What is the verdict on gummy vitamins?

slukd79

I was excited when DD turned two and I could start gummy vitamins with her. I asked the pediatrician and she was fine with it. Then I read a friend's posting on FB about how she wouldn't give her daughter them because they contain too much sugar (she is a pediatric nurse.) While I am far from a junk food addict, I admit that I will let her for an example, have a cupcake for Valentines Day. But for the most part, I try really hard to feed her a healthy diet. I guess that is why a gummy vitamin didn't seem like excess of sugar to me.

But maybe I am being too lax about this. What do the Bump girls think? Should I start taking the gummy vitamins out of rotation or chalk it up to being a small part of her day/no harm done?

SoonToBeMrsDTS

We don't really keep sweets in the house, at least not that my kids know about I give them gummy vitamins. I think 2 gummy bears worth of sugar is not going to hurt them. They love them and since it's their treat after dinner, they never forget to take them.

cmh06

DD has taken the Disney Gummies for a few years now.  She takes one with breakfast and then one with dinner. 

JKM416

I give them to my kids.  I read the ingredients and thought, "Hmm..." about the sugar amount, but I'm assuming that the vitamin aspect outweighs the bit of sugar they're getting from it.  I've never researched them but am in the "no harm done" camp.  I'm not anti-sugar in small doses; my own sweet tooth means they see treats in our house.  I think it's OK as long as I maintain control over portion and frequency (unlike my aunt, who was so insane over her kids' diets that my cousins had to bring their own food to birthday parties and such...which is why one of her sons once ate an entire bottle of vitamins just to get the taste of sugar!).  Anyway, like PP, my kids ask for them, which is good because I often forget to offer.

Jitterbug2668

I think my only gripe about the gummy vitamins is lack of iron.  I plan on giving them to DS when he starts getting more picky about food. For right now we're still rolling with the baby food while offering table food. 

MrsPhilDunphy

I think with any kid's vitamin you're either going to get sugar or something weird that's a fake sugar. I just got these dinosaur vitamins for C and he loves them. They don't have sugar but it turns out they have xylitol, which is a (naturally occurring) "fake" sugar. I'm not thrilled about that, but he loves them and they seem to be great otherwise. I never realized I would have to take so much time to research vitamins among everything else.

NicoNiko

I limit DD's sugar a lot, but I do give her gummy vitamins.  She loves them!

WinesNotWhines

We haven't started gummy vitamins, but I plan to give them to M when he turns 2 (assuming he likes them). I don't think a tiny bit of sugar is going to hurt him. Maybe I'm more lax than other people, but I already let him eat the occasional animal cracker or gingersnap.

P.S. I think they do make a gummy vitamin with iron. I did some research on this, because the main thing my kid needs is iron. You can find it on amazon, and probably other places online.

Sofka

DD takes 2 of these a day, the serving is 4 but she eat a lot of fruit so pedi said 2 is enough, when DS turns 2, he will start taking them as well: https://www.nordicnaturals.com/en/General_Public/Children's_Multi-Vitamins/474

 

 

flamencogal

For me it has less to do with the sugar (I'm a "all things in moderation" type person) and more to do with the fact that they are gummy and stick to teeth.  So, it's the combo of sugar and sticking to teeth that worries me more than anything so we don't do the gummy vitamins.  We have terrible teeth in my family so I'm more worried about this than most but we limit sticky things in general.  He can have a fruit roll up but it's a once in awhile type thing. 

Hey Jellisy

We did gummy vitamins and DD loved them.  Loved them so much, she one day got a chair, got the vitamins down from a high shelf, opened the child proof top and ate the whole bottle.  A few minutes and a call to poison control later, I learned that as long as they are the ones without iron, she would be fine and might have a small tummy ache and funny colored pee.  Neither happened but I decided that it was time to switch to chewables.  (That and a friend told me her dentist said a big no to the gummy vitamins).