The Top Supplements I Recommend for Kids (and Why Food Alone Isn’t Always Enough)

By Therese Nadler, MS, RDN, LDN

As a pediatric dietitian, one of the questions I hear most often from parents is:

“Does my child really need supplements?”

My answer? It depends on the child. But for many kids today, I believe a few well-chosen supplements can provide an important nutritional safety net. This guide walks through the best supplements for kids as I actually use them in practice: who needs them, who doesn’t, and what I look for in each one.

I am a food-first dietitian. Supplements should never replace real food, and no gummy vitamin can make up for a diet that is consistently lacking in fruits, vegetables, quality protein, healthy fats and other nutrient-dense foods.

But I also live in the real world.

Kids are picky. Some eat five foods. Some won’t touch fish or vegetables. Busy families rely on packaged convenience foods. Children with sensory differences, ADHD, autism, ARFID, food allergies or gastrointestinal issues may have even more limited diets.

And our overall food environment has changed dramatically.

According to recent data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, 61.9% of the calories consumed by American children and adolescents now come from ultra-processed foods. Among children ages 6 to 11, it’s nearly 65%.

Think about that for a minute.

Nearly two-thirds of the average child’s calories are coming from ultra-processed foods.

These foods aren’t inherently “bad,” and I don’t believe in creating fear around food. But when they consistently displace fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes, nuts, seeds and other nutrient-dense whole foods, nutritional gaps become much more likely.

That’s why I often use targeted supplementation as insurance: not as a substitute for a healthy diet, but as a complement to one.

Here are the supplements I consider most often in my pediatric nutrition practice.

A quick disclosure before the list: some links below are affiliate or practitioner referral links, which means I may receive compensation if you make a purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products and brands that I genuinely use, trust or feel comfortable recommending to families.

1. A High-Quality Children’s Multivitamin

If I had to choose one foundational supplement for many children, it would be a good multivitamin/mineral.

Why?

Because kids rarely eat a perfectly balanced diet every day.

One week your child loves broccoli. The next week broccoli is apparently the worst thing that’s ever happened to them. They may live on blueberries for three days and then refuse them for six months.

A multivitamin can help fill some of those nutritional gaps while we’re continuing to work on food variety. The National Institutes of Health notes that supplements are useful when it isn’t possible to meet nutrient needs through food alone.

What I look for: an age-appropriate formulation without megadoses, excessive sugar, artificial colors or unnecessary fillers. For most kids that means a product covering the basics, including the B vitamins (children’s vitamins with B12 matter most for dairy-free and plant-based eaters) and, where appropriate, minerals. Many children’s vitamins leave iron out; children’s vitamins with iron exist, but iron is a nutrient I want chosen deliberately, not by accident (more on that below).

More isn’t necessarily better. Children’s nutrient requirements are different from adults’, and fat-soluble vitamins and certain minerals can be harmful in excessive amounts.

If your child is a very selective eater, my guide to picky eater vitamins goes deeper on choosing a multivitamin for a child with a short food list.

Shop my recommended children’s supplements through my Fullscript dispensary.

Aspire Nutrition also makes an unflavored multivitamin powder, which can be particularly useful for children who struggle with pills, gummies, tastes or textures. Shop Aspire Nutrition and use code NADLER at checkout for a discount.

2. Omega-3 Fatty Acids for Kids

This is one of my favorite supplements for kids, especially children who don’t regularly eat fatty fish.

The primary omega-3 fatty acids we talk about are ALA, EPA and DHA. DHA and EPA are found primarily in fish and seafood, while plant foods such as flax and chia provide ALA. The body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA, but that conversion is limited.

DHA is an important structural component of the brain and retina, which is one reason I pay particular attention to omega-3 intake during childhood. When parents ask me which supplement is good for kids’ brains, this is the conversation we have.

Food sources include salmon, sardines, trout and other fatty fish. But let’s be realistic: many kids aren’t eating those foods regularly.

That’s where a high-quality fish oil or algae-based omega-3 can be useful.

What I look for: a reputable, third-party-tested product that clearly identifies the amount of EPA and DHA, not simply “1,000 mg fish oil” on the front of the bottle.

You can find my preferred omega-3 products in my Fullscript dispensary. Aspire Nutrition also offers Beyond Omega, a liquid option for kids who have difficulty swallowing capsules.

3. Vitamin D for Kids

Vitamin D is another nutrient I pay close attention to in children.

It plays an essential role in calcium absorption and bone health and is also involved in immune function and many other processes throughout the body.

Children ages 1 to 18 have a recommended dietary allowance of 600 IU (15 mcg) of vitamin D per day.

Yet relatively few foods naturally contain substantial amounts of vitamin D. Fatty fish are among the best natural sources, while milk and some other foods are fortified.

Sun exposure can also contribute to vitamin D production, but geography, season, sunscreen, skin pigmentation and time spent indoors all influence how much vitamin D a child actually makes. That’s part of why vitamin D deficiency in childhood is as common as it is.

For some children, I recommend checking a vitamin D level rather than guessing, particularly when there are additional risk factors for deficiency.

Important: vitamin D is fat soluble, so this is not a supplement where I recommend simply giving increasingly large doses “just in case.”

4. Do Kids Need a Probiotic?

I recommend a high-quality, well-rounded probiotic for many of the kids I work with.

Why? The gut microbiome, the community of bacteria and other microorganisms living in the digestive tract, plays an important role in digestion and overall health, and childhood is an important period for its development.

A child’s microbiome is influenced by many things, including diet, antibiotic use, illness and the environment. And unfortunately, many kids today aren’t eating enough of the fiber-rich plant foods that help beneficial gut bacteria thrive.

That’s why, in addition to encouraging foods that support the microbiome, I often use a broad-spectrum probiotic containing several well-studied strains as part of a child’s nutritional foundation.

The strains matter. Not all probiotics are interchangeable. Different strains can have different effects, which becomes especially important when we’re trying to address a particular concern, such as constipation, diarrhea, digestive symptoms or supporting the gut during and after antibiotic use.

For general gut support, I typically look for a well-rounded product containing multiple strains from commonly studied groups such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, rather than simply choosing whichever probiotic has the largest number of CFUs. More CFUs doesn’t automatically mean a better probiotic.

And remember: probiotics are only one piece of the gut-health puzzle. I also want kids eating foods that nourish their beneficial bacteria, particularly fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds, depending on what the child tolerates. Our kids’ gut health support starts there.

My full guide to probiotics for kids covers the evidence by situation, strains, safety and food sources in depth.

Looking for a probiotic for your child? I’ve put several of the professional-quality products I recommend in my Fullscript dispensary.

If your child has gastrointestinal symptoms, an underlying medical condition, or any specific health concerns, it is essential to work with their pediatrician or qualified healthcare provider before introducing supplements, including probiotics. Supplements are not one-size-fits-all, and their safety, appropriateness, and effectiveness depend on your child’s individual health history, medications, age, and specific needs. Products discussed in this article are provided for educational purposes only and should not be interpreted as personalized medical advice or a recommendation to begin supplementation without professional guidance.

5. Vitamin C for Kids

Vitamin C is probably one of the best-known vitamins associated with immune health, but it does much more than that.

It functions as an antioxidant, is involved in collagen synthesis and helps the body absorb non-heme iron from plant foods. That iron connection is why so many of the pairings in my list of iron-rich foods for picky eaters put a vitamin C fruit next to an iron food.

Fortunately, vitamin C is relatively easy to obtain from food. Excellent sources include citrus, strawberries, kiwi, bell peppers, broccoli and tomatoes.

For a child eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, a separate vitamin C supplement may not be necessary.

But that’s not every child I see.

For kids with very limited produce intake, I sometimes use supplemental vitamin C as another tool while we continue expanding the diet.

Again, more is not better. The NIH’s recommended intake ranges from 15 mg/day for children ages 1 to 3 up to 75 mg/day for teen boys and 65 mg/day for teen girls. Very high supplemental doses can cause GI symptoms and aren’t something I recommend routinely.

6. Iron: When It’s Actually Needed

Iron is different from the supplements above because I don’t recommend blindly supplementing it.

But I absolutely think parents should know about it.

Iron is essential for hemoglobin, oxygen transport, growth and brain development. Low iron can show up as fatigue, weakness, low energy and difficulty with concentration and memory. Iron deficiency anemia in children may also affect learning.

Certain children are at greater risk, including very selective eaters, children who eat little or no meat, children with GI conditions affecting absorption, adolescent girls who menstruate, and young athletes with high demands.

Teen girls ages 14 to 18, for example, need 15 mg of iron per day, compared with 11 mg for teen boys.

But iron is one nutrient where too much can be dangerous, especially for young children.

If I’m concerned about a child’s iron status, I generally want to look at the child’s diet, symptoms and appropriate lab work rather than automatically adding a high-dose iron supplement. Food comes first here too: my list of iron-rich foods for picky eaters is where I send most families before any iron supplement enters the conversation.

Iron is a “test and assess” nutrient, not a “just in case” nutrient.

What About Kids Who Are Extremely Picky?

This is where supplementation can become especially valuable, but it’s also where we need to look deeper.

If your child eats fewer than 10 or 20 foods, eliminates entire food groups, gags or becomes distressed around unfamiliar foods, has significant sensory aversions, or is losing foods rather than gradually expanding them, simply adding a multivitamin isn’t enough.

We need to ask why eating is so difficult.

There may be sensory issues, oral-motor difficulties, gastrointestinal discomfort, constipation, food allergies, anxiety, ARFID or other factors contributing to the restricted diet.

Supplements can help protect nutritional status while we work on the bigger picture. They shouldn’t be used to ignore the bigger picture. My guide to picky eater vitamins covers the supplement side for selective eaters in detail, and our picky eating support covers the feeding side.

My Food-First Rule

I don’t want parents reading this and thinking they need to order six bottles of supplements tonight.

Start with food.

Build meals around protein, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables, fiber-rich carbohydrates and as much variety as your child can comfortably tolerate. Food chaining is how we expand that variety without mealtime battles, and simple wins like these picky eater breakfast ideas add nutrients faster than any capsule.

Then use supplements strategically to fill gaps.

The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that children who eat a varied, balanced diet generally don’t need routine vitamin and mineral supplementation. Children with restricted diets, diagnosed deficiencies or medical conditions that increase deficiency risk are a different story.

That’s an important distinction.

In my practice, I don’t ask, “What supplements should every child take?”

I ask: What is this child eating? What are they missing? What are their symptoms? What does their health history tell us? And where can we use nutrition strategically to support them?

That’s personalized nutrition.

Want to Know What I Actually Recommend?

There is no single list of the best supplements for kids that fits every child, and supplement quality matters enormously. I don’t recommend choosing children’s supplements based solely on the prettiest label, or whichever gummy happens to be trending on Instagram. My post on what to look for in a supplement explains how to read a label and why third-party testing matters.

I’ve made it easier to find products and brands that I feel comfortable recommending to families.

Shop my Fullscript dispensary: Fullscript gives you access to professional-quality supplements from a wide range of brands.

Shop Aspire Nutrition: I also recommend several products from Aspire Nutrition, particularly for families looking for options that are easier to give to selective eaters. Aspire offers unflavored powder formulations that can be mixed into foods or drinks, as well as capsules and liquids. Use discount code NADLER at checkout.

A Final Note

Every child is different.

A supplement that’s appropriate for one child may be unnecessary, or inappropriate, for another, particularly if a child takes medications, has a medical condition or is already using multiple fortified foods or supplements.

The best supplements for kids are the ones chosen for your child’s actual diet, symptoms and history. If you’re unsure where to start, that’s exactly what individualized pediatric nutrition care is for. Work with Nadler Nutrition.

This article is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat or replace individualized medical or nutrition advice. Always discuss supplements with your child’s pediatrician or qualified healthcare professional when appropriate.

Affiliate Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate or practitioner referral links, which means I may receive compensation if you make a purchase through them, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products and brands that I genuinely use, trust or feel comfortable recommending to families.

Supplements for Kids: FAQs

Should kids be taking supplements?

Not all kids. Children who eat a varied, balanced diet generally don’t need routine supplementation, according to the AAP. Kids with restricted diets, picky eating, diagnosed deficiencies or medical conditions that raise deficiency risk often benefit from targeted supplements chosen for their specific gaps.

Which supplements are best for kids?

The ones that match what your child’s diet is missing. In my practice the most common are a high-quality children’s multivitamin, omega-3s for kids who don’t eat fatty fish, vitamin D, and a well-chosen probiotic. Vitamin C and iron are situational, and iron should only be added after testing.

What is the best multivitamin for children?

Look for an age-appropriate formulation at sensible doses, without megadoses, excessive sugar, artificial colors or unnecessary fillers, ideally third-party tested. The right product also depends on the child: unflavored powders work better than gummies for many selective eaters.

Are gummy vitamins good for kids?

They’re easy to take, which counts. But gummies often contain added sugar, stick to teeth, and usually leave out iron and some minerals. If a gummy is the only form your child will accept, it’s better than nothing; just know what it’s missing.

Which supplement is good for kids’ brains?

Omega-3 fatty acids are the ones I discuss most. DHA is an important structural component of the brain and retina, and many kids eat little fatty fish. Iron also matters for concentration and learning, but it should be tested before it’s supplemented.

Should a 14 year old take a multivitamin?

It depends on their diet. Teen years bring higher needs, including 15 mg of iron a day for menstruating girls, and teens who skip food groups or live on convenience foods can have real gaps. A basic multivitamin can help while the diet improves, but doses should be age-appropriate, not adult formulas.

How much vitamin D do kids need?

Children ages 1 to 18 have a recommended dietary allowance of 600 IU (15 mcg) per day. Vitamin D is fat soluble, so more is not better; if there are deficiency risk factors, ask your pediatrician about testing a level instead of raising the dose blindly.

Do picky eaters need different supplements?

Often, yes, both in what they need and in what they’ll actually take. Selective eaters are more likely to have iron, zinc and vitamin D gaps, and they often do better with unflavored powders or liquids than chewables. My picky eater vitamins guide covers that in detail.

Written by Therese Nadler, MS, RDN, LDN, founder of Nadler Nutrition, a virtual functional nutrition practice for children and women. Learn more about Therese.