Kids Smart - Omega-3 Fish Oil Burstlets product reviews

I am an avid believer of using fish oil to help with brain development and concentration. I have a child with both ADHD and developmental delays coupled with learning problems, so I try to find things I think may be beneficial in helping make his life easier.

I am always looking into all the variants of fish oil available on the market, especially ones aimed at children. Let's face it, fish oil is absolutely awful. It does not smell nice and it most definitely does not taste very nice at all. All of my children have gagged at some point when I have given them some form of fish oil. And I do not blame them really.

Bioglan Omega 3 Fish Oil promises to give your children all the benefits of fish oil, but in a nice little chewable capsule with a forest fruit flavour that is supposed to help hide the terribly nasty fish oil taste and smell. Sounds promising enough. Unfortunately my kids did not like them :( more unfortunately because the bottle cost some $20 they had to take it anyway as I did not want the money wasted lol Seems they preferred the taste of straight fish oil verses a mix of fish and forest berry :(

Not 100% sure how to assess effectivness in a 5 month old baby, but I can say that now that he is starting on (semi) solids this stuff is great. He took to it fairly quickly when a drop was rubbed on his lips at night. He got to sucking it off his lips which stopped him crying and helped settle him, and now it is proving itself a great way to get mashed banana into him.
Recipe: Take 1/2 a decent banana, mash it to a pulp with a fork, adding the contents of a 'fish' as you go, mix well. Apply in small doses to the gullet of said sprog with a baby teaspoon. When plain banana was tried, he would grizzle and spit it out again. "Doesnt taste right, dont want it." type facial attitude. But when the mixed version was tried, lots of smiles and coo's and most importantly, gumming and swallowing!
All in all, it seems to be a hit with kids of all ages, from what I have read here and seen for myself, and even babies like it. With the health benefit assurances we are being bombarded with all over the place, its gotta be good for you, right? But I join the others who claim that it's hardly berry, its hardly forest fruits. Its orange flavoured plain and simple.

I have tried recently to get cod liver oil into my children. After much wretching, gagging and complaining I deemed the attempt 'extremely unsuccessful!'
However with these fish oil 'chewable burstlets', as they are so imaginatively called, I have had no trouble what so ever. In fact I have five children lining up at the pantry door saying "can't we have just one more" (well the 20 month old just smacks his lips in a fish noise) everyday.
In agreement with most other people I would say they taste more like orange than berry... but hey, nobody's complaining because the taste must be good if kids will eat it and come back for more.

I must say I feel quite skeptical about letting the children swallow the capsules. They do dissolve in my mouth after a while but feel a little too plastic'y for my liking. And after reading the label I would like to know exactly what 'encapsulating aids' consist of.

The children and I like the bottle, it is quite humerous with the goggly eyed berry looking fish. I don't know if they can overdose on this oil but if so maybe a child safe lid would be great. I'm sure my kids have sneaked a few extra when I'm not looking!

I'd definately pay this price to get the extra omega-3 into my family.

Hard to rate the effectiveness as of yet. We are definately in a healthy state at the moment which could very well be because of these supplements.

At first my 3 year old was not fussed on them, but after a couple of days, she was insisting she have one! Now she demands her 'fishes' daily. She finds it relatively hard to chew through the outer casing, so uses the alternative option of twisting off the tail. I tried them myself and also found it a little 'tough' to chew though. The flavour is fine, but I couldn't quite taste the 'forest fruit' flavour, more like orange to me! The shape of burstlets are fun, and I'm sure is the main attraction to my daughter. Price-wise, I think it is a reasonable price to pay for the quantity you get. Regarding the effectiveness, I'll need to wait and see. All in all though, it is a great way of getting the omega 3 into the kids.

I have a very hyperactive 19 month old who doesn't sleep well and is forever picking up bugs at day care. I have been using these capsules and although she doesn't seem to be fighting off bugs any better - she is settling into a better routine of sleep. I am concerned however that she had a vomiting bug and many days worth of the capsules appeared in her vomit and had not been dissolved in her stomach. She loves having them and they have a great flavour but I have switched to squeezing the liquid out now instead of letting her eat the whole capsule. The cases are also quite hard for her to chew. This is a worry! Fish shape is great - no trouble getting them down. Every morning she asks for her fish!

These Fish oil burstlets look appealing in the fish shape. My daughter loves to have her "fish intake". However the outer capsule is rather chewy and she ends up spitting it out.

I found the capsule to be very rubbery whenI ate it, however it quickly softened and became something nice to chew. We both like the taste of the capsule, however they aren't exactly "forest fruit" flavour, more like a very very sweet orange.
I definately agree there should be a full months supply per box, that would be the main reason for me to buy it.

After reading the review by 'chantz' I thought I would try this on my little 9 week old baby, who has been 'bunged up' for a while now. 3 days ago I started administering a quarter of a 'fish' 4 times a day, and today, with a big -grunt- and a satisfied, relaxed -ahh- afterwards, he unloaded 8 days worth of fecal 'build-up' in one big, disgusting session.

He seems to really enjoy the taste. When he was having trouble getting to sleep one night, I put a drop on his lower lip to test. He sucked at it for a bit, then started doing the whole 'baby bird' act, hunting around for more. Since then, 4 times a day when he's due to go down for a nap, he gets a dose... with spectacular results.

The fish was a bit hard to deal with. Twisting off it's tail can indeed be a messy business if you have slippery fingers, so I figured "Why no use nature's scissors...' and simply bit the tail off. This has proved quite effective, and gives me a little dose as well.

Overall, I agree with 'Testbot'... 50 is a suitable quantity for the littlest kids, but older kids need more, so larger quantities would be a good idea. At $20 for 50 'fish', you are paying around 40c per capsule. 60 should then cost around $24.00... maybe a little less once you have taken into account that the bottle can easily hold the extra 10 capsules, and there won't be much extra for shipping. $22.00 would be an acceptable price that I would happily pay for the extra 5 days to round out the full month. After all, I have an 8 year old who also thinks these are just great... however we all agree, there's nothing 'berry' about them, it's all 'orange' here too!

I have a 12 week old baby who is a fussy sleeper and demands constant attention. When I am typing on the computer and my partner is away I often have the little one in the bouncer by my desk and I rock it with my foot while I chat. This usually ends up with the sprog fast asleep within minutes but sometimes its just impossible to get snores. I have started to use a pacifier to give the little one something to suck on when "mum" isn't around to offer "comfort suckles" but the little one just doesnt like the taste of bare rubber. The doc suggested I use something like paracare since it had a pleasant raspberry flavour but I am not happy about giving the baby medication when its not required for medical matters so I thought I would try squeezing a few drops from these onto the dummy before I popped it into the tiny mouth. Sure enough it worked great. The flavour is welcomed and enjoyed and I feel good because I am giving the baby something fairly natural and healthy right from the start. I did find it a bit tough to twist the tail off without squirting goo out so be careful about that approach but the bub loves it so its worth an occasional sticky fingertip or two. 50 in the bottle is plenty for my needs at this stage but I agree that for older kids who need 2 a day 60 would be a better quantity. After trying one myself I have to agree its more of an "orange" than a "berry" but I dont really care myself. A bit misleading but still really tasty and more pleasant than the "adult" capsule I take which taste very much like fish. (blah)

Now my kids seem to dislike anything that is even remotely good for them, so it was with some trepidation that I gave these to them to try, and it was the mixed response that probably surprised me the most. My oldest didn't care much for the taste, but my youngest (who probably ranks with the pickiest children around) loved the taste, so much so in fact that I had to make sure he couldn't reach the storage area so he wouldn't down the lot in one hit.

Whilst these are chewable my kids didn't like that aspect, however you do have an alternative in taking off the lid type attachment and squeezing directly into the child's mouth (which works much better for us).

In the interest of science and because I'm also highly curious I tried one myself and I admit I found to to be very sweet in flavour, so don't expect all kids to like it.

On the effectiveness note I haven't noticed any change in the one child of ours who will take it yet, but I have spoke to others who are giving their child this and it does seem to be effective for them.

These are so yummy and my son had no trouble having them. The little caplet broke off easy enough and we just squirt the liquid in his mouth and he thoroughly enjoyed them, even thinking they were little treats :) The only thing I didn't like was the amount you got in a pack seemed a bit odd that it wasn't really a complete months supply.

My three year old daughter was very excited by the fish shape and wanted one straight away. Had no problem taking these and asks for one every morning. Excellent way to get Omega 3 into little ones. As for the effectiveness only time will tell! Would suggest a kiddy proof cap on these, even when kept out of childrens' reach since they do appear to be like lollies and not sure what effect an overdose may cause.

My son ate one but has since refused. He is 3 years and says the outside is too chewy. However I have taken to squirting the oil onto his food or into a drink and he never notices. This is also how I have given it to my 6 month old son. I hope that as the eldest one gets older and starts eating chewier foods and lollies he may eat the whole thing again. Personally I found them very easy to eat and a great alternative to swallowing whole a horse-sized tablet.

My 7 month old loves these, which is great. The taste makes him eat it very easily, although I just squirt it into his mouth.
He was constipated, to a very painful level, and since taking one tablet per day (or most days), his bowel has become much better and he doesn't scream in agony anymore. So it makes me a lot happier knowing he's not in pain.

I have heard that Omega 3 helps brain development as well, which can't hurt, but if your baby is constipated I suggest you give these a go. It tends to soften the whole lot, not just make the last part easier, once the sore part is done.

My 17mth old daughter eats them happily and asks for more so I guess she likes the taste. She did spit the capsule skin out once.
I think they taste nice but wouldn't say they were very 'forest fruit' flavoured. Much better tasting than I feared though. What is 'forest fruit' anyway? Why not just 'Blackberry flavoured' or whatever. The fish illustrations alude to berries, is that forest fruit?
I thought the colour of the capsule could be less dirty/natural looking, but not too artifical either, just to make it look more appealing, why not purple to represent the 'forest fruit' berry flavour.
I like the ability to twist the tail off to put into a drink or whatever.
Packaging is attractive and informative, although a bit repetative with the benefits.
We do not eat a lot of fish so this is definitely a product we would buy.

A great way to hide the fact that its healthy and has vital nutrients in it, as most kids these days won't eat or take anything that has the words "it's good for you" in it.

A good size burstlet that can be chewed and swallowed with out making a fuss over how big it is.

The flavour inside the burstlet is far from fruits of the forest. The very strong taste of orange or vitamin c takes over everything. There maybe a hint of berry in the after taste that lingers on the back of your tongue.

We found the outer shell was VERY chewy and hard to swallow, 4 from 6 kids spat out the shell and wouldn't eat it but loved the sweet insides instead.

We have called the burstlets "Brainy fish pills", The kids think that by taking the burstlets once a day they are going to help become brainy, Hehe (great incentive).

Overall the product is designed for children so I asked them what they thought and they have said they think the packaging is cool with fish on it as it means it has fish in them. One said that the fish should have glasses on and be reading a book! (so the fish look brainy).
Suggestion: To change the flavour to orange as they dont taste like berries, and to make the outer shell softer so it's easyer to chew and swallow.

Kids Smart is riding on the current trend for children wanting great tasting fish oils - and to this end, Bioglan have succeeded.
Each capsule contains a high DHA fish oil - and this should be emphasised because it is not the industry standard 18/12 (18% EPA, 12% DHA) - thickened, sweetened and flavoured in a soft-chewable gelatin capsule.
The oil has a great taste, but far from what I would call "Forest Fruit", because the formulator was a little heavy handed with the sweet orange oil - because that is the over-riding taste, with perhaps a little after taste of forest berries. The fish oil paste is not overpoweringly sweet, but sweet enough to help mask the taste of the fish oil.

The gelatin shell has a good texture, and far softer than the traditional gelatin capsule. The natural colour give the capsule a welcome change from the usual artificial colours.

All in all, the product succeeds in the popular children's market. The only minor comment I would have to make is the pack size - 50 capsules (or 25 days) supply seems an odd amount. Maybe a slightly larger pack of 60s would not make a huge difference in price, but would appeal more to parents who tend to like buying a month's supply at a time. However, having a product that is high in DHA makes it worthwhile, because DHA is essential for the child's growing brain.