Prenatal Vitamins

the Babble Staff

Ideally, whether you’re pregnant or not, you should be eating a diet that’s well balanced enough so that you don’t need to supplement it with vitamins. However, some experts say that it can be hard for pregnant women to cover all their nutritional bases, especially if they experience severe morning sickness and have a hard time keeping food down. While women and their babies can do just fine without prenatal vitamins, and vitamins should never be used instead of a balanced diet, a supplement can serve to ensure that you’re not missing out on essential nutrients while pregnant. Doctors say certain vitamins and minerals, folic acid, iron and calcium among them, are especially vital to pregnant women. Folic acid has been found to reduce the risk of spina bifida in babies. Other nutrients, like vitamin A, can be harmful in high doses. The FDA doesn’t regulate vitamins, so doctors caution to always consult with your health care provider before taking any supplements. Women who have special nutritional needs, or are on restricted diets, are especially likely to need prenatal vitamins, experts say. Some women find that their prenatal vitamins make them nauseous, in such cases experts advise talking to your health care provider and perhaps switching to a different type of supplement.

"If you're very tuned in to nutrition and regularly eat a broad range of foods, including meat, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes, your diet will provide almost all the nutrients you and your baby need. Realistically, though, most women — especially those in the throes of morning sickness — can benefit from taking a prenatal vitamin and mineral supplement, preferably before they start trying to conceive."...read the full article

"For a mother's health, and the health of her baby, she is advised to take so-called "prenatal vitamins." These are specially formulated multivitamins that make up for any nutritional deficiencies in the mother's diet during pregnancy."...read the full article

"Prenatal vitamins are a hot topic these days. Everyone is touting the benefits of using them prior to getting pregnant to help prevent certain birth defects and continuing them during pregnancy and breastfeeding for continued protection from nutrition deficiencies. However, despite all of the attention these little pills get there are a lot of fallacies as well."...read the full article

"Don't megadose on vitamins while pregnant unless your doctor orders. Excesses of vitamin A, D, and E have been linked to birth defects or health problems in the mother. Even though the body usually protects against overdosing of most nutrients (especially water-soluble vitamins), excess vitamins A, D, and E are not automatically eliminated from the body because they are fat-soluble and therefore stored in body fat."...read the full article

"Women who take multivitamins early in pregnancy may reduce the risk that their child will develop some types of brain tumors. Public health agencies already urge pregnant women to take multivitamins that contain folic acid early in pregnancy to reduce their fetus's risk of developing a neural tube defect such as spina bifida." ...read the full article