TIPS AND TRICKS

Great Ways to Give Vitamins and Minerals to Your Child

 
We talk to moms and dads all the time who have come up with wonderful, creative ways to give supplements to their kids.  Here are our best ideas for how to give our vitamins and minerals.
 
 

Mixed with Fruit Juice, Smoothies or other Drinks

           
This is probably the most popular way to give our vitamins and minerals.  Many moms and dads have told us that the following juices have worked well for them:
 
  • Unfiltered Organic Pear Juice (best with Lemon Lime flavor)
  • Orange Juice (best with Lemon Lime flavor)
  • Lemonade (best with Lemon Lime flavor)
  • Citrus/tropical juices or mixed juices often conceal the “vitaminy” taste best
  • Smoothies or shakes
  • To reduce sweetness, add soda water or natural mineral water.
 

Mixed with Soft Foods

            Many soft foods mix well with liquid supplements.
  • Sorbet/GFCF ice cream
  • Yogurt
  • Pudding
  • Applesauce or mashed banana
  • Mix with spaghetti sauce after it has been cooked. 
  • NOTE: Please do not cook or bake with our supplements.
 

Special Cup or Bottle, with a Straw!

Some children drink all their juice with meals, others “graze” all day.  It’s fine to mix vitamins and minerals into a drink in a sports bottle or other container for little grazers to sip on throughout the day.
 
For some kids, it works well to put their vitamins into a favorite cup with a straw (maybe one with a favorite cartoon character or logo on it!), creating a consistent, appealing routine that they will soon expect and count on.  
 
Covered cups or bottles help to hide appearance and smell, which can make a big difference for children who have sensory issues.  For picky drinkers, using a straw helps bypass the taste buds on the front section of the tongue.
 

Squirt them In

Some kids do best taking their vitamins straight, squirted in with an oral syringe.  This gets it over quickly, and you don’t have to worry about them finishing the whole thing. 
 
For some children, it works best to treat the vitamins like a medication that needs to be taken, firm but gentle insistence, no nonsense, over in just a moment, with a drink of water or a favorite beverage afterward.  Our bottle inserts and oral syringes can help make dosing this way very easy.  
 
 

Drink them Straight

Some children prefer to have control over their liquid supplements, and to drink them straight-up.   

Make Popsicles, Ice Cubes or Gelatine Cups

Some very innovative moms have told us they have had good success putting vitamin doses into small homemade Popsicles that their kids eat with meals.  Some parents even mix our supplements into vegetarian gelatin to make into small gelatin cups.
Vitamins and minerals can also be frozen into ice cubes, one dose per cube.  The child can either suck the cube, or it can be put in a drink.

Add Reinforcement!

Teach and reinforce taking supplements during ABA sessions.   
Give supplements paired with a highly motivating reinforcer such as TV, computer, a sticker/token, a preferred food, a favorite toy, a high-five or a hug!
 
 
 
 

Other Bright Ideas

      • Many other types of supplements can be mixed with our liquid vitamins and minerals, to make supplement-giving easier. This works great for our herbs and some powders. We don’t suggest giving fish oil this way, though, as it tends to change the texture too much, and some kids will refuse to take it.
      • You can get children’s taste buds used the new flavors by starting with a tiny dose of vitamins/minerals in a preferred type of juice and slowly increasing the concentration over a week or more.
      • Fish oil liquid is best taken chilled and can be well tolerated straight. Do not assume children won’t enjoy it - let them try it first. Alternatively, oils are easily hidden in foods containing fat. Do not expose fish oil to high heat.
      • If you must give pills or powders: Powders can be mixed with a little honey. Tablets can be crushed and mixed in a spoon with a spread such as honey or natural peanut butter.
 
 
 

Things to Avoid:

    • Don’t mix fish oil with liquid vitamins and minerals, as it tends to change the texture too much, and many kids really don’t like it this way.
    • Don’t cook or bake with liquid vitamins and minerals, as this could affect the potency of the nutrients.
    • Don’t heat fish oil or add it to really hot foods, as this may alter the structure of the oil.