“When should kids start taking vitamins?”

1. Baby should start taking vitamins while in utero through Mom’s intake of a suitable diet as well a prenatal vitamins.
2. Depending upon any diagnostic requirements from birth circumstance, baby may or may not need supplemental vitamins during the post-delivery period of time. Certainly if Mom is breast feeding, baby should be getting ample vitamins through both her diet and ingestion of post-delivery vitamins.
3. Special requirements for the use of vitamin supplements are best discussed with you pediatrician and most often arise because of prolonged bouts of diarrhoea, chronic use of antibiotics due to illness or gastrointestinal absorption disorders.
4. A critical requirement for excellent growth and development is to be sure that your child has a well balanced diet.

BGR

Vitamins are an important part of good nutrition, but there is no substitute for developing good balanced eating habits, especially for young children. If you focus your parenting effort on introducing a variety of colors and flavors from the fruit and vegetable aisles every meal then you can be pretty sure you and your child are getting your vitamins and the other micronutrients each day. That being said, children or adults can take a basic complete multivitamin once they can chew them up age three or four. I'm a big fan of chewable solid vitamins which can provide more solid minerals than gummies. If you are working harder to find vitamins that taste like candy than finding fruits at the fruit stand, then vitamin taking will be the least of your parent worries when they're older. Spend time at the farmers market rather than the drug store with your kids, you'll get a lot more out of it.

Supplementation with vitamin D is recommended for all persons, starting at birth and continuing throughout your lifetime. Infants should receive 400 IU daily, and most formulas do not provide that amount. At 12 months of age, infants should be tested for anemia, with iron supplementation recommended for values < 11.5 mg/dl. Many parents chose to switch from pure Vit D to a MVI w/iron. Other vitamin supplements are not necessary for a normal healthy child who eats a diet filled with fresh fruits, vegetables and animal proteins. Children with alternative dietary habits, such as gluten free, vegan, etc., or which GI health issues should speak to their doctors about necessary supplements.

Shelley C. Springer, MD, MBA, MSc, JD, FAAP

Any age is good. 4 is perfect

The short answer is, almost never. Children who are eating a normal healthy diet have no need for vitamin supplements as they will get all the vitamins and minerals from the foods they eat. Every picky eaters are able to get enough nutrients to grow and develop normally. The exceptions to this are few. First, exclusively  breast fed infants need to be on Vitamin D as there is very little of this in breast milk. Second, premature children who have special needs such as a child with “short gut” may need extra vitamin supplements as their ability to absorb nutrients is impaired. Some children with extremely limited diets such as those who have behavioral or mental health problems and have extreme food avoidance may need them, based on blood tests to determine what they are deficient in. The bottom line is that most all kids do not need vitamin or mineral supplements. Unless you can document a deficiency in blood work, giving these to your kids is a waste of time

Dr. K