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Do kids REALLY need vitamins? Experts reveal what’s worth taking and what to skip

Do kids REALLY need vitamins? Experts reveal what’s worth taking and what to skip

Vitamin D, probiotics, multivitamins and more — two leading experts explain what children actually need, what the NHS recommends, and what parents can skip.

Serafina Kenny

Published: February 12, 2026 at 4:16 PM

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Vitamin D, vitamin C, calcium, zinc, multivitamins — there are a lot of supplements out there. But which ones should you give your child, and do they actually need to take them?

Most dietitians advise a diet-first approach to vitamins and nutrients, meaning that we can get everything we need from what we eat with a healthy, balanced diet. However, with children being picky eaters, deciding that they aren’t going to eat a specific food group for a week, or living in a country with little sunlight in the winter, supplements can be useful to, well, supplement their diet.

We asked the experts — Mrs Nina Brierley, clinical lead paediatric dietician at The Portland Hospital, and Dr. Megan Rossi (aka The Gut Health Doctor) who is a registered dietitian with a PhD in probiotics — for their advice about all things kids and supplements.

Do children really need to take supplements?

Mother feeding baby boy with vitamin or liquid medicine using spoon

“Supplements should support, not replace, a healthy diet. Most children who eat a varied, balanced diet will meet their nutritional needs through food, with supplements used selectively where there is clear evidence of benefit or a specific clinical indication,” Megan says.

The evidence consistently shows that nutrients are best absorbed from food, alongside the fibre and plant compounds that support gut and overall health.

Dr. Megan Rossi, PhD, RD, APD

So, other than the three supplements the NHS recommends — which we’ll go into below — you don’t need to stress out about spending money on the latest supplement products.

Unless, of course, your child has been prescribed or recommended specific supplements by a doctor because of a deficiency or other need.

Supplements should generally be targeted to a specific need, rather than taken routinely.

Dr. Megan Rossi, PhD, RD, APD

For example, “iron is crucial for growth, energy levels and cognitive development, but supplementation should only be considered if a deficiency is confirmed, usually via a blood test, and under medical guidance.”

Equally, when advised by a doctor or specialist, B12 and iodine can be helpful for children who eat plant-based diets, Nina says, while omega-3 can be helpful for children who rarely or never eat oily fish — though the evidence is mixed.

And doctors might prescribe calcium supplementation if a child “has a diagnosed cow’s milk protein allergy and does not take adequate dairy free formula, or is older than one and drinks plant milks that aren’t fortified,” Nina says.

Young children should take these three vitamins

The NHS has guidelines for children for a few specific vitamins: vitamin D, vitamin A, and vitamin C.

Vitamin D

“Vitamin D plays a key role in hundreds of functions, from supporting healthy bones, teeth, and muscles to gut lining integrity and the immune system,” Megan says.

“Children aged 1–4 years tend to be at higher risk of deficiency for several reasons, including lower vitamin D stores and spending less time outdoors (or being better protected from the sun, i.e. buggies, long sleeves),” she continues.

Nina says, “a daily 10 microgram Vitamin D supplement is recommended.”

This is why the NHS advises that young children take vitamin D all year round, whereas older children and adults may only need to take it during the autumn and winter months.

Vitamin A and C

The NHS recommends that children aged from 6 months to 5 years take vitamin A and vitamin C.

“This is fairly unique to the UK and is considered a “safety net” approach for fussy eating and inequalities,” Megan says.

For babies

“Breastfed babies should take a ‘Healthy Start’ multivitamin from birth, which you can usually access via your Health Visitor,” Nina says. These drops contain vitamins D, A, and C as outlined above, which, she says, “support growth, immunity and bone health.”

Bottle-fed babies, on the other hand, don’t need supplements if they are drinking more than 500ml of formula milk a day, because formula is already fortified with vitamins, Nina says.

“If your baby is born prematurely and is exclusively breastfed, or mixed bottle and breastfed, they will require iron supplementation,” she adds. “Your neonatologist or neonatal dietician will be able to advise suitable doses.”

Other supplements can be helpful as optional extras

Other than any prescribed supplements and the three mentioned above for young children, there aren’t any other supplements that kids should be taking.

There’s increasing evidence for the benefits of probiotics for health, though, which Megan has studied. She says that the research suggests probiotics could help for three specific things:

Infant colic: “Leading paediatric guidelines recommend a daily dose of one billion units of the BB-12 strain for babies with colic. Clinical trials show this can significantly reduce crying and fussing — halving episodes in almost three times as many babies compared with placebo — while also increasing sleep by more than an hour per day from baseline, which can have a meaningful impact on both infant and parental wellbeing,” Megan says.
Immune health: “In one clinical trial, babies taking the probiotic combination of BB-12 and LGG experienced more than 50% fewer respiratory infections in their first year of life compared with those taking a placebo,” she says.
To offset the impact of antibiotics: “While antibiotics can be lifesaving, they also disrupt the balance of the gut microbiome. For this reason, the World Gastroenterology Organisation recommends the LGG strain of probiotics for children (and adults) during antibiotic treatment,” she says.

Do children need multivitamins?

Multivitamins are another optional extra if you want to give them to your children, but both Nina and Megan say that they aren’t necessary.

“Not all children need to take a general multivitamin, but it can be helpful if your child has a diagnosed allergy or medical condition affecting their diet, such as Coeliac disease,” Nina says. “In these cases, a multivitamin helps ensure they’re meeting their nutritional needs safely.”

However, if your child eats a varied and balanced diet, has no diagnosed medical conditions and is growing well, then they often don’t need a daily multivitamin.

Miss Nina Brierley

Multivitamins won’t harm your child, but if they don’t need the vitamins, they will essentially just wee them out!

What to look out for if you are buying supplements

Cheerful mother and her young daughter are shopping in the pharmacy aisle of a supermarket, examining over-the-counter medicine with interest. Concepts of wellness, parenting, and pharmaceutical retail.

If you’ve chosen to buy supplements for your children, it’s important to look past the marketing to pick the best products.

Here are Megan and Nina’s tips for choosing supplements for kids:

Check the dosage

“Check that the product contains evidence-based doses for the condition/issue you’re looking to support,” Megan says.

This is because taking too high a dose or exceeding recommended intakes can be dangerous.

“Fat soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E and K can build up in the body and become toxic over time. Excess water-soluble vitamins, such as B vitamins and Vitamin C are usually passed out in urine, but very high doses can still cause issues such as nerve damage,” Nina says.

Check the ingredients

If you’re buying probiotics, you want to buy products that contain “clearly named strains that have been studied in children,” Megan says, like the ones she names above.

Both Megan and Nina advise avoiding products that contain added sugars or sweeteners, additives, and emulsifiers

Avoid products with unnecessary additives and emulsifiers (which go against gut health principles), added sugar, artificial sweeteners or ‘mega-doses’ that exceed recommended intakes.

Check with a health professional

If you’re unsure, or have any doubts, Nina and Megan both advise speaking to a health professional.

They “can advise you on which supplements will actually be beneficial for your child and where to look for them,” Nina says.

About our experts

Dr. Megan Rossi, PhD, RD, APD is an internationally renowned gut health scientist with an award-winning PhD in probiotics, dietitian, nutritionist and best-selling author with a mission to inspire and transform everyone’s gut health using the latest science. She is a Research Fellow at King’s College London and is the founder of The Gut Health Doctor, The Gut Health Clinic, Bio&Me and SMART STRAINS. Miss Nina Brierley is the clinical lead paediatric dietitian at HCA Healthcare UK’s The Portland Hospital.

Authors

Serafina Kenny journalist headshot

Serafina KennyDigital Journalist

Serafina Kenny is a Digital Journalist at MadeForMums. She writes news and features and has expertise in health, nutrition, relationships, and history. She has previously written for Business Insider, Women's Health, Stylist, Men's Health US, The i Paper, Dazed, and more. You can contact her with tips and story ideas (or compliments!) at serafina.kenny@immediate.co.uk.