Fish Oil and DHA Information (a must read!) *updated info*

[Annette4]

Since this is a popular topic on my speech delay boards, and I am constantly giving the same information over and over... I am going to try and post the information here so everyone can refer to it from time to time if needed. I hope to keep things in an easy to read format, and fill in as many blanks as possible.  We will be focusing on Omega-3 as the supplement, known as Fish Oil or Cod Liver Oil.

As always, do your own research to get better informed before making any decision to use a product for consumption and consult your doctor before starting additives especially when in question about allergies, side effects or other possible negative results.  Always be dilligent and conscientious in making educated decisions when it comes to caring for your children. I am a mom, and not a doctor.  This is my opinion and my experience.

~ I began my research into fish oil supplements because of what I had heard about it. It helps alleviate ADHD/ADD symptoms, helps aid in making brain connections in speech delayed children, and is also used in treating Autism and it's Spectrum Disorders. The use of fish oil helps build new brain cells, aids in the growth of children's brains, and also replenishes deficiencies that may have occured.  It has been shown, that children with delays and autism, have a DHA deficiency.  Thus the supplements help replenish that, and help the brain rewire itself.

There are also tons of benefits for adolescents and adults as well such as treating acne, heart disease, stroke patients, bi-polar disorder and depression, and even helps relieve asthma symptoms....  the list goes on. Re: Dr. Mercola.com  But today I am focusing on the benefit for children with speech delay. I have a son with a speech delay, and all of this was for him.  **Recently, Dr. Mercola has been refuting his beliefs in cod liver oil as the best source for DHA and is insisting Krill oil is best. Some of us believe this is due to endorsing a new product and to push sales.  Some of his statements are contradictory whereas he still believes cod liver oil is best, but also states Krill is better.  Use caution when deciding which one to purchase.  Cod liver oil has been used for generations, krill oil has not.  Krill is a shrimp-like creature and lives in a different environment; it is also harder to aquire and process, therefore, more costly and may have differences in Vitamin A content.

I found a ton of positive information online and also asked health food store owners the differences in each formulation because there are so many brands and dosing differences.  I also looked for the negative impacts, and didn't find much at all.  I want to know the good, the bad and the ugly of everything! 

I am going to post links to some of my favorite, most informative sites and also how we started out with dosing and brands. I will also include some excerpts of information (and try to include the link from the site where it was found) and give info on the benefits of fish oil supplements and why some are not as effective as others. I will aslo include our dosing routine from start to finish, and why I chose to do it that way.

Not all fish oil supplements are the same!

~  Few customers are aware of the fact that most cod liver oil (CLO) products are mostly made from fish other than cod, such as seit or haddock, as Arctic Cod is by far the most expensive raw material available. Since only cod liver contains high levels of naturally occurring vitamins A and D, other cod liver oil manufacturers have to add back synthetic vitamins to standardize the fish oil as cod liver oil. Nordic Naturals uses 100% Arctic Cod for all of its cod liver oil products. Our Arctic Cod Liver Oil contains the highest Omega-3 level of any CLO product, and is tested to ensure healthy levels of 100% naturally occurring vitamins A and D.  Re: Nordic Naturals

~  The processing and packaging of the fish oil are crucial in determining its quality. Low quality oils may be quite unstable and contain significant amounts of mercury, pesticides, and undesirable oxidation products.

High quality oils are stabilized with adequate amounts of vitamin E and are packaged in individual foil pouches or other packaging impervious to light and oxygen. Some very recent research carried out at the University of Minnesota found that emulsified fish oils are much better absorbed than the straight oils in gelatin capsules. [76]

Cod liver oils and fish oils are not the same. Cod liver oil is extracted from cod liver and is an excellent source of vitamins A and D. Fish oils are extracted from the tissues (flesh) of fatty fish like salmon and herring and are good sources of EPA and DHA.

Fish oils contain very little vitamin A and D, but cod liver oil does contain EPA and DHA. However, you would probably exceed the recommended daily intake of vitamins A and D if you were to try to obtain therapeutic amounts of EPA and DHA from cod liver oil.  Re: Mercola.com

~ Another site with excellent information on the structure of Omega-3 (DHA) and info on fish alleriges:  CHERAB  They state: The improvements when on the right supplement and the regressions on the wrong one are pretty quick-within weeks in most cases-so again you can see for yourself-like most of us did already!  This site also has tips from moms on how to get your child to take fish oil.  My son loves his fish oil supplements, but I keep this info handy for when I have to step up his dosing and possibly change brands.

This site gives study information on how it treats Autism and it's Spectrum Disorders and ADD/ADHD: Healing Thresholds  This site also has information on how ADD/ADHD is treated with fish oil supplements. ADHD Alternative Treatment  Another site with research data for many health issues is Omega Research.  It has tons of articles to read through. You can see  More articles on how vaccines are possibly related to autism and language delay.. I am still in the throes of researching all of this from it's cause to it's cure. But I am finding the fish oil is helping to reverse the symptoms of autism my son had just a few months ago.

I hope I have given you some starting points to begin your research on fish oil/Omega-3 supplements. It's always best to read as much info as you can, and ask questions from qualified nutritionists so you know how to use it.  Be prepared for the dramatic changes, when taking the right supplements, you will get quick results!  You may also want to keep a journal, as you will not believe it is the fish oil making the difference!  I am so completely sold on fish oil supplements, I have to share with everyone!

How and why we started:

Now here is where you think I might sound crazy.. and there are probably a lot of parents out there that can totally relate to what I am about to tell you.  Approximately August of last year (2007), Jake lost all of his language and cognitive skills. He was showing red flags of Autism. From birth to around 18/19 mos, Jake was developing normally, his milestones were on time and even early. Somewhere around 20 months, I noticed he had lost all of it. He had maybe 2-3 words that he sort of used (after having 25+) and he stopped responding to his name, he wouldn't even look at you when you talked to him.  He was most interested in laying on the floor, rolling a car back and forth watching the wheels turn.  If someone took away a toy he was playing with, he would just move on to something else. No retalliation.  Some may think this is a good thing, but trust me, it's not. 

I attribute this to his MMR shot. That was the only thing that had happened during this 19/20 month age frame. Jake was the only child out of my 4 that ever had a reaction to this shot.  His reaction was deemed "normal". He had a low grade fever, slight speckly rash, irritabitly, and he slept more than usual for a week to 10 days after.  None of my other kids reacted to any of their shots like this.  I spoke with his pediatrician at his 2 yr appt, and told her I was concerned about his language/lack of and she said he is just a busy boy and put talking on the back burner. He will catch up by 3 yrs old.  After a couple more months, things just go more and more depressing. It seemed all of a sudden, the word Autism was slung around like a household name. It was everywhere! It was on the news, celebrities were coming out with stories of their kids with it and the internet was loaded with information and statistics.

I succumbed to the thought of  "maybe it IS Autism".  I found check lists, developmental screenings and evaluation forms. I checked off box after box of things Jake was NOT doing when he should have been doing them months ago!  I mentioned to the pedi that I was worried about this, and she said she didn't think he had it, but if I felt more comfortable, we would set up a screening.

During this time, another friend of mine was going through the exact same thing, and she had her son evaluated.  His evaluation came back so hyped-up and incorrect that she didn't even recognize the report as her son.  I was afraid I would be shoved into the same corner, so I went a different direction.  I decided to try and fix this myself.  I wasn't ready for a "label".

I took the checklists and picked out a handfull of the important tasks he should've been doing and started focusing on those and finding activities to stimulate responses.  I bought language development and autism DVDs and blasted him from all sides with floortime, pictures, words, skills, you name it!  I had spent hundreds of dollars on my arsenal.

It was around March 2008, I read a blog about fish oil.  I started researching it diligently before deciding to try it.  What I read, sounded too good to be true.

Of course I was skeptical and apprehensive. I wasn't sure if it was something my son would benefit from and if his digestive system could tolerate it.  After researching the benefits and finding excellent products made just for children, I jumped in and bought a bottle of Nordic Naturals, Children's DHA Strawberry Chewables.  My decision to go with the chewables, was because I could control the dosing. With the NN Children's DHA Liquid Variety you have to try and sneak it into foods if they won't take it from a spoon or dropper.  My son will not touch meds from a dropper, so that is out of the question. If I try to hide it in foods, he may not eat all of what it is in, so he may not get a full dose. So I chose the chewables, because I could see that he was taking all of the ones that I gave him, and he loves them! The chewables are lower in mg/ dose than the liquid, so keep that in mind too.

I wasn't sure what kind of side effects might happen, so I started out slow. I gave my son 1 chewable the first day. I observed no rash, no upset stomach, nothing abnormal. So the next day I gave him 2 chewables. Again I observed. I even waited a couple of days before giving him 2 more. Once I saw that he liked them, and was tolerating them,  I continued on the 2 per day for a couple of weeks.

After the first week, I started seeing dramatic improvement in my son's eye contact, his socialization and his playing habits. He was starting to use imaginative play {pretending}!!  He started repeating words very quickly and with understanding. Speaking of understanding, he was responding to direction so much better too. I increased his dose to 3 per day. His language literally exploded within days and his "jargon" was almost gone. He went from 5 words in March to over 50 words by the end of May.  He was actually able to "tell" us what he needed! Finally, a breakthrough!  Frustration levels went down immediately!

We stayed on this track for a couple more weeks and then I began reading other parents' experiences after they started the supplements. It seemed other people were using the liquid which is double the mg/dose and were having almost immediate results, within days! Some people that were using off brands, weren't getting dramatic results, some not even noticable. 

~ I want to touch on the possible side effects at this point.  Some parents have mentioned insomnia, naughty behavior and hyper-activity spikes and some diarrhea.  I didn't experience these side effects and I think it was because of the gradual dosing I started with.  I do notice runny stools and excitability in Jake for a couple of days after increasing his dosage, but it clears up in a few days.

I still couldn't attempt the liquid, so I increased Jake to the recommended 4/day dose.  He started saying 2 and 3 word utterances shortly after and his receptive language was almost perfect!  I figured with the mg/dose allowance for children, I still had room to give Jake more... so I increased him to 5/day, and now 6/day.  He is still below the mg/dose compared to the liquid, but he is doing so great! He can name almost every single picture in a deck of flash cards (that was un-heard of just a month ago, he could only get about 40% then) and he will pick out every item asked for from a line up of about 8 cards (I honestly didn't even try more, but he probably could do way more!) This accomplishment was also, non-existant just a short time ago. This past Friday, he learned how to use a mouse on a computer, and can click his way through most online games and our learning software. Incredible! He's only 2 1/2!

He receives speech therapy 2X a week (started in June) and although that has added some skills in behavior, cooperation and learning how to clean-up before going to the next activity, I have to take a lot of the credit for his language explosion.  He doesn't say near as much during therapy, as he does when I am interacting with him. I have to add that the best website that I found that gave me the best speech therapy ideas is teachmetotalk.com  There is a wealth of information on how to tell if it is a delay or not, activities and therapy ideas and also a fabulous DVD showing how to work with your child just like a professional!  I have gotten fabulous results from each and every tip I read on this site. It has been my driving force to rise above my son's delay. I wish I could clone Laura, and have her work with my son. I am indebted to her and feel that without her (website), I wouldn't have the knowledge I do today.

I am enjoying every new word and phrase that Jake says.  I think the bonus to having a child with a delay, is you learn to really appreciate how special they are and you get to love them more deeply, you just have to.  You get to cherish every new milestone because it was so hard to reach.  My other 3 kids were early talkers/early developers and their childhoods seemed to have just flown by.  With Jake, we are in our own time warp, our own world.  He is my baby, and I'm thrilled to have the bonus of getting to spend more time with him.  Life is just too dang short to take for granted. Slowing down has been a blessing in so many ways.  With God, all things are possible. He is with me throughout my entire journey.

** I wanted to add another link I came across with fantastic information and resourses on Omega Supplements.  A lot of what you wanted to know about Cod Liver Oil!!  It's a wonderful, easy to read article!  Check it out!! 

Kelly the Kitchen Kop

** More Links about fish oil added!!

CLO Adressing Safety Concerns This is from Kelly the Kitchen Kop site.

Cod Liver Oil Index from Kelly The Kitchen Kop's site.  All of her articles in an easy to locate index.

** More important info **  Please READ!

A lot of our kids this age are going to be having surgeries for tonsil/adenoid removal and ear tubes, frenulum clipping (tongue tied) etc.  If you are giving your child the DHA supplements, you should know that you need to stop giving it for 5-7 days before the surgery.  Inform your ENT/Surgical nurse that your child is taking the supplement, and that you are stopping before the surgery.  Then, about a week later, start again.

Fish Oil is a blood thinner.  It does not cause blood disorders or internal bleeding.. or excess bleeding in an injury, although a slight increase is possible.  It is important to NOT be afraid of the supplement, just know that it needs to be taken into consideration when having surgery.

The triumph of the battles we wage, is the gift of compassion. ~ALS

[CarloClan]

Sep. 21, 2008 at 2:44 PM

thank you so much for this post.  we've always been big believers in fish oil, but I just never thought of it in regards to children and speech issues.  i'm going to run out and get the Nordic Naturals for children!

[cavalier_craz]

Sep. 21, 2008 at 3:16 PM

I went to the link for the chewables but it says they are "softgels" I keep thinking these are like the pills you swallow, not chewable, or am i getting a wrong product?

[momnlovinit]

Sep. 21, 2008 at 3:22 PM

Thanks, I have a son with speech delays and i always used it because that is what my Dr and Chiro both said. I do believe it helps alot. His speech has come along wonderfully. Now at 4 he is able to mainstream with minimal outside help.

[momnlovinit]

Sep. 21, 2008 at 3:24 PM

I forgot to mention all my kids and I all take fish oil just for the benefits, not just my son.

[Annette4]

Sep. 21, 2008 at 5:04 PM

cavalier craz... yes they are softgels, and they are chewable or if your child is older, then can swallow them too.  I stress chewables, because some people think since they are pills, that children have to swallow them, and that's not the case.  They chew up very easily.  With very young children (12 mos to under 2yrs) you may have to pierce the softgel and add the liquid to their juice or food.  Hope this helps.

(Original Poster)

[1chance4me]

Sep. 21, 2008 at 10:01 PM

Thanks Annette, the Cherub site helped me find another way to try and hide the fish oil. I can add some liquid to the top of pancakes, instead of adding to the batter :) This way, no heating is involved.

[trulyblessedw2]

Sep. 22, 2008 at 12:09 AM

Thanks for sharing this your story is very inspiring!

[tinaott]

Sep. 24, 2008 at 12:08 PM

I love this! Thanks for posting this.

[My2Munchkinz]

Sep. 25, 2008 at 2:09 PM

Thank you so much for this journal post!  I have a 4 yr-old son who is also speech delayed and in speech therapy 2 days per week.  He just started a month ago.  I had heard of fish oil supplements and actually just purchased an over the counter brand at Target last week thinking I was doing good.  After reading your article, I'm rushing out to our Whole Foods this afternoon to buy the Nordic Naturals brand instead.  The Lil Critters brand I purchased listed its DHA and EPA sources from Salvia hispanica seed extract and marine algae extract (I got this info right off the bottle).  No where is it listed as coming from fish or fish oil!  Thanks so much for the info.  And I'm so glad Jake is doing so well now!  That's great!

[Annette4]

Sep. 25, 2008 at 4:32 PM

*** You're very welcome and thank you.. Jake is wonderful! 

I do want to add, that as children get older (5+) they require more concentrated EPA for joint health and less DHA as their brains are almost done growing.  If you check the Nordic Naturals site, the Omega 3,6,9 is a great step up for kids getting older that may still need the supplements. 

The marine algae is a good form of Omega3 and is usually used by vegetarians who are avoiding all meat products. Borage oil (GLA) and flax oil (ALA) are also good alternatives for use by vegetaritans as well, although the body can't efficiently convert it to DHA,  it can still be beneficial. Fish or beef based Omegas are by far better used by our bodies. You can read a more complex breakdown on www.mercola.com

Best of luck to you!! And don't forget, the brand you purchased from Target can be used by you and your hubby... it's great for adults too! (depression, prevent heart disease, etc.)

(Original Poster)