Vitamin Supplement (With Calcium) for Toddlers?

My children do not drink milk and I give my oldest Liquid Calcium Magnesium Citrate which is made by LifeTime/Nutritional Specialties, Inc. We buy it at our local health-food store. We have been using it for the past 5 years. It is a thick liquid and comes in different fruit flavors. We give him one tablespoon at bedtime. He does not mind swallowing it plain, though I could see some kids needing it mixed with juice or something. To be honest though, I'm not sure what the recommended age range is. My son has been taking it since he was 5 per doctors orders.

My four-year-old does not care for the liquid as much so we give him L'il Critters Calcium Gummy Bears, one in the a.m. and one in the p.m. They are really tasty. I snag one now and then too!

I personally prefer the first simply because it contains 750 mg of calcium, where as the gummy bears only contain 200 mg.

Neither of these contain artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, or any of the other common food allergens.

I must also mention that my kids both take several vitamin and mineral supplement a day, due to food allergies. I tend to stay away from the supermarket vitamins. The health-food stores and even Trader Joes brand are of much better quality.

Hope this helps,
J.

You can do the two separately ... I do. My toddler takes a vitamin supplement that has the right doses of everything else, but not much calcium (typical). My son also doesn't drink milk, but he can get lots of calcium in other milk products, such as cheese or yogurt. We have also found than many healthy cereals have a lot of calcium as well. Our practioner suggested to us, for added calcim, ant-acids. They are cheaper than calcium supplements, and are basically not much else than calcium. I let him have one a day.

As an aside, Good for you! I honestly believe that most artifical sweeteners are dangerous. I watch for them as well. I was dismayed to find a yogurt that I had been giving my son, which I picked because it had lower suger, was using part suger, part artificial sweeteners (without advertising the fact, just hidden as "sucralose" in the ingredients!)

Here is a vitamin you should look into. Here is the web-link to get a low down on what is in it...http://www.arbonnemarketing.com/PK/dl/pk/513_us_eng.pdf
If you would like help purchasing this product, let me know; it comes with a 45 day money back guarantee and I can help you purchase it for a discount.

Good luck,
R.

Stores like Trader Joes and Whole Foods have all sorts of different choices for yummy tasting kids vitamins - at least, they have a larger selection of choices than your neighborhood grocery store would.
Next time you go to a store with a pharmacist, ask him/her what he would recommend for your child's calcium needs (but that you do not want ones with sachharine etc). Also, think about getting her to drink some calcium fortified OJ or other drink, but you have to be careful that you make sure the calorie/sugar content is low: pumping her full of sugar and empty calories is worse than her not drinking milk. There is lots of calcium in food too, so you might want to do an internet search to see a list of high calcium foods that your child might like.

Hi A.-Marie,
I don't have a brand to suggest, but I would go to Whole Foods and find one that has xylitol. Xylitol is a sweetener that prevents tooth decay and is safe for children. I have found the people at Whole Foods to be very helpful.
L.

A.-Marie,
You can also look at the Vitamin Shoppe, they have tons of stuff and brands. It is on line and there are local shops as well. Most of the sales people know there stuff, and their own brand is salt,yeast, and gluten free.
W.

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