Which Vitamins Support My Children’s Health?

Happier, healthy families. That’s the aim of everyone here at Sealions. We want to make sure your family is happier and healthier. From granny’s daily supplement, through to an extra added boost of vitamins and minerals for your family pet.

But there’s one part of the family who need vitamins more than anyone else. Your children. Just like growing minds are hungry for excitement and adventure and new things to learn, growing bodies are hungry for vitamins and minerals (and ice cream, and chocolates…) so they can grow into happy, healthy adults.

So let’s have a look at the vitamins your kids need - and how you can get your little ones those vitamins without every mealtime turning into a battle of wills.

Kids and vitamins - a challenge for any parent

More than with adults, it’s a challenge to get enough vitamins and minerals into children. And it’s easy to see why; the Venn diagram of “foods packed with vitamins” and “food every child loves” doesn’t have much of an overlap.

On the one hand, there’s nutrition dense foods like kale and wheatgrass smoothies, and green salads and oily fish. And then there’s the much less vitamin-heavy diet of fish-fingers, spaghetti hoops and after-dinner ice cream that your kids would much rather be munching on.

So supplements make sense. Especially when they’re in chewable form - like our gummies. They think they’re getting sweeties, when instead they’re getting healthier. That’s clever parenting.

But what vitamins do growing children really need?

Vitamin D

We’ve shouted from the rooftops about the benefits of Vitamin D for adults - how it keeps bones, teeth, muscles, skin and your immune system healthy.

That’s true for kids too. And when you think about it, it’s even more important for growing bodies than it is for us adults. After all, children’s bones and muscles are growing every day, they’re losing baby teeth and adult ones are coming through - and your average ten year old is far more likely to need healthy skin that can grow back after a tumble off a bike, or an afternoon spent playing football in the street than your average adult.

Our one-a-day strawberry flavoured vitamin D gummies should give them all of the sunshine vitamin that they need.

Calcium

Calcium is the essential building block of strong bones and teeth, so children need more calcium than adults. It’s obvious! When was the last time you had a new tooth come through?

Luckily, calcium is widely present in foods that kids like to eat - dairy products like milk, cheese and of course ice cream. But if you’re looking for that extra piece of mind that comes from knowing your little one is getting enough vitamins and minerals, maybe add a multivitamin that contains a little added calcium.

B Vitamins

Children don’t stop. The average ten year old runs more on the average Sunday afternoon than Usain Bolt ran in every Olympics he ever raced in. At least we think that’s true from seeing an average child on an average Sunday.

Active bodies need energy, and they need a healthy heart. And the vitamins that cover these bases are B vitamins, especially vitamin B12.

You can find this vitamin in meat, poultry, fish and eggs, but you’ll also find it in our gummy kids multivitamins too.

Vitamin E

Kids get ill. It’s a fact of life. Children are always coming home with snotty noses and coughs, whether it’s the sniffles they get from nursery, or the dreaded Fresher’s Flu your older teens might succumb to at university.

The best way to minimise these coughs and colds is by helping them develop a stronger immune system, and that means plenty of vitamin E (although vitamin D also helps). You’ll find this in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, but it’s something you should look out for in a daily multivitamin too.

Making sure your child has a balanced, healthy diet full of fruit, vegetables, protein and fibre will make sure they get most of the vitamins they need. But if you’re faced with a fussy eater, or you’d just like that added peace of mind, Sealions is always here with our growing range of vitamin supplements for children.