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What are the Different Types of Children's Vitamins?
Children’s vitamins help provide children with a daily supplement of vitamins and minerals recommended for children. Children’s vitamins can be especially beneficial for younger children who have not yet developed healthy eating habits and remain picky about fruits, vegetables, and other foods they eat. There are several types of children’s vitamins, but children should not be given vitamins for adults as the recommended guidelines for adults is different than children.
For very young children, children’s vitamins come in liquid form. Many pediatricians recommend supplementing a baby’s diet with liquid vitamins. As a child ages into toddlerhood and develop teeth and chewing skills, they can be given chewable children’s vitamins.
Chewable children’s vitamins may be soft chew or hard chew. The soft chew vitamins resemble “gummy” candies, such as bears, and are flavored to be slightly sweet tasting. Soft chew children’s vitamins do not contain the same amount of vitamins and minerals per piece as the hard chew vitamins and thus, older children may need to chew two per day to receive the recommended allowance. At this stage, unless your child refuses to chew other vitamins, it makes sense to switch to hard chew children’s vitamins, as they are more economical, requiring only one vitamin per day.
Hard chew children’s vitamins are hard, but are easily broken when chewed. Popular children’s vitamins such as Flintstones, SpongeBob, Spiderman, and other similar characters, are hard chewable vitamins. Both hard chew and soft chew children’s vitamins are typically multi-vitamins, meaning they contain a certain amount of multiple vitamins and minerals, as recommended and allowed.
Other types of children’s vitamins are less common, but include quick-dissolve or rapid dissolve varieties. These usually come in the form of thin strips, placed on or under the tongue to dissolve. Not only are these vitamins less common, they are often comprised of only one specific vitamin, rather than being a multi-vitamin. Combining multiple vitamins and minerals into one chewable piece requires the use of fillers and binders, thus making the chewable capsules more common.
If you choose to supplement your child’s diet with vitamins, there are plenty of varieties to choose from that will make the daily task easier, but talk to your child’s pediatrician or physician about the appropriate varieties for their age and physical development.
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![Parents can ask their pediatrician which vitamins are right for their child.]()
By: MagaliceParents can ask their pediatrician which vitamins are right for their child. -
![As a child goes into a toddlerhood, a pediatrician may recommend chewable vitamins.]()
By: nyulAs a child goes into a toddlerhood, a pediatrician may recommend chewable vitamins. -
![A multivitamin might help a child who is a picky eater get the nutrients they need.]()
By: photophonieA multivitamin might help a child who is a picky eater get the nutrients they need. -
![Many children's vitamins resemble gummy candies.]()
By: pedroliebMany children's vitamins resemble gummy candies.
Discussion Comments
@clintflint - What makes me nervous about it is that they design kids vitamins to look and taste like candy so that children will be willing to eat them.
But young children might not realize they shouldn't eat more than one per day. I could easily see a kid thinking they had just found a little jar of candy and eating all of them at once.
I'd rather have vitamins that aren't that appealing.
@croydon - Kids can be extremely fussy eaters. To the point where they might only eat a single type of food for a long time. My cousin used to get so worried about food when he went overseas with his family, he would refuse to eat anything except french fries.
And that actually kind of makes sense, from an evolutionary perspective. Kids are naturally fussy about food because they are much more vulnerable to poisons and bacteria, so they will want to stick to something they know is safe.
But, that can lead to vitamin deficiencies or other problems, like not getting enough fiber.
I would recommend that people go to the doctor as well if they are worried about this, but the best children's vitamins are designed so that they won't overdose on one or two per day. And supplemental fish oils or fiber is a good idea for almost anyone.
I don't really think it's a great idea to be giving your children vitamins. It's far too easy for them to get too much of a particular nutrient, and some of them are dangerous if they accumulate in the body.
If your child is eating a varied diet they definitely do not need extra vitamins unless a doctor suggests it. At best it's a waste of money and at worst you might actually do them some harm.
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