Colorless, Flavorless Liquid Multi-vitamin for Toddlers

Ask your pediatrician and also ask a pharmacist -- it is a good idea to go to a locally owned pharmacy rather than a big chain pharmacy; the pharmacists at local ones tend (in my experience) to have a much greater tendency to answer questions thoroughly and patiently.

But meanwhile, I agree with the person who said you should consider getting him evaluated for sensory issues. At the same time...many young kids do not have some kind of sensory disorder but do just dislike certain textures for a while. Have you tried offering him ONLY milk or only juice and not water? While it's great that he is not a juice addict like some young kids, he is definitely going to lack calcium, protein, vitamin D from milk and vitamin C and potassium from orange juice (many other juices are just sugar, and though it's natural sugar, our pediatrician always said that orange juice was the only one she would recommend a child drink).

It sounds as if he is at risk of lacking some essential nutrients and this is an age when he really needs them. A multi-vitamin is not necessarily going to give him the large amounts of calcium a growing child needs, either, and probably won't contain many of the minerals his body needs.

I'd consult with his pediatrician and ask for a referral to a registered dietitian or nutritionist who specializes in young children. Your son may need some tough love regarding eating (as in not catering to his tastes but offering what he needs, rather than what he prefers, until nature persuades him to eat), or he may need other help. But I'd really get to the doctor -- and don't accept anyone, even the doctor, saying "It's just a phase, let him have what he'll eat," because what you describe -- if the food pickiness is as bad as the water-only pickiness -- is not getting him what he needs to grow. Good luck and get some professional advice.

Hi C., WOO HOO!!! Your toddler knows what is best for him WATER!!! And no gummy vitamins DOUBLE WOO HOO!!! Your kid is a natural...I mean that literally, he NATURALLY knows what is bad for him!!! Give him a big hug for me!!! He is brilliant!

As a family food coach, I get this question all the time. Should I give vitamins to my kids. The answer is, it depends on you. Our food in North America is very deficient. What we used to get in 1 apple, we now need 12 to get the same thing. 1 bowl of spinach in the 50s was enough, today it's 43 bowls. I am not making this up. I actually wish I was...

As parents we have to be alert and diligent that we are feeding our kids properly. Our so called "food industry" really is not more of a "what can we create that looks like food" industry. Parents must educate themselves on what is actually in the foods they are feeding their kids.

To answer your question, I believe that EVERYONE needs supplements, even children. Like mentioned, our food source is compromised and unless you are growing your own organic food and raising your own meat, the foods you are feeding your family may not be sufficient. My own kids have been on vitamins since the day they were born, they are 17 and 14 now.

But, sadly, not all vitamins are created equally. It would be nice to walk into a health food store and know that you are getting something great for your family. But that is not always the case. Those "water supplements" you get in the stores are often more dangerous than healthy, aspartame, sucrolose, and other additives outweigh any positive ingredients.

Okay, now for some real suggestions:
1. blend some organic fruit and make popsicles from it - let him help you do this. You can even take this blended fruit and put it into ice cube trays and show him how much fun it is to "add this to his water"
2. let him help you grocery shop - let him choose the things that he will eat.
3. encourage 1 new item in the shopping cart each week - there are so many fruits and veggies that are not only fun to look at but fun to touch and play with. Let him "get in there" and discover more foods.
4. picky eaters will usually graze throughout the day and not really have a sit down meal, i advise a plate of healthy snacks on the kitchen table at all times. Let him help you put it together. He can eat it as he wants.

C. there are many things you can do as a parent, the most important is to have patience and love him wherever he is. and please, LISTEN TO HIM, his body is telling you what is good for him and what is not, listen, he is very wise. I sent you a private message with my contact info in case you have any more questions.

It's good that he's at least jonesing for water rather than juices that are just full of empty calories. But I am very concerned with his picky palate that he isn't getting enough calcium. I had a friend from high school who didn't like milk herself, and did not make her little girl drink milk (she said her daughter didn't like milk, but I wonder if it wasn't more that the mom didn't like it...) That little girl fell one day, not a hard fall either, and broke BOTH of her arms. They didn't heal right and had to be re-broken in surgery and re-set. The doctor was absolutely disgusted with this woman for not feeding her daughter better. I think that if the doctor had known that this little girl walked around with Coke in her bottles, he would have called social services on my friend...

Of course, I'm not say that you are anything like my friend who didn't know what she was doing with her first child right out of high school. But I do want to point out that you need to verify with the doctor that your child is getting enough calcium and Vitamin D. It really IS very important.

Good luck!

I'm wondering, if he is extremely picky in his foods, if he has some oral aversions....

One of the areas of Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is oral aversions....

http://www.spdfoundation.net/symptoms.html

My grandson has SPD, but not with food aversions.... he is more of a "sensory seeker" when it comes to food... he pretty much eats ANYTHING! When he was younger, he would eat just about anything we gave him.....

However, he is a sensory avoider when it comes to loud noises, like loud fans in public restrooms, and things like that. He also does not like hot food... he would prefer it completely cold! As he has gotten older, some of these aversions have gotten better, especially as he was having OT to help with some of his sensitivities.

I've read other posts on children that were extremely picky going through oral therapy, and that has broadened their menu a bunch.....

Read through the checklist at the link, and see if other symptoms look familiar, and see if you can get a referral from your pediatrician to a behavioral pediatrician...

I would not give a child vitamins. I know people in the US think that humans are naturally deficient, and I wondered about it when I lived there. Of course you can buy artificial vitamins in Europe too, but the governments discourage that. The European equivalent of the FDA just issued another article/study, saying that Europeans are not deficient in vitamins, and to abstain from artificial ones. They easily upset the bodies natural balance. Danish studies have found that people who take vitamins regularly have a much lower life-expectancy. Just give your kid good food, don't waste your money on it.

Although my son would eat or drink anything, regardless of what was in it (liquid vitamins) my daughter would not. She always knew when I tried to sneak vitamins in her food or drink.

Now that she's a teenager I've finally figured out that she probably has an exceptional sense of smell and taste. She'd complain that the milk tasted bad when my son and I had no problem with it......... until the next day when even we figured out it was going bad. I don't have a solution for you just a possible explanation.

I never did get her to take vitamins. And she's still a very healthy 13 year old girl.