Are Supplements the Answer to Your Child’s Health Problems?

The most common question parents ask me is: “Which supplement or remedy should my child take to get rid of those symptoms?”

And I totally get it. When faced with our kids’ health problems, we often search for solutions that can bring relief and improve their well-being.

One popular avenue that many parents explore is the use of supplements. But are these supplements the answer to resolving your child's health problems?

Supplements have become increasingly prevalent in today's society, promising to provide the essential nutrients our children may be lacking.

However, it's crucial to approach this topic with careful consideration. Before incorporating supplements into your child's routine, it's important to understand their role, potential benefits, and potential drawbacks.

In this article, we will explore the world of supplements and their relevance in addressing children's health problems.

We'll delve into four key sections that will provide you with valuable insights to make informed decisions regarding your child's health:

1. Can my child get sufficient nutrients from diet alone?

2. Does my child really need supplements?

3. Does your child have expensive poop and pee?

4. Common mistakes I see parents make with supplements with supplements

By examining these sections, we aim to shed light on the potential benefits and limitations of supplements in children's health, helping you navigate through the overwhelming amount of information and make the best choices for your little ones.

Remember, raising healthy, happy children is a journey, and understanding the role of supplements is just one piece of the puzzle.

So, let's dive in and explore the world of supplements and children's health together!

Can my child get sufficient nutrients from diet alone?

Fruits and vegetables are known to contain many biologically active ingredients that benefit our overall health and well-being in ways that vitamins and minerals on their own do not. 

A multivitamin is not going to replace the things missing from your diet. Whatever money you are spending on your multivitamin, it’s probably better to spend it at the farmer’s market or the grocery store on healthy foods.

Indeed, in a perfect world, none of us would need to take any supplements and I like to think kids can get the nutrients they need from food.

Does my child really need supplements?

After years and years of pediatric practice, I see the reality of what kids eat and how profoundly food impacts their health.

Unfortunately, we have created a generation of kids who are overfed and undernourished. Find out more in my related article “Overfed and Undernourished: 3 top reasons your child isn’t getting the nutrients it needs.”

Also, the poor nutritional quality of our food today means that most of us do need to replenish our body’s supply of vitamins and minerals with dietary supplements, so that our biochemistry can operate as intended.

But with that said, there are a few stumbling blocks involved when it comes to vitamin and mineral supplementation you MUST consider upfront or your child's only and questionable benefit will be expensive poop and pee.

Does your child have expensive poop and pee?

The best supplement protocol in the world won’t do any good if your child can’t absorb the nutrients!

Our kids have significant gut inflammation, which creates damage along the GI tract. A damaged gut does not absorb nutrients effectively and efficiently.

I repeat: An inflamed or “leaky” gut CANNOT absorb nutrients effectively and efficiently from food, let alone from supplements. 

So adding a bunch of supplements to an inflamed system with an irritated gut lining will only create expensive poop and pee…

For this reason, we always begin our strategic supplementation with laying the groundwork to heal a leaky gut and setting the foundation to allow the body to absorb nutrients more effectively and efficiently.

The good news is that although the damage from inflammation can take several months to calm down, my KIDs Health Transformation Coaching program helps you shift your child's diet away from inflammatory foods while using supplements to speed up the healing process.

Common mistakes I see parents make with supplements

One of the most common mistakes I see parents make when it comes to using supplements with their child is that they treat supplements like prescription medications to deal with symptoms.

For example, if their child has iron-deficient anemia, they are not necessarily looking at their child’s diet to see why they aren’t absorbing iron in the first place. Instead, they simply use an iron supplement that they think will be absorbed more effectively.

Their first priority should be figuring out why their child isn’t absorbing iron from their food in the first place.

When I start working with a child and its parents, we systematically evaluate which of the five triggers of inflammation are at the core of the digestion and absorption issue before adding any supplements to address a vitamin or mineral deficiency.

Let’s wrap it up!

As much as I wish you could just buy a bunch of supplements that are magically going to get rid of all your child’s health problems, I am afraid I have to burst that bubble.

Remember, raising healthy, happy children is a holistic journey that involves multiple factors. Balancing out vitamin and mineral deficiencies definitely is one of them but repairing your child’s inflamed or “leaky” gut always has to be where you start out.

I am telling you this because I want you to see the results with your kids at home that I see with my coaching clients, with my online group program, and with those doing 1:1 coaching with me.

My KIDs Health Transformation Coaching process is strategically designed to first begin shifting the terrain of your child’s gut microbiome, supporting digestion and absorption of the food.

Then you add the rest of the foundational supplements and beneficial remedies. By doing that we give back to the child what they have been depleted of over the years or never had enough of to begin with.

Book Your Free Clarity Session

If you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed and need some guidance on how to move forward with your child's health, I invite you to book a free clarity call with me.

During the call, we'll go over your child's medical history, current symptoms, and dietary habits to identify potential triggers and create an actionable plan on how to move forward with improving your child’s health.

I'll also share additional tips and resources that have helped my clients see significant improvements in their children's health.

Just click the button below to schedule your call.