Feeding children healthy food always feels like such a loaded topic. Are they getting enough nutrients? Are they eating mineral rich foods? Are they currently going through a food strike where they refuse to eat anything but crackers? It’s enough to pull your hair out!
Personally I tend to focus more on nutrient-dense foods (like grass-fed beef, pastured liver and butter to name a few) and stress less (yes, I still stress) about the vegetables that my daughter is eating. I’ve also added vitamins to her diet because it makes me feel better when she goes through a day refusing to eat a single fruit or vegetable.
The problem is that not every children’s vitamin is created equally. In fact, some are so full of junk that it’s a joke that they’re even labeled as vitamins. I searched high and low before deciding which ones I deemed worthy of giving my daughter and here’s what I discovered.
Probiotics. These are great for supporting gut health and especially important if your child has ever been on antibiotics. When they’re infants you can start with putting some probiotic powder on your nipple before breastfeeding. We use Raw Probiotics by Garden of Life. They’re organic and I feel good giving them to my daughter. It comes in a powder and you can’t really taste it, which makes it easy to mix with water.
Magnesium. It’s safe to say that almost everyone is magnesium deficient. Magnesium is one of the most important minerals–it helps with so many bodily functions and our modern food supply just doesn’t offer enough. I throw a handful of Epsom salts in my daughter’s bath every single time- it absorbs wonderfully through the skin. We have also used Magnesium Calm and sometimes still do, especially when we’re traveling. It’s a great powder that mixes into water and tastes good enough that my picky daughter loves it.
Multivitamin. This might be the trickiest of all! My daughter refuses to take a chalky chewable and will only eat gummy vitamins most of which are loaded with junk. We love Nordic Berries by Nordic Naturals. They are non-gmo, have no added colors, preservatives or allergens. We don’t take them everyday because I try to focus on a nutrient-dense diet but we always have them at home.
Omega 3. Another win for Nordic Naturals. They come in a variety of fun gummy shapes, from dots, to worms to squishy little fishies. They contain all of the omega 3s your child would need without any of the junk.
Jacqueline Banks is a certified Holistic Health Counselor and online fitness coach. She works with women in all stages of motherhood, from mothers struggling with conception to those trying to get their grove back after pregnancy to ensure the best health and nutrition for both mom and baby.
