When parents think about children's supplements, they usually think about vitamins.
Vitamin D. Vitamin C. Perhaps iron or zinc.
But during the development of The Little One Daily, we wanted to consider something else that can be noticeably absent from a selective child's diet:
DHA Omega-3.
DHA stands for docosahexaenoic acid.
It's a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid and a major structural component of the brain and retina.
One of the richest dietary sources is oily fish — foods such as salmon, sardines, mackerel and trout.
Which presents an obvious problem.
Oily fish isn't exactly at the top of many fussy eaters' favourite-food lists.
A child who consistently refuses fish may therefore obtain relatively little preformed DHA directly from food.
That's why we decided DHA deserved a place alongside the vitamins and minerals in our formula.
We favour algal DHA: DHA derived from microalgae rather than directly from fish.
Interestingly, algae sit right at the beginning of the marine omega-3 food chain. Fish accumulate DHA ultimately because of the algae in their diet.
Using algae allows us to provide DHA in a child-friendly formulation while avoiding reliance on fish oil.
But there's another reason DHA matters to our brand.
We don't want The Little One Daily simply to be another multivitamin containing a very long list of ingredients in tiny quantities.
Every major ingredient should have a clear reason for being there.
For children who happily eat a broad diet including oily fish, that's fantastic.
For children whose entire relationship with fish amounts to moving it to the other side of the plate, DHA becomes an interesting nutritional consideration.
The Little One Daily still isn't a substitute for teaching children to explore different foods.
We'll always encourage that.
But while their diets are developing, we believe parents deserve a thoughtfully designed nutritional safety net.
Good nutrition isn't about chasing perfection. It's about giving growing bodies and minds strong foundations.