Multivitamin for 5 year old Thal minor

Hi,

can you suggest which multivitamin should I give to my 5 year old son who is thal minor. Do I have to buy without Iron? can you suggest a brand too. I live in Canada. My friend told me that I shouldn't give my son multivitamin with iron as their body can't absorb the vitamin and stores near heart. Is it true? He is active but he is under weight and he gets cold often. When he gets cold he couldn't breathe with his nose and he breathes with his mouth and he gets fever too. Poor guy suffers like this almost once every month. It's breaking my heart to see him like that. Can you suggest which food should I give to him so his health will be fine.

Also he has dry skin and If I use olive oil he is getting cold. Can you suggest body wash and moisturizer also please. I am using aveeno but he is getting cold often. I don't know what is causing the cold.

Sorry for asking too many questions. I hope you guys understand my situation. I am glad that I found this website.

Thank you,
Minnu

Dear Minnu,

Welcome to the board 
It is a pleasure to have you here. 

A good multivitamin for your child (without iron) would be Progressive vitamins - ingredients are listed on this site:

http://www.lifestylemarkets.com/shop/product_view.asp?id=633339&StoreID=A45C6CEF51584955A3036F6405FAC42B&private_product=1

It is quite common for children of that age to have many colds - 12 to 15 a year.  You may also wish to check your child for allergies because sometimes they present like a cold. 

I use Aveeno fragrance free wash and lotion for my children - I find it to work quite well for them.  I don't think that the brand of soap you use should be associated with colds - but if you use heavily fragranced soaps they can cause allergies and irritation.  Fragrance free aveeno is quite good. 

You may also consider giving your child warm milk with tumeric for his frequent colds and congestion - a teaspoon in a cup of warm milk:)

Once again, great to have you here!!

Sharmin

Hi Minnu,

I want to add that sometimes thal minors can also be iron deficient, so if the doctor suspects this, a group of blood tests called iron studies should be done to see if he is iron deficient before taking any iron supplements. At his age it can be hard to get him to eat fruits and vegetables but try to find some that he likes and will eat. Chewable vitamin C tablets might help reduce the amount of colds he gets.