:help:
Aidan went in for some bloodwork recently(he was constantly complaining about being tired and he gets plently of sleep) and it was determined that he was slightly anemic, so his pediatrician wants him on a children's multivitamin w/ iron.
I knew it would be a bit of a battle, because we've tried this vitamin thing before (about a year ago), so I talked it up big time for about a week. Then we went to Walgreens and I lined up all of his options, about 10 of them, and let him choose. He picked some Scooby Doo ones. We were good to go :aok: He was totally excited to take them.
All was well for about 3 days until he got sick. Now we've backpedaled and he is back to his old ways of hating them and gagging and crying and whatnot.
We are trying everything.....I have a chart where if he gets 7 star stickers for taking his vitamins w/o fighting me, he can go and pick out any Thomas train he wants. Chris and I take our vitamins w/ him so he can see us do it, but that does nothing. We've tried gummy vites and that went over like a poop sandwich...he hates gummy stuff. I tried crushing them up and putting them on ice cream. No dice. In apple juice. No dice. I remind him about the chart and the train and he says he doesn't want the train. I tell him if he doesn't take them, he will need to go back to the Dr and have more blood taken with the needle. Doesn't faze him. I am at my wit's end. I don't know how else to get him to take the damn things.

HELP ME!!!!!!!!!

What about making not taking them a bit scary? You could get SICK and be not so healthy if you don't take vitamins! What about getting his pediatrician involved? If Dr. So-and-so says it's important it somehow seems to carry more weight than if boring ol' Mommy and Daddy said it. (that's how we get Caroline to let us put on her excema lotion, Dr. L said it had to happen!)

:help:
I tried crushing them up and putting them on ice cream. No dice. In apple juice. No dice.

Does he like jam? My Mom used to crush my sister's pills between two spoons and then cover it with a big spoonful of jam to eat. Then she couldn't see them or taste them and got a treat of a spoonful of jam. Or peanut butter or whatever he likes.

The problem is he's going to know he's taking them which I think the taking of the pills is the problem, not how he's taking the pills. KWIM?

Good luck.

What is it about taking them that he doesn't like? The taste? He associates getting sick to the vitamins?? I say talk to him about it (unless you already know the answer) and see why he doesn't want to take them. Maybe you will be able to find the answer there. Also, does Elliott & Norah take vitamins?? If they do, maybe go that route. "Wow! Look at how big Elliott & Norah are getting! They take their vitamins and are getting so big!" Make a big deal about how his baby brother and sister do it and how well they are doing. Does that make sense?? :scratch:

[/url][url="http://www.evitamins.com/product.asp?pid=329"]a Liquid in juice? (http://www.evitamins.com/product.asp?pid=329)

I looked and the gum ball ones have no Iron. :angry2:

To answer some questions, it must be the taste he doesn't like. I can't hide it in anything, really...I've tried. The only thing I havent is peanut butter and I know he'd taste it in there :lol:

We do tell him that Dr. Dorothy says he has to take them and that they will make him big & strong and without them, he will get sick and tired and can't do things like ride his bike or play outside or play with his friends. He says he doesn't care. :complain:

N&E don't take vites. They are very healthy and eat soooo well.

Hmn....stacey...the liquid is an idea. My only fear about them is that they taste like iron. When we first brought N&E home, they were on Fer-in-Sol drops b/c they were anemic and I had to put them in breastmilk damn...it tasted like ass. :dead: It was like licking metal.

I was going to suggest trying a liquid too. :dunno:

My mom once made us try liquid vitamin crap. We always did it over the garbage because the stuff was nasty.
Doea Aidan drink milk? (i can't remember)
Do he eat yogurt? Although you said you have tried everything.
I was just surfing around and one site (www.drgreene.com (http://www.drgreene.com)) said that too much milk and lead poisoning can be two huge causes for anemia.
I know you live in an older home. Has he had a lead test done? :dunno:
I don't know what else you can do other than perseverance. Keep stressing the importance of vitamins and being healthy.

Aidan does not drink milk. He's lactose intolerant and won't drink soy or lacto-free, so we're just not doing milk except in the cereal.
And he's had lead testing done on his blood whenever they did it back then and they ran it again this last time (they ran everything). Plus we bought a home testing kit to test the surfaces in our home for lead (we're paraniod like that :heee: ...no lead). so :dunno:

I may try those drops stass posted. They seem to have good reviews. I wonder if I can mix them in w/ peanut butter.... :scratch:

Aidan does not drink milk. He's lactose intolerant and won't drink soy or lacto-free, so we're just not doing milk except in the cereal.
And he's had lead testing done on his blood whenever they did it back then and they ran it again this last time (they ran everything). Plus we bought a home testing kit to test the surfaces in our home for lead (we're paraniod like that :heee: ...no lead). so :dunno:

I may try those drops stass posted. They seem to have good reviews. I wonder if I can mix them in w/ peanut butter.... :scratch:

I don't think testing the surfaces is paranoid. I was pretty sure you would have done that to begin with. :nod:

I know it would be expensive, but have you tried all the vitamins available for children and see which one he likes taste wise? Is it taste, texture, or just the thought of taking vitamins?

Good luck!

I am pretty sure they all taste similar. Last year I bought Flintstones and he gagged on those. This time he chose Scooby and they taste the same to me. I also tried the gummy ones and he wouldnt eat them. I dont want to buy a bunch b/c they are like $10 a bottle!
Sorry to shoot down ideas, guys :shuffle: I feel like an ass doing that. I do appreciate suggestions.

Oh - should I add in general....he HATES taking medicine, regardless of the taste.

I heard awhile ago that they sold vitamins and cold meds in thin strips like the Listerine Pocket Paks..I havn't seen any myself but then again Canada is alway's on the bottom of the list for getting the good stuff.. is that an option? I tried doing a search but only found this article

http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?id=55541-supplement-companies-sticking

If there is a medicine that my kids don't like or won't take, I get it in liquid form or grind it and mix it with liquid then put it in a oral syringe and hold them down and squirt it into their mouth. It doesn't make them any happier but at least it's over with quickly.:dunno:

Hmmm Karri, I'm tapped out then. Katie loves her flinstones vitamins. But then again, she doesn't mind medicines either. Well if he can tell that you've crushed vitamins into foods and drinks, he must be in the top percentiles in food tasting!

hmmmm What if his choice is eat it himself or he gets held down and forced to take it. :errr: Would he have to get vitamin shots if he is still anemic? I know it sucks. Saxon won't take meds so we hide them in his juice. Luckily he is gullible. :lol:

Okay as a last and very expensive resort you might try a compounding pharmacy. They should be able to make it into a flavor or thing (gummy candy, lollipop, whatever) that he might take.

My sister put her son's iron drops into orange juice.

I have no idea whether they taste good but they have vitamins that are in the form of gumballs. I found this page & I'm not sure whether there are other kinds available http://www.vitaball.com/tellme.html

Does Aidan like the fake-sugary sweet taste of the vitamins. Whenever I give M a vitamin (she's also low-iron) she HATES the scooby-doo, flinstones, etc because of the taste. The only ones I can get her to take are the Rainbow Light Star-shaped ones (don't remember their name)

Costco sells a product called Gummyvites. They are gummy bear vitamins, not sure about the iron content. They are all natural and tastewise a very good. I can fully understand why he won't eat those other ones. I think, they are nasty.

This is it:
http://www.costco.com/Images/Content/Product/904528.jpg

I also found these:
http://www.tlc-kids.com/gummyVites_multi.php

Tylor had this very problem. It was so hard. We had so much blood work with him before he was 3. We tried everything and I will say we had our best luck with the liquid. I would usually just mix it in to several things. Dinner was the easiest. If we had Mashed potatoes I would give him a small portion with it a few drops mixed in. Then I would have yogurt with it mixed in and I would have it put on top of his chicken or something. There are lots of things you can mix it into. Most times I did it with his drink and just spread it out over the day (say he needed a tsp. I would put 1/4 in his morning drink and then 1/4 in his lunch drink and so on..)

I know one thing was that he loved Ice tea. I only made decaf and didn't see a problem with it. Well Tea makes Iron run straight through your body and for a child it isn't good.

Aidan doesn't like the gummy stuff either. Karri has tried them before.

What about gummi bear ones? I am not sure if they have what you are looking for but parker loves the ones at whole foods. He thinks they are candy. I know you are not big into junk food but maybe you could give him a pack of fruit snacks and then put the gummi vitamin one in with the other snacks. I dont think he would be able to tell the difference. Good luck :)

just saw he does not like the gummi ones... what about giving him food with really high iron content to get it naturally?

I was just on Mothering.com message boards and there are a couple of threads on iron supplements with toddlers. If I can post the link, here is the forum and there are a couple of interesting threads.
If I can't post it then it is in the nutrional and good eating forum area.

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/forumdisplay.php?f=267

Karri... did you ever find a solution? Right now Josiah will occasionally lick his vitamin, but he just makes a mess of it. I have in the past use Nicholas' poly-vi-sol and put it in Josiah's OJ. He can't taste it in there and drinks it right down.

He's finally taking it after the long, drawn out battle. We make him sit at the dinner table and he takes it after dinner and if my husband is home, he takes his vitamin at the same time. He's not allowed to get up from the table till he's eaten his vitamin. I guess that was the trick :dunno: Well, that, and lots of praise and a bribe --we got him Lady (a Thomas engine) after taking them w/o a fight for a week straight.

Now if I could only get his Zyrtec in him that easy :rolleyes: