The Vitamin Dosage for a Two Year Old Child
At the age of 2, many children are picky eaters. Therefore, pediatricians may encourage parents to give their 2-year-old child a multivitamin supplement to help to ensure proper growth and development. Vitamin dosages vary, depending on the type and brand of vitamin supplement you give your child.
Toddler girl sneering at the apple, banana, and milk. (Image: Stephanie Wagner/iStock/Getty Images)Recommended Dietary Allowances
The Food and Nutrition Board has established recommended dietary allowances, or RDAs, to meet the needs of 97 to 98 percent of children and adults in each population and age group. The RDA category for your 2-year-old child is the 1- to 3-year-old population group. No gender differences exist for children in this age category. For example, the RDA for vitamin C for a 2-year-old is 15 mcg per day.
Percent Daily Value
Each vitamin supplement for children comes with a label, which provides parents with information such as the type of vitamins and minerals found in the supplement, the amount of each nutrient in the supplement and the percent daily value of each nutrient present in one dose of the supplement. Percent daily values are based on RDAs. For example, a percent daily value of 100 percent means the vitamin supplement meets the RDA for a particular vitamin for your child's age. Using this example, if your child's multivitamin contains 15 mcg of vitamin C per day it would meet the RDA for a 2-year-old and provide a daily value of 100 percent.
Dosages
The recommended dosage of vitamin supplements you give your 2-year-old depends on her current health status. For example, if your child has iron-deficiency anemia or is deficient in iron, your pediatrician may recommend giving your child a higher dosage of iron. Many well-known children's vitamins provide dosages and percent daily values for half a tablet and one full tablet. For example, Flintstones Complete children's vitamins recommends children ages 2 and 3 consume 1/2 a tablet and children ages 4 years and older take one full tablet. Consult your pediatrician before giving your child any dosage of a multivitamin supplement.
Considerations
Some children's multivitamin supplements contain omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA, EPA or ALA. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, there is not an established dosage for omega-3 fatty acid supplements for children. The same source notes that some studies link omega-3 fatty acid insufficiencies with conditions such as attention deficit disorder and asthma in children. According to Medline Plus, a fish oil dosage of 480 mg of DHA may help to improve movement disorders in children. Also, 558 mg of DHA with 174 mg of EPA may help to improve developmental coordination disorder in children. Furthermore, 17 mg to 26.8 mg of EPA per kg of body weight with 7.3 mg to 11.5 mg of DHA per kg of body weight in children may help to reduce asthma, and 400 mg of fish oil may help to improve attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, in children.
