" from Target and he's happy with the taste ("no artificial flavors or colors").

I haven't checked GNC or any other places that specialize in nutrition, but they'd have something containing all of the good stuff. I always check to make sure the vitamins don't contain artificial sweeteners, since I'm sensitive to aspartame.

Have you tried something and it doesn't work for your kids?

GNC uses rubber stamp labs according to the expose I watched recently. Dateline interviewed people who lost their hair and experienced kidney damage after using GNC products.

Dateline purposely added Poison ingredients in a nutrition concoction; took it to the same lab GNC uses. The lab didn't find the poison and Dateline suggested many labs may not perform tests.

It's an unregulated industry and buyer beware.
(iPhone post)

Be especially careful about vitamins with iron in them. When my oldest son was four he got into the childproof cap of a bottle of chewable vitamins that were on an upper shelf in the kitchen cabinet. I wasn't sure how many he ingested, so I called poison control. I administered ipecac, but they wanted him to be seen at the hospital because iron overdose can be very dangerous. At the hospital they gave him activated charcoal, and kept him overnight for observation. This happened almost 30 years ago, and remains fresh in my mind.
Unless your child has a diagnosed deficiency I just don't think that the risks outweigh the benefits.

Here is a link that might be useful: Iron overdose danger

Well, there you go, Peyton! Any more child-rearing questions?

Check out Vitafusion brand. I haven't done any digging around about them but my BIL has a good opinion and feels the same as I do (below). They're a gummy vitamin and there aren't any artificial sweetners or colors in there.

In general, I know people have different opinions on vitamins and not all are created equal but the soil isn't the same as it was many years ago and lacks nutrients. IMO you'd have to eat tons fo raw fruits and veggies and I don't believe even that's enough. And the cooking process takes out what's left of the good stuff.

Good grief!

Terriks, the same thing happened to my children! I used to give them vitamins shaped like Flintstone characters and kept them in the top kitchen cabinet. One day when I was taking a shower my five year old pulled a chair over to the counter, got up on it and pulled two bottles of vitamins down. He opened both and gave one to his three-year-old sister and they started munching away. Neither could tell me how many they had eaten so I took them to our pediatrician. She gave them both ipecac, but my daughter had iron toxicity and had to stay in the hospital overnight. I threw the vitamins away forever that day, and they haven't suffered one bit from not taking extra vitamins above what they naturally get in a balanced diet. Oh---and I asked my son how he got the "child proof" cap off, and he said he just read the directions on it.... push and turn!

Well, these are temporarily out stock but I like Dr. Fuhrman's Pixie Vites. They are not chewable but a powder, kind of like Pixie-Stix so if you need to blend them to get them into a reluctant child, that is possible. Read the ingredient list, pretty darn cool, if you ask me...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pixie-Vite

thanks for all the heads up. My kids are older so I don't worry about overdosing. I like the previous post on the pixie dust stuff. They would love that in there water bottles!thanks!
I also will check out the vitafusion too!