This nutritionist couldn’t find clean supplements for her neurodivergent son, so she made her own

Every parent knows that moment when you realize the “standard” solutions just aren’t going to work for your child. For Brittany Darling, that moment came when she found herself opening supplement capsules and stirring them into homemade jelly, giving her son magnesium baths, and cooking saffron-laden paella almost daily—all in the name of getting him the nutrients he needed.

As a qualified nutritionist, Darling understood the science behind supporting her son’s nervous system after his autism and ADHD diagnosis. She knew he was missing key nutrients and that he would need support for his nervous system for what lay ahead. What she didn’t expect was how hard it would be to find clean, effective supplements designed for kids.

“When I started looking more closely at children’s supplements, they often contained many of the ingredients we tried so hard to avoid like synthetic dyes, artificial sweeteners, vegetable oils and sugar,” Darling explains. “In addition to this, the vitamins and minerals were in poorly absorbed (and often constipating) forms. I knew I could do better.”

Getting creative in the kitchen

So she got resourceful. Zinc and B-vitamins went into her homemade jellies. Magnesium became bath time and topical creams. And saffron? Coming up with new ways to include saffron into meals my son would actually eat.  “For a number of months, I opened up capsules of zinc and B-vitamins and added them to homemade (healthy) jelly,” she recalls. “It was very time consuming and a labor of love!”

The effort paid off. When her son’s school reached out asking, “What has changed? He seems more settled and we are seeing more willingness to participate at school,” Darling knew she was onto something important.

But she also knew that most parents—already juggling therapy appointments, school meetings, and daily routines—couldn’t realistically take the same approach. “Being ‘in the thick of it’ with multiple appointments to speech pathologists, play therapists and OT’s each week, I saw there was a need for something like this for other kids too in a chewable and sensory friendly delivery format,” she says. “But there was no way this was sustainable for an already exhausted and stressed mom like me, juggling a million things.”

From kitchen experiments to global mission

That’s when I’m Nutrients was born in Australia in 2020—and now, for the first time, Darling is bringing her carefully crafted formulations to families in the United States.

Unlike the other chewable vitamins many of us remember from childhood, Darling’s formulations are what she calls “new age, not from the stone age.” Her chewables skip the added sugar, synthetic dyes, and artificial sweeteners that fill many children’s supplements. Instead, they focus on bioavailable forms of nutrients—like magnesium glycinate and iron bisglycinate—that kids’ bodies can actually use.

Take her flagship product, Calm Mind, which grew directly from her kitchen experiments. It combines the same nutrients she was mixing into jellies: zinc, magnesium, and B-vitamins, plus Affron® saffron extract—the clinically-studied form used in research with children and adolescents. Each chewable delivers targeted support for mood and nervous system support without the hassle of multiple supplements or the mess of homemade concoctions.

Supporting families through every season

For back-to-school season, when routines shift and stress levels can spike, products like Calm Mind and Iron Immunity are designed to support kids through transitions. Iron Immunity pairs kid-friendly iron with vitamin D3 and vitamin C—nutrients that work together to support both iron levels and immune resilience during the school year.

The response from parents has been telling. “Have noticed a huge difference in length and intensity of meltdowns” shares one mother. “Definitely noticed a difference in my daughter being able to regulate her emotions at home and school.”

What started as one mom’s kitchen experiments has become something bigger: a reminder that sometimes the best solutions come from parents who understand that “good enough” isn’t good enough when it comes to our kids. Every I’m Nutrients formula is third-party tested for heavy metals and other contaminates, because when you’re creating supplements for your own children, cutting corners isn’t an option.

In a world of mass-produced vitamins, Darling’s approach feels refreshingly personal: purpose-led, mom-founded, and rooted in the simple belief that kids deserve supplements as thoughtfully made as a homemade meal.

Shop Now and use code: motherly20 for 20% off. To redeem, enter the promo code at checkout.