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What supplements do you give your kids for optimal health and development? (Parents please share your stacks)

4 months ago (edited)

Hey Zapiens 👋

I'm curious to learn from other health-conscious parents here: What supplements are you giving your children, and why?
With many opinions and products out there, omega-3s, vitamin D, magnesium, multivitamins, I'd love to hear what's actually evidence-based and safe for growing bodies.


My kids are 2 and 6. My daughter is pescatarian, but we only eat fish once a week. My son is vegetarian. We include walnuts, avocados, yogurt, oats, and buckwheat 3–4 times a week, plus daily olive oil, chia seeds, and eggs.


A few questions to get the conversation going:

  • What supplements are part of your child's daily routine?

  • At what age did you start supplementing?

  • Are there any brands you trust specifically for kids?

  • Have you noticed any measurable improvements (sleep, focus, immunity)?

  • What does your pediatrician say about your approach?

Would love to hear your thoughts:

Looking forward to learning from this community 🙏

Magnesium
Olive Oil
Seeds
Sleep
Focus
Vitamins
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· 4 months ago (edited)

I have started to give my children 1000 IU Vit D3/K2 after they turned 12 and 500mg Omega3 to support their immune system. There are many good brands, so I will not endorse any specific brand here. They have dropped taking Omega3 because of the taste, but I insist that they take it at least 1-2 per week. They often comply so I don't lose my sanity ;-)

I check their blood every 6 months to see if I need to adjust the dosage.

My son is 16 years and is fully immersed in the supplement game. Fortunately he still listens to me so I can make sure that he doesn't jump on the latest hype.

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· 4 months ago (edited)

Love this question @Karol – and also the nuance around how we introduce supplements to kids.

My two are 20 now, but looking back, my approach in childhood was less about “which products” and more about the relationship to them.

A few principles that guided me:

• No “pill = health” conditioning.

I didn’t want them to grow up with the reflex “there’s a pill for everything” – similar to how I wouldn’t give kids non-alcoholic beer. The symbolism matters.

• Food first, supplements quietly integriert.

They weren’t able (or willing) to swallow capsules anyway, so I focused on:

• Omega-3 oil mixed into salad or sauces

• Probiotic capsules opened and stirred into yogurt

• Propolis syrup when needed

(By the way: Omega-3-Gummies were a disaster – no matter how delicious the marketing sounded, they were spit out instantly.)

• Fortified everyday foods over “special products”.

In Spain we’re lucky to have a big range of milks fortified with omega-3, vitamin D etc. That was often the easiest way: no drama, no negotiations, just part of breakfast.

Now, at 20, it’s much simpler – they can swallow anything, read labels and decide with me. But that’s no longer “supplements for kids”, that’s early adulthood.

If I had to summarize my philosophy:

build solid food habits first, use supplements as quiet support in the background, and be very mindful about the stories you attach to pills, powders and gummies.

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· 4 months ago (edited)

Love this question @karol, it has also been a highly relevant topic for me lately.

My son is turning 5 now and as always before supplements comes a healthy foundation. To me these are:

  • consistent sleep routine

  • Lots of time outdoors

  • Frequent contact with animals and no overly extreme hygiene

  • High variety of food

While we are quite lucky that he is not too picky with his food (Chicorée, dark chocolate are welcomed here), Some family routines that helped us so far:

  • General rule to at least try new food with the allowance to spit out everything that doesn’t taste good

  • We decide which food is offered, he decides how much of it he wants to eat

  • Hello Fresh users since years (helps us keep the variety up, as we are not very creative cooks 😅)

  • A morning breakfast shake routine that I enhanced with various „add ons“ over time. Like extra fiber, vegan protein powder, Kefir…

In addition to all that we also supplement:

  • 1.000 IU Vitamin D

  • Omega 3 (norsan gummies had the best acceptance, unfortunately stuffed with sweeteners)

  • A multivitamin with selenium (Naturtreu Zaubertrank, no additives but also horrible taste and not the best formulation , trying some others now)

  • Iron powder (Vitasauri)

  • Different fiber sources (acacia gum, yacon syrup..)

  • A vegan protein powder added to the breakfast shake (Vetain)

  • An oral probiotic to keep the ear infections away (Omni Biotic Immund)

All that combined leaves him with a very strong immune system with max. 2 short infections a year.

When it comes to communication around supplements and „good and bad food“ we try to always keep it positive and towards the things that keep us strong and fit instead of talking too much about bad food or sickness. Can also recommend the theatre play and book „Die Nährstoffgeschichte“.

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· 4 months ago (edited)

Nothing but Vit D3/K2 under 3 years of age, in full health and "good nutrition", our pediatrician strongly recommends...

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· 4 months ago (edited)

I give my kids vitamin D and Omega 3 (Sunday Naturals for kids), that's it. They are too small to get blood work done yet so I use their overall health and immune system response as feedback. However I am very strickt with meal composition and teach them to look for variety and macros on their plate. That works really well so far.

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· 4 months ago (edited)

Just vitamin D3+K2, though in moderation, rather to avoid likelihood of strong deficiency.

Kids are under 3, we don’t know their blood levels and also would not really have data on optimal levels. Also, as Matt Kaeberlein always points out, we don’t have any good data on interactions between different supplements, so good to limit anyways.

Given my own learnings with high vitamin-D-ratio (increased 1.25OH) and reduced BMD, I am just more cautious wrt relatively high doses of D3 in kids without measuring biomarkers.

For context: foundations (nutrition, sleep, activity) are strong and we get a lot of fresh produce from friends and family (we are living in the countryside), so might not necessarily be the same for others 😊

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· 4 months ago (edited)

As an MD and someone working with pre-school children (0-6 y/o), from a professional perspective, I advise daily D3 vitamin intake for children with at least 400IU up to 1000IU (depending on age). Vitamin D3 is crucial for bones, allergies, and skin problems. Lack of it can cause bone deformities, which are very common lately due to external factors. Magnesium, calcium, and Omega-3 are also very important for optimal growth and development. The immune system should be strengthened by taking natural organic ingredients such as honey, propolis, natural juices (carrot, beetroot, apple, orange). Besides that, immunity can be supported with daily supplementation with probiotics for the microbiome and zinc. In my everyday practice, I advise parents to implement this.

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