Hi, I want to determine how to start fish oil with my pre-schooler. I saw someone said strawberry shake with fish oil. HOw do I fid out how much fish oil for my pre-schooler.

Fish oil dosing is not based on the size of the child. However, if you are concerned, you could start your child on 1/4 of the adult dose and work your way up. Your child can report to you if his stools are watery, and that is a common sign that the dose is too much. The OmegaRx Zone is an excellent reference for fish oil dosing.

You could also test his AA/EPA blood levels, but 4 year olds are not usually cooperative!

I give my daughter half an adult dose, but I don't get too hung up about it.

And if ou want your child to eat fresh fish (not canned), how much tuna or salmon or trout would do the trick?

Hi Mel,

There in lies the problem, the solution being Omega RX.

Your child would have to eat multiple servings of fresh salmon, lake trout, or fresh tuna on a daily basis, but in doing so would be exposed to harmful levels of pollution in the fish. Regardless, I can't really imagine a child (nor an adult) eating that much fish! Farmed fish, which isn't pollution free either, would not be a good source because it contains many times the levels of AA as compared to it's wild conterpart. Other types of trout would require that the child eat 2 or 3 times as much as laken trout because it contains far less long chain omega 3. For canned tuna, 7 times the amount would have to be eaten, as compared to fresh tuna. If eating sole, the child would have to eat 14 times more the amount than they would of salmon, lake trout or tuna to get the same amount of long chain omega 3. You can find more info about the levels of long chain omega 3 in fresh and canned fish in "The Omega Rx Zone", by Barry Sears.

I have 4 year old daugthers, and I was told a few years ago that you begin with 1/4 teaspoon or 1 capsule, and increase to 1/2 teaspoon or 2 capsules until puberty, which then you give them 1 teaspoon or 4 capsules.

However, I just saw this video that will answer the question for you:

Should babies take fish oil?
From: ZoneAdmin | Jul 11, 2011 | 25 views
Dr. Barry Sears on when infants should begin taking fish oil.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZoneAdm...ctGtDfveqU

and I will also begin to increase my daughters' dosage to 1 teaspoon gradually.

Ohhh. One of my daughters has begun refusing to drink her soymilk with Liquid Omega RX, and cinnamon. So, I gave her another option of chewing the Omega RX capsules, and she actually liked it. Whatever works, as long as it goes down.

where is the edit button? I forgot to mention that she is refusing it in the soymilk, because we ran out of cinnamom.

Chewing the capsule but she won't drink it in the milk w/o the cinnamon...cute! Kids are full of surprises!

For now there's no way to edit your posts.

Ayesha, kind of a funny story, but I recently started my daughter on fish oil. She hesitated to swallow the big pills, but she did it. Then, later that day when she came home, there was a voicemail from one of her teachers who was raving about how well she did on a math test... totally unexpected! Anyway, I KNOW that it takes longer that one day to establish a blood level that is capable of such results, but I couldn't help by telling her that the fish oil pills were "smart pills" because she did so well after taking them that day! Now, she won't miss taking them!

That is wonderful that she did well on her tests! And that is a clever way to get her eagerly take them!

Once we got cinnamon, she began to drink the soymilk with the liquid Omega Rx again. And I increased their amount to 3/4 tsp per day which seems to agree with their tummies. I will increase it another 1/4 teaspoon in a few months or whenever I notice they are getting a little too hyper than normal.

Thanks!

And, I was so proud of her today, as she reminded me that she needed to take her brain pills! I sometimes go to work early, and so my hubby gets the kids up and going. I am not sure if he consistently has been giving her the fish oil, but she sure did remind me of it today.

Ahhh. That is good to hear. The girls always remind me that they need their Zone chewable vitamins and for me to take mine.

If your daughter is old enough, on the days you work early, she can help you prepare her breakfast and Omega Rx capsules the night before, by putting the capsules on the table/counter or a safe place that she easily reach and remember to take the next morning.

What other differences have occurred since she has been taking the Omega 3's? Does she wake up easily? More concentration? Less hyper?

She's never been hyper. She does have difficulty concentrating on her school work, but I feel that she is more capable of having patience with it, now that I am supplementing her. I had not thought about how she wakes up, but yes-she does wake up more easily.

I have not been able to get to the true root of her problem. My older daughter tested out for ADD, and she struggled similarly to my youngest one. However, my youngest one has passed the screening for ADD and so she is not labeld as such. But, everything seems to point to it, as far as I am concerned. So, since I can't get her on any other treatment, I figured I would give fish oil a try. So far, I am pleased.

Hmmm. Is she a kinesthethic learner? I have this book in my reading stack: "A Mind at a Time: America's Top Learning Expert Shows How Every Child Can Succeed [Paperback]
[Dr.] Mel Levine that addresses different learning styles.

"Amazon Review
Recognizing each child's intellectual, emotional, and physical strengths--and teaching directly to these strengths--is key to sculpting "a mind at a time," according to Dr. Mel Levine. While this flashing yellow light will not surprise many skilled educators, limited resources often prevent them from shifting their instructional gears. But to teachers and parents whose children face daily humiliation at school, the author bellows, "Try harder!" A professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School, Levine eloquently substantiates his claim that developmental growth deserves the same monitoring as a child's physical growth.

Tales of creative, clumsy, impulsive, nerdy, intuitive, loud-mouthed, and painfully shy kids help Levine define eight specific mind systems (attention, memory, language, spatial ordering, sequential ordering, motor, higher thinking, and social thinking). Levine also incorporates scientific research to show readers how the eight neurodevelopmental systems evolve, interact, and contribute to a child's success in school. Detailed steps describe how mental processes (like problem solving) work for capable kids, and how they can be finessed to serve those who struggle. Clear, practical suggestions for fostering self-monitoring skills and building self-esteem add the most important elements to this essential--yet challenging--program for "raisin' brain." --Liane Thomas --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."

There is also a nice article by Dr. Levine in Harvard Educational Review.

Another resource I saw is a program called "Total Focus" by Dr. Bob Myers, a noted clinical child psychologist specializing in ADD/ADHD, as well as being a father to a son with ADHD. The program is available through Empowering Parents.

Sounds like a good book to look at, thanks for the recommendation!

She is smart, but they have labeled her as having a learning disability. Problem is that they really haven't figured out what the disability is. As I said, she passes the screens for ADD and ADHD, but she really seems to show the same tendencies. The way they described it was that there was some sort of disconnect at the point where she is supposed to retain, so reading comprehension really suffers. And, math is just terrible!

I will look for that book, thanks!

Labels are very disabling in and of themselves. There is another great little book for $2.49 by an American neuroscientist, Dr. William R. Klemm, titled, "Better Grades. Less Effort." available on Kindle (free downloadable application for computer or apple) that has excellent study tips for memory and retention that every adult and child should learn. My guess is that she is smart and bright, and the teachers are not quite connecting with her learning style. To help with her math, have you tried the Kumon workbooks? They teach gradually.

"Toru Kumon, Innovator, 81, In Math Studies
By ROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr
Published: July 27, 1995
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Toru Kumon, who was so dismayed when his 8-year-old son had trouble with second-grade math that he developed a streamlined teaching method now used by more than 2 million students in 29 countries, died on Tuesday at a hospital near his home in Osaka, Japan. He was 81.

Mr. Kumon was a high school math teacher in 1954 when his son Takeshi came home with a poor report card in arithmetic. Prodded by his wife, he reviewed the child's textbook and was so appalled by what he found that he devised a back-to-basics home study program in which his son was required to complete one page of problems a day, progressing to a slightly higher level the next day.

By the time he reached high school the son had mastered complex college calculus and his father had started a network of after-school teaching centers that swept Japan. It now has revenues of more than $500,000 a year.

Through a network of franchised after-school centers and programs for public and private schools, the concern, which also offers a reading program, has about 65,000 pupils in the United States."

- New York Times Obituary (online)

* * *

I wish I could send the girls to the Kumon centers, but will use the workbooks at home as supplemental studies. Maybe it will help your daughter, too.

(wishing for that edit button!)

The Kumon workbooks are available online with kumonbooks, and are reasonably priced through via amazon. I have the girls work on basic books for their age and they love them. I keep them busy with this type of "edutainment" instead of TV and games.

good tips! I do believe she has that hidden potential and that the teachers have not tapped into it. Funny, I have asked the teachers to help me to find good resources to use, but they have not come up with much of anything as far as recommendations go. I really appreciate your tips!