Choosing Prenatal Vitamins

 As you embark upon your journey to motherhood, you will face many decisions and challenges you hadn’t thought of before. The choice to take nutrients during your pregnancy should not be a complicated one. I have listed some helpful tips below.

Multivitamins are not designed to fill the gaps in a poor diet. It is always my preference that people choose to eat a balanced diet of whole foods as the primary source of their nutrients. My advice is to “eat a rainbow” which really means that when we choose colourful foods like dark greens, bright red fruits and vegetables, rich blue berries and clean proteins we offer our bodies an array of nutrients that fill our daily requirements. 

These nutritional requirements increase during pregnancy making meeting nutritional needs even more challenging. Add to this the fact that many pregnant women have alterations to their taste or severe nausea that limit their ability to eat as they did prior to pregnancy. This is a common source of “mommy guilt” that I sadly see so much of in pregnant moms. 

A good quality multivitamin can ease some of this worry and I believe pregnancy is a good time to boost up some of the essential nutrients to support your developing baby. Multivitamins can however be the single most nauseating thing you can ingest. Here are my fast tips to getting a prenatal vitamin right: 

1. What if my vitamin makes me feel sick? 

Once-A-Day multivitamins are by far the most likely to cause nausea since they provide very high doses all at once that would not ordinarily be eaten. Zinc is the biggest nausea culprit but any vitamin in high doses can trigger this especially during pregnancy when your sense of taste and smell are heightened. 

Prenatal vitamins that are lower doses and designed to be taken one with each meal. Even one of these a day in early pregnancy will help and that is often all a pregnant mom can tolerate at first. This also reduces the “neon urine” that women often complain of. This brightly coloured urine is rich in riboflavin from your vitamins and is harmless but is also expensive pee. Dividing doses allows your body to absorb nutrients in more natural doses. 

2. What are the basics I need?

All of the nutrients are important but the ones most important to me include: 

• Iron at approximately 30 mg per day in an absorbable form like a glycinate

• Calcium at approximately 150 mg a day in a citrate form

• Selenium to total about 50 mcg per day

• Iodine in an iodide form to total at least 150 mcg per day

• Folic acid preferable as a methyltetrahydrafolate 1 mg a day

• B12 1 mg per day

3. How soon should I start taking prenatal vitamins? 

As soon as you start trying to conceive a prenatal vitamin is both wise and safe. Some prenatal vitamins are quite high in iron so it is a good idea to consult your health care practitioner about your individual iron requirements as taking iron when you don’t need it isn’t a great idea and can be constipating. 

4. Is there anything I shouldn’t have? 

Yes, there is. You should avoid vitamins that contain pure vitamin A and only take doses of Beta Carotene less than 5000IU per day. I am not a fan of multivitamins that contain blends of herbal products as some herbs are contra-indicated in pregnancy and they are often not necessary. Simple is often best. It is always best to consult your health professionals for your individual needs. 

Recommendation

My favourite prenatal vitamin is the NFH (Natural Fundamentals for Health) Prenatal SAP 180 capsules for $42.40.

Email us if you would like us to set aside a bottle for you or have any other questions: hello@thewombwoodstock.ca.