How much vitamin C for your baby to supplement is enough?

Vitamin C plays an important role in the development of the child's immune system and is a natural antioxidant and antihistamine. By providing vitamin C in your baby's diet, you will help strengthen the immune system, which has a lifelong function.

The role of vitamin C

Vitamin C is involved in the development of tissue, healing wounds and protecting the baby's body from the common cold.

In addition, vitamin C is an important antioxidant, helping to protect the body from diseases such as cancer, heart disease and arthritis, and helps the baby's body efficiently use micronutrients such as iron, calcium and acid. folic .

One of the important roles of vitamin C for ages 1 to 6 is to help increase the child's resistance to disease, such as subcutaneous hemorrhage, tooth root or periosteal bleeding, swollen gums, teeth fall off, anemia, easy to get infections, viral infections ...

Besides, a lack of vitamin C over time will prevent new collagen from forming. This will break down different tissues in the baby's body and body health will be affected. Chronic vitamin C deficiency lasting three months or more can lead to stunting in children.

How much vitamin C does your child need per day?

Children 1-3 years old need 15 mg of vitamin C, while children ages 4-8 need 25 mg daily. If you are concerned that your baby is not getting enough vitamin C, talk with your doctor to see if you need to boost up your baby's absorption of this vitamin.

Vitamin C deficiency in children is very rare. However, you need to supplement vitamin C for children regularly in the following cases:

When children do not eat enough green vegetables and fruits to provide enough vitamin C;

When a child has a bacterial infection or a viral infection, the mother should give her vitamin C supplement to help improve immunity against pathogens;

When children have anemia, iron deficiency , you should supplement vitamin C to enhance iron absorption;

When children are forced to live in a smoke-free environment, they need more vitamin C to restore damaged cells.

Your child should not get enough vitamin C every day. Instead, you need to focus on adding an average amount of vitamin C for a week or a few days for your baby.

Which food source is rich in vitamin C for your baby?

Brightly colored fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of vitamin C for your baby. You can refer to the milligram of vitamin C in each common fruit as follows:

30 g of guava contains 82.5 mg of vitamin C;

60 ml of orange juice: 50 mg;

30 g of red bell pepper: 47.5 mg;

60 g papaya: 47.5 mg;

60 g of kiwi: 41 mg;

60 g oranges: 30 mg;

30 g of broccoli: 30 mg;

Three medium strawberries: 21 mg;

30 g of pink grapefruit: 23 mg;

30 g cantaloupe: 17 mg;

30 g of mango: 11 mg;

30 g of tomatoes: 5 mg;

30 g spinach: 4.5 mg;

30 g uncooked cooked potatoes: 3 mg;

30 g of banana: 2 mg.

The amount of vitamin C in foods varies widely, depending on the size of the vegetables.

Your child may eat more or less of the foods listed above depending on their age and taste, so estimate the most appropriate nutritional content for your baby.

Can children have an excess of vitamin C?

Vitamin C is water soluble, so any excess is eliminated from your child's body through urine. However, too much vitamin C intake can lead to nausea, diarrhea, kidney stones and gastritis. Children 1-3 years old should not get more than 400 mg of vitamin C per day and children 4-8 years should only consume less than 650 mg / day.

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