Infant Vitamins – Should I be Using Infant Vitamins?

After they bring their newborn baby home most parents want to know if they need to start their baby on a regimen of infant vitamins. Generally speaking your infant will get the vitamins and nutrients he needs from the formula that you feed him for the first four months. Most doctors say that you should begin to introducing solid foods when your baby reaches four months of age and this may be a good time to start giving him vitamin supplements to make up for the differences that may occur as his diet becomes more solid.

If you choose to breastfeed instead most pediatricians agree that all of the vitamins and nutrients your baby needs are in your breast milk and he should not need any form of infant vitamins until he reaches the age of 12 months. This is the point at which most moms who breast feed begin to wean their baby and introduce him to solid foods. At this point it may be necessary to supplement his diet with baby vitamins while his body adjusts to the new source of food. With breast fed babies your doctor may recommend a booster of infant vitamin D to help make sure his bones continue to develop properly.

One thing you doctor might do is tell you that if you are planning to breast feed you should consider taking a good multivitamin. This is to help make sure that your baby will continue to get all of the vitamins and minerals he needs through your breast milk instead of having to give him infant vitamins.

As your baby grows and becomes a toddler and more active it becomes very important that he continues to get the nutrients that he needs every day. Since many toddlers can be difficult when it comes to getting them to eat a well balanced nutritional meal, most doctors recommend that you give them toddler vitamins to make up for what they are not getting in their diet. It is possible for your toddler to get all of his vitamins through his regular daily diet, but more often than not they do not.

What vitamins a toddler needs can vary depending on the toddler in question and what his diet is like. In general if your toddler is not eating enough healthy foods he will need supplemental vitamins A, D and C which you will find in the typical over the counter vitamin like the new Gummi ones that are fruit flavored and fun to chew.

However since there is a risk of a young toddler choking on the chewable vitamins you might want to consider using a liquid vitamin until he gets a little older and choking is no longer a concern. While most infant and toddler vitamins are designed to make overdose virtually impossible, if your child sees the new SpongeBob vitamins as a type of candy he may try to sneak extras so you need to keep them in a safe place. The biggest risk is an overdose of iron which can prove fatal, which is the reason that many kids' vitamins do not contain iron.