A couple of years ago, I did extensive research to find cod liver oil that had kosher supervision. But I didn’t succeed.
I very much wanted the dental benefits of cod liver oil, but thought that since our diet was rich in bone broths, lots of butter, free range eggs, raw milk, kefir, and fermented vegetables, the emerging teeth of the littles would probably be fine. I was overly optimistic, and I’m frustrated with myself for not giving them the cod liver oil, since you have until the age of three to improve their facial bone structure. So it’s too late for ds4, who has very closely spaced teeth (and as a result, had cavities between most of them – brushing wouldn’t have helped), and ds2 has crowding on his lower jar (I saw this when his baby teeth emerged, but hoped there would be improvement – there wasn’t).
From my experience, a good diet is only enough to maintain health, not to significantly improve underlying issues. (I keep meaning to write about my anecdotal observations on dental structure based on our nine children, and our diet at the time. Remind me if I forget, okay?) So we’ll now be using cod liver oil, which I just bought for the first time last week, and I just hope it’s not too late to help ds2 with his dental spacing.
Regardless of the benefits to dental health, there are lots of benefits to taking cod liver oil (or other fish oils, as well). But getting it down is the hard part. You know all those stories from a couple of generations ago, about kids running away and hiding when they were sick to avoid their mother dosing them with cod liver oil? I’m sure it wasn’t much of an exaggeration.
None of our kids are picky eaters, but every one of them grimaced (ds2 tried repeatedly to wipe his mouth out) and told me how bad it was. But it’s so good for their health, so how to get it down? Here’s my strategy so far, for unflavored cod liver oil (I decided against the flavored oils for a couple of reasons):
I give them each a shot glass with a teaspoon of cod liver oil in it. For some, I immediately give them a chaser of thick, sweet nectar from the peach compote I recently made. Ds4 surreptitiously tried to pour his shot glass into the sink while I was giving the others their glasses, and b) what worked for him was to mix the nectar with his cod liver oil. c) I take mine immediately followed by a teaspoon of lemon juice – it cuts the flavor immediately. d) Dd16 told me she mixed hers with rice and spices, and it was very tasty. 🙂
Ds18 went back to Jerusalem today, and asked if he could take one of the bottles of cod liver oil with him. If he has a different strategy, I’ll add in his suggestion to this post at a later time. 🙂
How do you get your children to take supplements or medicine that they find unpleasant? What kind of supplements do you think are worth the effort, and why?
(This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.)
Avivah
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