Letters to the Editors
Vitamin B12 Sources for 1-Year-Old Child
I have a question regarding B12 for our son who just turned 1. My wife supplemented
B12 during pregnancy and still does today. She exclusively breastfed our son until
he was 6 months old, after that until currently we use a soy based formula ... I
want to make sure he gets adequate B12 ... Can you tell me how much and what kind
should be supplemented? We intend to feed him B12 fortified soymilk.
Stefan K., via e-mail
Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, responds:
The RDA for vitamin B12 is 0.5 micrograms per day from age 6-12 months and 0.9 micrograms from 1-3 years. Formula provides some vitamin B12. The label should tell you how much is in the formula. Since the child is consuming limited breastmilk, we can't count on that to provide much vitamin B12. As the child moves away from formula, I'd suggest adding in a vitamin B12-fortified soymilk. You can see how much vitamin B12 is in 8 ounces of a number of brands of soymilk on our website at www.vrg.org/nutshell/Guide_to_Soymilks_2019.pdf. Read labels to confirm the amount in the brand.
Most fortified soymilks have at least 0.9 micrograms in 8 ounces, and so as little as one cup a day should meet the one-year-old's needs for vitamin B12. You can also add some nutritional yeast fortified with vitamin B12 (Red Star Vegetarian Support Formula is one brand) to foods to provide additional vitamin B12.
Most children's multivitamins supply vitamin B12 and are a simple way to meet vitamin B12 needs. Look for a multivitamin that supplies at least the RDA for vitamin B12. There's no real advantage to taking a large dose of vitamin B12. You may need to smash the vitamin and mix it with food or look for a liquid multivitamin to avoid choking issues.
Here are some multivitamins that provide B12 and do not appear to contain animal products:
- Freeda Chewable Vitalets ? 1 tablet ? 3 mcg of vitamin B12
- Yummy Bears ? 3 bears ? 3 micrograms of vitamin B12
- VegLife Vegan Kids ? 1 chewable ? 5 micrograms of vitamin B12
- Country Life Baby Care ? 1 tsp ? 2 mcg of vitamin B12
- Rainbow Light Kids ? 1 tablet ? 1 mcg of vitamin B12
There is some evidence that it's better to get vitamin B12 a couple of times a day, and so you may want to break the multivitamin in half and give half in the morning and half later in the day (or have fortified soymilk a couple of times a day).
