…heard on the radio just now that apparently we should all have been giving our children multi vits from the age of 6 weeks or something until 5 years old?

I found out today that our second child is to be a daughter, who will be a little sister to our 2 year old girl and at no point was this ever mentioned even prior to our first’s arrival. By anyone we know-health professionals or otherwise. Seem like this is news to many too. I’m of the unqualified opinion that is feels like a load of old rubbish and I have no plans to start dosing child no.2 with anything other than the booze and fags no.1 enjoys to this day.

anyone out there in STWland do this or has heard this ‘advice’? Apparently infant multi vitamins are not particularly cheap too.

Never did it. cook proper food. Feed them. Repeat

This?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41942105

This?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-41942105

that, yes.

Can’t find anything on NICE
https://www.nice.org.uk/search?q=children+vitamin+suipplements

NHS site however has this

That’s why the Department of Health recommends that all children aged six months to five years are given vitamin supplements containing vitamins A, C and D every day.

It’s also recommended that babies who are being breastfed are given a daily vitamin D supplement from birth.
https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/vitamins-for-children.aspx

I find that more than a little odd but this is usually best practice / evidence based

A good diet should be all you need IMO. However many kids have a poor diet. Most breakfast cereal is enhanced with vitamins. MY guess is the advice is aimed so kids with poor diets get enough vitamins but I think it will lead to kids with good diets being the only ones to get supplements as well ie parents who care about this sort of thing will make sure the kids have good diets and give supplements that are not needed. those who feed their kids on crisps and turkey twizzlers won’t give supplements that are needed

advice changes for example weaning age has varied from 6 months to 19 months

Eating nuts from as soon as possible to after 2 years old

etc

One wonders how humanity survived before we could all have vitamin pis way back hen we had a poorer diet – also surprised age is increasing whist this need was not addressed

Shouldn’t be taking anything without testing first.

I’ve tested the boys chewy strawberry vitamins, they test good. Figure they eat well but extra vitamins aren’t going to do them any harm. Its probably right that the kids who need them most wont get them.

Junkyard – food used to contain more micronutients – and way back when a diet of turnips would be better than chips

Our kids get multi-vitamin gummy bear things every morning.

Take one myself every now and then – but mainly just because they taste good 🙂

We cook fresh food too – but figure it does no harm to make sure they are topped up. Vitamin D in particular is very hard to get from diet alone sun exposure can be difficult when it is cloudy all day and dark by the time they are coming home from school.

One wonders how humanity survived before we could all have vitamin pis way back hen we had a poorer diet

Humanity is getting healthier overall, no? Living longer, less preventable disease, less childhood death etc.

Junkyard, TJ – 12th century diets were shit, a diet of turnips meant that they grew into 5 foot midgets with scurvy and microcephaly by todays standards.

Shouldn’t be taking anything without testing first.

😀

What is a “5 foot midget”?

Is that like a short mile?

my son gets a D3 supplement but that’s all

Humanity is getting healthier overall, no? Living longer, less preventable disease, less childhood death etc.

I see it has been misconstrued as me meaning the diet of the 12 th C I did not mean that i meant earlier last century when they [ vitamins] were actually discovered

Apologies for my lack of clarity
Our parents diet was not quite as varied as ours and certainly did not have vitamin pills – that was my point basically- bu they were healthy.

We always had Haliborange tablets and a spoonful of malt – along with a pretty good diet really (we’d have had Cod Liver Oil too but I hated the stuff). I’m failing to see why this guidance is in any way controversial.

Turnips better than chips tho surely 🙂

As an aside I member a description of the well to to mans breakfast in 3 men in a boat. IIRC it was mainly meat!

Our parents diet was not quite as varied as ours and certainly did not have vitamin pills – that was my point basically- bu they were healthy.

Were they? My mum survived three heart attacks before she was 60.
Not unusual in Scotland for that generation.

Scottish diet is probably not the best place for me to make this point is it 😉

3 grandparents went fairy young ish but parents generation a still going in their 60’s and 70’s[ all scottish btw] No idea if typical

Here in Sweden all kids get vitamin d up to a certain age. Sunlight or lack of here

Just listened to a great podcast about this…

Science Vs. Vitamins

Basically inconclusive evidence for multivits being effective but they don’t do any harm… so your decision if you want to faff / throw money at them.

Vit d particularly important in Scotland. DHA and other vits are a good idea given kids never eat properly.

don’t over do it.

😉

Do breakfast cereals not already have all this in them?

Many staple foods ie bread, marg,cereals,juices etc have been fortified with vitamins and folic acid for years to ensure the poor don’t become too unwell to work or a drain on the NHS 😉

Do breakfast cereals not already have all this in them?

the fortification of cereals is a thing yes, but I would say breakfast cereals generally do more harm than good. They have to add back in all the natural macronutients and vits that are stripped out during manufacture- that always seemed odd to me and a little off. Still occasionally enjoy coco pops though. Who doesn’t.

The reason it is advised (or not) is to protect children who do not get a varied diet. My kids get a varied diet.

All the major food groups are represented – Twizzlers, Nuggets, Waffles and Smiley Faces.

Billy Ham?

I think a few on here might be surprised at quite how bad / non existent many children’s diets are in this country, even in apparently decent towns 🙁

Pretty sure we had this advice from the health visitor, but it’s not really aimed at those who understand balanced diets etc. – though even then it can be a struggle to ensure they actually eat one. Seems reasonable enough.
(Full disclosure – industry shill, don’t sell kids multivits though :-))

• oily fish such as salmon, sardines, pilchards, trout, herring, kippers and eel contain reasonable amounts of vitamin D
• cod liver oil contains a lot of vitamin D (don’t take this if you are pregnant)
• egg yolk, meat, offal and milk contain small amounts but this varies during the seasons
• margarine, some breakfast cereals, infant formula milk and some yoghurts have added or are ‘fortified’ with vitamin D

Source: BDA Factsheet

Eels, offal and cod liver oil. Does that sound like your child’s diet?