When you’ve got a Picky Eater on your hands, you are constantly thinking about their nutrition and how to get them to eat right. You can try all food hiding tricks on every mommy blog out there, but if they don’t want it, they just won’t eat it. And it is so frustrating!
You may find yourself having to purchase children’s vitamins in order to supplement the nutrients your child is missing out on. And purchasing good quality, natural vitamins and supplements can get expensive, so it's important to make sure that you store them properly to prevent your investment from going down the drain. Literally.
Generally, most vitamins whether they are for kids or not, need to be stored in a cool, dry place, or in some cases in the refrigerator. Sounds easy enough right?
Hold up! Remember you have kids now. And everything is ten times more work :-)
Just because your storage space is cool and dry, it doesn't mean your vitamins are safe from losing effectiveness or endangering your child.
We’ve got a few easy tips to help you store vitamins and supplements safely in your home:
Keep away from children - and pets!
You’re probably thinking this tip is obvious, but you would be surprised at how many parents will store their vitamins within full reach of their children. This may be because they think vitamins and supplements cannot be as harmful as medicine. This is not true!
Even if you chose to go with a more natural nutritional vitamin or supplement, you still need to take storing them in a safe place just as seriously as you would storing an OTC medicine. Although the vitamins are made for kids, they can be potentially poisonous when taken in high doses. And this is easy to do with vitamins that are designed to look and taste like candy. I personally have a hard time keeping certain vitamins away from my son because he loves the sweet flavor and would OD if he had the chance.
Also, keep in mind that a regular dose to your child may be a deadly dose to a pet. Teach your children that vitamins are not for pets and can harm them. Do not let them give it to your pet as a treat! Household poisonings with children and pets often happen because the vitamins were not stored high enough, the container was not closed properly, or the parent moved them into a container that was not childproof. Always store your children’s vitamins as you would any medication, in their original containers and out of reach of children and pets.
Do not to transfer containers or combine bottles:
As a parent, I know we are always looking for ways to make things easier. With all the vitamins and supplements you have to schedule into your kid’s diets, it may be tempting for you to combine them into one container or distribute them into a pill organizer. PLEASE DON’T!
To start, the container kid's vitamins come in is more than likely childproof, depending on what's inside. This is the main reason you shouldn’t switch or transfer containers when it comes to kids vitamins. If you move them into a different container, you are risking your child being able to open it. You also lose your protection as the consumer if you switch bottles and then your kid overdoses. While some ingredients in the vitamin will simply flush out of your child’s system if they get too much, others, such as iron, can have serious effects when taken in excess.
So please parents, just leave the vitamins where they are.
Another reason you should keep your children's vitamins in their original container is that many vitamins require a specific type of packaging for optimal potency. For example, some supplements will lose their effectiveness if they are exposed to light, therefore they must be kept in a dark-colored container. Some supplements may need to be kept in glass jar versus a plastic jar. Some vitamins need to be in kept divided in blister packs. Some liquid supplements require refrigeration after opening. I think you get my drift.
And finally, you shouldn't combine different vitamins into one container because they could rub off on each other and not have the same effect. Or even worse, they could cause a bad reaction for your child.
Don’t store vitamins in your bathroom:
The medicine cabinet in your bathroom seems like the perfect place to store vitamins and medicines - I mean that’s why it’s called a medicine cabinet right? Yea….but no.
Ironically, the medicine cabinet is actually one of the WORST places to keep vitamins and medications! Let’s take a moment and really think about this. You are storing your child’s vitamins in the same small room in which you and your family shower and poop. So technically you are exposing the vitamins to heat, humidity and who knows what else on a daily basis. Yuck!
And if you are actually giving your child the vitamin to take in the bathroom in these conditions, you are actually letting in a bit of moisture into the bottle each time. All of this can lead to deliquescence, which is basically the degradation of vitamins. This will lessen the effectiveness and potency of the vitamins over time, which means your child is not getting all the nutrition you paid for. Not cool.
Now some vitamins more sensitive to humidity than others, particularly water-soluble like vitamins B, vitamin C, thiamine, and vitamin B6.
Watch out in the kitchen:
Storing your children’s vitamins in the kitchen is pretty ideal for most parents because your family already eats in there anyway. Plus, it helps when you have vitamins and supplements that should be stored in the fridge, such as liquid iron or probiotics.
But the truth is, most vitamins will degrade in quality if you store them in the fridge. This is because there is a lot of moisture inside and that takes its toll on the effectiveness of your kid’s vitamins. So even though the fridge is a cool and dark place, it is not a dry place.
Only store kid’s vitamins and supplements in the fridge if the label specifically tells you to. If you decide to keep your vitamins in your kitchen cabinet, be careful as this is another place where heat and humidity could become an issue. The temperature and humidity in the kitchen will rise and fall, so make sure you consider this before you leave your expensive vitamins stored in there. My advice? Just store them in your bedroom away from heat, away from light and of course away from your kids!