• Iron supplements can help improve children's health.children image by Mat Hayward from Fotolia.com
  
  Young children require 10 mg of iron a day. Older children need 12 mg (males) or 15 mg (females). Iron is needed for the production of blood and development of muscles. Without it, children will feel constantly tired and lethargic. There is a variety of foods with high-iron content, including red meat and spinach. However, if you feel your children are not getting enough iron through their diets, try introducing iron supplements into their daily routine.
  
  

Poly-Vi-Sol With Iron Drops

• These are multivitamin drops that are produced by Mead Johnson Pharmaceuticals and sold over the counter at most drug stores. Each dose contains 10 mg of iron (in sulfate-heptahydrate form), along with other essential vitamins and nutrients, such as vitamins A and B, and riboflavin. Poly-Vi-Sol comes in drop form and is typically sold in 50 ml bottles. Children should take 1 ml daily as a nutritional supplement to their normal diets. The drops are fruit flavored to improve their taste.
  
  

Vitamins Plus Iron

• Vitamins Plus Iron is a Vital Nutrition product that has been designed for children. The dose is in tablet form, with each tablet containing 12 vitamins, including 60 mg of vitamin C and 0.2 mg of folic acid. The tablets also have a high (2.5 mg) iron content. To appeal to children, each tablet is referred to as a Dinotab and has a Herbasaur character engraved on it. The tablet also contain fructose and natural lemon-lime flavor to make it taste sweeter. Children should take one tablet a day with a meal. If your child does not like taking tablets, Vitamin Iron Plus also comes in liquid form. This has a higher iron content (4 mg) and is orange flavored to make it easier to swallow. One 5 ml dose should be taken with a meal once a day.
  
  

Feosol

• Feosol is only suitable for children with anemia and should be prescribed by your doctor. Anemia occurs when your child has a low concentration of hemoglobin in the red blood cells. Because iron is a key component of hemoglobin, being anemic means your body is naturally iron deficient. Feosol comes in two forms, carbonyl iron caplets and ferrous sulfate tablets. Ferrous sulfate tablets are the stronger of the two and contain 65 mg of iron per tablet, compared to the 45 mg of iron in the carbonyl caplet. However, both are still over 250 percent of the recommended daily intake of iron, so they should be taken with caution. Because of its strength, Feosol is normally prescribed only to older children and is taken in small doses.