In Rhonda’s April 2020 Q&A sessions for crowd sponsors she discussed the supplements she gives to her 2.5 year old boy (if you’re a crowd sponsor, jump to 1h 15mins of that video).
The supplements she opted for are chew-able, and (of course) Rhonda waited until her child was comfortable chewing things before introducing them. Note that each child will reach this stage at different ages.
Rhonda tries to get all the micronutrients she needs from her diet, leaving supplements to fill in any missed gaps. She applies this same principle with her child too. For example, the below images shows a meal she gave her son of egg, blueberries and kale (source).
Supplements she gives her toddler:
- Multivitamin – Pure Encapsulations – PureNutrients Gummy
- Omega-3 Fish Oil – Pure Encapsulations – EPA/DHA Gummy
- Vitamin D3 – Drops and Nordic Naturals Vitamin D3 Gummies (Zero Sugar)
- Vitamin C – Swanson Chewable Vitamin C
Table of Contents
Multivitamin
Rhonda notes that it’s hard to find gummies with zero sugar, but the Pure Encapsulations PureNutrients product she chose primarily uses xylitol, and then there’s a little bit of juice which equates to 2g of sugar per serving. Rhonda aims to brush his teeth shortly after he takes it. The full list of vitamins it contains can be found here (toggle the ingredients tab half way down the page).
This product helps take care of bulk of micronutrients her son might need.
It’s worth noting that the supplement suggests 2 gummies for 2-3 year olds, and 4 gummies for age 4+.
Update: Nov 6, 2021: Rhonda was again asked (Q&A #29) about which multivitamins she likes for children and she mentioned two. The first was a Nordic Naturals product that’s zero sugar – Nordic Naturals Zero Sugar Kid’s Multi Gummies. The second was the Pure Encapsulations multi mentioned above, which she uses for her child because he seems to prefer it, and thus eats it more easily. At the time of this update her boy is now 4 years old (born approx. August 9, 2017).
Omega-3 Fish Oil
In general Rhonda tries to use give her child the same fish oil she uses (N-PURE3). She does this by breaking open capsules into his food. Most of the time he’ll eat it, but occasionally he won’t (perhaps because it’s not well enough hidden). In these circumstances she’ll give him PureNutrients EPA/DHA gummies. These are lemon flavoured, zero sugar gummies that use xylitol as a sweetener. With xylitol being better for his teeth than other sweeteners (Rhonda talks more about the benefits of xylitol for teeth health here).
Vitamin D3
Rhonda mentioned in her Jan 2021 member’s Q&A that she considers the vitamin D content in the PureNutrients multivitamin adequate for her toddler, on top of the sunlight exposure he gets from them living in sunny San Diego.
Previously she had mentioned topping him up with Nordic Naturals D3 gummies (zero sugar). These are 1,000iu per dose. Despite it sounding like Rhonda doesn’t feel the need for them anymore, I’ll leave the mention up, as there may be other’s who live in regions with less sun.
Vitamin C
She gives her son a chewable form of vitamin C made by Swanson. They’re hard, so she breaks them up into fourths and gives them to him that way.
She notes that interestingly the literature on vitamin C supplementation and preventing common colds or even shortening the duration of common colds is much more robust in children, especially younger children.
Roundup
Whilst this is a relatively brief post on the supplements Rhonda gives to her toddler, I’ll update it if we learn more.
For other related posts see:
- Details on the supplements Rhonda used during pregnancy and breastfeeding (link)
- A relatively comprehensive list of supplements that Rhonda takes (link)
- A long post on Rhonda’s diet – including examples of her breakfast, lunch and dinner (link)
- Rhonda’s approach to exercise, and the science around different types – e.g. aerobic vs anaerobic vs weight training (link)