supplements for toddlers

Hi Andy,
My son is doing well on regular transfusions. His ferritin has begun to go up and is now at 280 after 5 transfusions.Now that he is almost one years old I am thinking of starting him on all the supplements mentioned here. He is already taking 2.5 ml of osteocare which has Vitd and calcium and magnesium. I have seen Vit E is available in both capsule and drop form but the pharmacist had no idea how much would be approprioate for a one year old. Also L-carnitine is available. Again how much to give? I havent been able to find IP6. Still looking. I have read here that the B vitamins are also important and they were inhis last vitamin (mixavit ) but are not in osteocare so I will need to find them seperately. Is there a combination of all these vitamins in a single preparation or do we give each seperately? Is it useful to start wheatgrass  now that he is being transfused regularly or should that wait anopther year till when they try the fetal Hb inducers? Is there anything else that I am missing? Thank you for all your help.

Hi Zahra
Why did you stop the mixavit? I give my son both mixavit and osteocare. Infact I give it at the same time. The only common vitamin in them is vitD and the combined dose is not much. I don`t think you will find IP-6 in dubai or Abudhabi, we have searched almost every health store and pharmacy there. Is L-carnitine available in liquid form there? If you can, do give him wheatgrass as it is a strong antioxidant. Aren`t you giving him Folic acid?

take care
maha

Hi Maha,
Thanks for the heads up.  It never occured to me that mixavit could be the other vitamin I need. :biggrinYes i do give him folic acid. I forgot to mention it. Also I am still giving him some homeopathic medicines.
Zahra
 

Please check this list for GNC outlets in UAE. They may carry IP6 (inositol hexophosphate or phytic acid).
http://www.gnc.com/corp/index.jsp?page=storeLocator&countryName=United+Arab+Emirates&country=AE

For a young child, 100 IU daily of natural vitamin E should suffice. If you are giving Osteocare and a good multivitamin without iron, I would also recommend vitamin E, B-complex and vitamin D, either from sunshine or as a supplement. For a young child, the wheatgrass supershots may be the easiest way to take wheatgrass. A 3 month absence from taking it and my ultimate return to wheatgrass has convinced me and I will not stop taking it again.

Thanx Andy. I am giving him both osteocare and kiddie pharmatron now. It has Vit E in it but I havent calculated the amount yet. If it is less I will add on the vit E.
Zahra

Hi Andy,
I am visiting family in the US right now and would like to buy supplements here for my son that werent available in Abu Dhabi. I have found a liquid vitamin E which has mixed tocopherols. There were others aviailable. Is this ok? I also want to get wheatgrass super shot and IP6. Is there a particular brand that is preferable? My son is one years old and 10.6 kg at this time. What would be the recomended amount of both of these? I would like to take at least a years supply. You mentioned he is too young for L-carnitine. Is there anything other supplement that would be useful to get for him from here . At the moment he is taking folic acid, kiddie pharmatron (multivitamin ) and osteocare along with some homeopathic medicines. Thank you so much for your help now and always.
Zahra

Hi Zahra,

If you're going to be in the US for over a week, you should consider ordering IP6 from puritan.com. If not, check the local health food stores for IP6. There are many good brands of supplements and health food stores or natural groceries usually carry good quality brands. Even many regular groceries stores carry natural supplements. As far as I know, the wheatgrass super shots are only sold by mail. Can you order from Australia or Singapore? It may be cheaper to do that. There are some US distributors if you are staying here for awhile.The lowest price in the US that I saw is at
 http://sproutman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11&products_id=57&zenid=f141361f1efe9440dcd9e487fbb05011

For all distributors, see http://www.drwheatgrass.com/wheretobuy/Default.htm

Thank you so much for this information. I am here for two more weeks so I think I can order from the sites you recommended. I also need to know how much is recommended so I can order enough to last a year. The wheatgrass super shots are 30 a bottle. I s one shot enough or will he need more for a day. Also how much IP6 would be good for him. He is 13 months old and weighs 10.6 kg.
Thanks for your help once again
Zahra

Zahra,

For a child his age, 1/2 super shot daily is recommended so one bottle would last two months. I would also suggest one IP6 capsule per day for now.

Hi Andy,
I am back from the US and have a years supply of wheatgrass supershots ( which I have started to give my son) and IP6 which I havent yet. My concern is how to get him to stay on an empty stomach as even in the morning he wakes up demanding food and nurses through the night. Also a whole glass of water seems impossible.The Ip6 I got is from source naturals and has 800mg / tablet as opposed to 500 in the puritan one. Should I give him half a tablet crushed in water. Is it possible to relax the water amount and how long must he not eat after taking it? He has had 8 transfusions so far and his ferritin was 400 when they started the 8th. The doctor said they would consider starting exjade once he has ahd 10 transfusions and his ferritin is above 500 so i really want to start now.Thank you once again for all your help .
Zahra

Zahra,

Try giving him half a capsule mixed in half a glass of water when he hasn't eaten for awhile and before he will be eating next. If possible, wait at least 30 minutes. It doesn't have to be morning. It is OK to take juice or tea during the 30 minutes but no protein as it will react with IP6 and reduce its value. The wheatgrass shots can be taken anytime. Try to get him to swish it around in his mouth for a minute before swallowing. It tastes sweet so this should be easy.

Hi  Andy,
Thanks once again for your great advice. What I understand now is that I should try to keep IP6 and food seperate but dont need to worry if it is b/c it wont cause him harm but just will be less effective. I will try this now and hopefully work up to the half hour . It will be good if he can practise now as soon it will be time to start exjade and I think that also has to be given in a similar way.
Zahra

Yes, Zahra. In fact IP6 occurs naturally in many foods, especially in the bran of grains, so using foods like unprocessed rice will also increase the amount of IP6 taken.