What are prenatal vitamins?

Prenatal vitamins are supplements specially formulated to aid give your baby the nutrients that are essential for healthy development. During pregnancy, your required daily intake of certain vitamins and minerals increases - and it's not easy to get those amounts through nutrition alone.

Benefits of prenatal vitamins

Most women can benefit from taking a prenatal vitamin and mineral supplement (preferably earlier trying to conceive). Retrieve of it equally an insurance policy to make sure yous're getting the right amount of certain crucial nutrients during pregnancy.

It'southward hard to get all the nutrients you lot and your baby need, even if you eat a wide variety of food, including meat, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes.

Taking a prenatal vitamin is fifty-fifty more than important for women with dietary restrictions, health issues, or pregnancy complications. This includes women who:

  • Are vegetarians or vegans
  • Are lactose intolerant or accept other food intolerances
  • Smoke or abuse other substances
  • Have sure blood disorders
  • Have an eating disorder
  • Have certain chronic diseases
  • Have had gastric featherbed surgery
  • Are having twins or higher multiples

Prenatal vitamin ingredients - what to look for?

Two crucial nutrients – folic acid and fe – are nigh always included in prenatal vitamins because about pregnant women don't get enough of them from food lonely.

Folic acid

Getting plenty of this B vitamin in the month before you conceive and very early on in your pregnancy can reduce your infant'southward risk of neural tube defects, such as spina bifida and anencephaly, past upwardly to 70 percentage. Folic acid may also reduce the risk of other defects, such as crevice lip, cleft palate, and certain middle defects. Taking folic acid may even lower your chance of preeclampsia.

Your body absorbs the synthetic version of folic acid better than the natural i institute in food, so even if yous eat a balanced diet, a supplement is strongly recommended.

For more details, see our consummate article on folic acrid in your pregnancy diet.

Iron

Nearly moms-to-be don't get enough of this mineral from their diet to encounter their torso'due south increased demand during pregnancy, and this can lead to fe-deficiency anemia. Preventing iron-deficiency anemia can cutting your gamble of preterm delivery, low nativity weight, and baby mortality.

For more details, come across our complete commodity on iron in your pregnancy diet.

cartoon calendar

Notice out your due date, and run into how big your baby is correct now.

What other nutrients should I wait for in a prenatal supplement?

Your provider tin recommend a good prenatal vitamin for yous, and may propose boosted supplements to take as well, depending on your diet and other health factors. Common nutrients that pregnant women may need to take in supplement class include:

Calcium

Your prenatal vitamin may comprise calcium, but at that place's a chance information technology won't be enough. You need calcium to aid your babe grow strong basic and teeth too equally salubrious nerves and muscles (including the heart).

Most prenatal vitamins contain between 100 and 200 milligrams (mg) of calcium, but some don't contain any. That'south because calcium is a specially bulky mineral, and the pills are already big enough!

To notice out how much calcium you need and how to go information technology, see our consummate article on calcium in your pregnancy diet.

Essential fat acids

Prenatal vitamins typically don't comprise any essential fat acids, such equally the omega-iii fatty acids DHA and EPA, which are important for the development of your babe'due south brain, nerve, and centre tissue.

Fish is a major source of DHA and EPA, but you have to be careful about not eating too much fish that'south loftier in mercury while y'all're pregnant.

Because omega-3s are so important for your baby, it'southward a good idea to talk with your healthcare practitioner virtually whether y'all need a supplement.

Learn more:

  • Dietary fats in your pregnancy nutrition
  • Eating fish during pregnancy
  • Taking fish oil supplements during pregnancy

Vitamin D

Your body needs this fat-soluble vitamin to help build your baby'due south bones and teeth. Vitamin D plays an of import function in maintaining levels of calcium and phosphorus.

If you're lacking vitamin D during pregnancy, your baby may be short on the vitamin at birth. This tin put your child at run a risk for rickets (which can lead to fractures and deformity), abnormal bone growth, and delayed physical development. A deficiency of vitamin D has also been linked to a greater risk of developing pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes, but more than research is needed to ostend these links.

To find out how much vitamin D you need and how to get it, meet our consummate article on vitamin D in your pregnancy nutrition.

Other nutrients

Another vitamins and minerals that may be good to have in your prenatal vitamins include iodine (which may help keep your thyroid healthy during pregnancy) and choline (needed for your baby's brain growth).

When should I start taking prenatal vitamins?

Take a prenatal vitamin every twenty-four hours as soon as yous realize you're pregnant.

Because folic acid is then important in the earliest weeks of your pregnancy, ideally you would start taking prenatal vitamins before you conceive – that's why many doctors recommend them for women who might become pregnant. And if you breastfeed your baby, your doctor might recommend y'all continue taking prenatal vitamins even after your baby is born.

Choosing a prenatal vitamin - what's correct for me?

Unfortunately, no standards have been set for what should be in vitamin and mineral supplements considering the Food and Drug Administration doesn't regulate them. That ways it's up to yous and your healthcare practitioner to brand sure you choose ane that'south condom and appropriate for you. (Come across our article on buying supplements for more guidance.)

At your first prenatal checkup or at a preconception visit, your practitioner will probably prescribe a daily vitamin or recommend an over-the-counter brand.

A skilful supplement:

  • Provides certain nutrients that you lot may not be able to go plenty of from your diet. The verbal nutrients and amounts needed will depend on your individual eating habits. At a minimum, look for these key nutrients
    Folic acid/folate: at least 400 mcg
    Iron: 27 mg
    Calcium: ane,000 mg
    Vitamin D: 200 to 600 IU
  • Provides no more than the recommended amounts of other nutrients that can be harmful to your baby if you take too much – similar vitamin A. (Vitamin A derived from beast products tin can crusade birth defects when taken in high doses. That's why the vitamin A in near prenatal vitamins is at least partly in the course of beta-carotene, a nutrient found in fruits and vegetables that your body converts to vitamin A and is considered safe fifty-fifty in high doses.)

Annotation: Make sure y'all don't have whatever other vitamin or mineral supplements while you're taking a prenatal supplement unless your practitioner recommends it.

Unsure what prenatal vitamins to choose? Cheque out these best prenatal vitamins and supplements. Consult with your provider first to make sure any supplement y'all accept during pregnancy is appropriate for your unique needs.

What if I mistakenly take two prenatal vitamins on the same 24-hour interval?

Don't worry. Taking twice the recommended amounts of these nutrients on merely one day won't impairment you or your baby. Just taking a double dose more often can be harmful, so it's important not to do it regularly.

If your practitioner says yous need more of a certain nutrient than your prenatal vitamin provides, have the additional amount as a separate supplement.

What if I have trouble swallowing the pills?

Prenatal vitamin and mineral supplements tend to be pretty big. They can exist hard to swallow, especially if you're dealing with nausea.

If this is a problem for you, your practitioner may be able to recommend a smaller pill or one with a slick coating that makes it easier to get down. (Pills that don't contain calcium tend to be smaller, and you tin get your calcium in other ways.)

Chewable prenatal vitamins are also available. There'due south even a powdered pregnancy supplement that you mix with water. Then if you don't like one version, go along trying unlike options until you find a prenatal supplement you lot can take.

Practise prenatal vitamins accept side effects?

Most women exercise not suffer side effects from taking prenatal vitamins, but some do mutter of:

Nausea

If you lot're taking a supplement with more than the recommended xxx mg of fe, it may upset your gastrointestinal tract. (Supplements that incorporate 30 mg or less probably won't cause y'all any problems.)

To avoid queasiness, try taking your supplement at bedtime or with a meal to make information technology easier to tolerate. Also, talk to your healthcare practitioner. She may be able to recommend a different prenatal supplement.

Constipation

Taking a lot of iron can lead to constipation, which is already a problem for many meaning women.

If you're not bloodless, it may make sense for you to switch to a prenatal vitamin with less iron. Otherwise, try to ease constipation by:

  • Drinking clip juice
  • Eating ii to three servings of fruit a day
  • Taking a psyllium fiber supplement
  • Taking a stool softener, such as docusate sodium

Remember that fifty-fifty though you're taking prenatal vitamins, you still need to swallow well.

Learn most the basics of a healthy pregnancy diet.