When to start taking vitamins for pregnancy
Prenatal Vitamins and Supplements | Oakdale ObGyn
you
congratulations whether you just found
out that you're pregnant or you're
actively planning for a pregnancy I'm
sure that you have several questions
about which prenatal supplement would
best fit your needs so today we're going
to discuss some of the key nutrients
that you want to look for in your
prenatal supplement choices first off
the key recommendation is folic acid in
order to help ensure the safety of your
baby's development you want to look for
at least 400 micrograms of folic acid in
your supplement all of the big brands
should offer the 400 micrograms and
you'll also receive some folic acid in
natural fortification of the foods that
you're consuming on a daily basis
the second key nutrient that you want to
look for is iodine the American Academy
of Pediatrics recently recommended that
all pregnant women supplement with 150
micrograms of iodine a day not all of
the supplements have the updated
recommendation so you do want to take a
moment just to review your supplement
choice
to ensure that you have 150 micrograms
of the supplemental nutrient you'll also
receive iodine from some food sources
including dairy and iodine salt
the third nutrient of consideration is
iron you can work with your OB provider
to determine whether or not you need to
actively supplement with iron in your
first trimester some women that are
struggling with morning sickness may
want to hold off as long as they're not
anemic so as your pregnancy progresses
work with your OB provider to ensure
that your iron status is adequate to
prevent anemia so these supplements will
differ in their iron content some of my
moms that are struggling with that
nausea and vomiting in their first
trimester may opt for a gummy and this
will not contain any iron so we want to
just make sure that you're consuming
iron from your food sources and that
your blood levels are adequate if you
find in your pregnancy that you require
a supplemental iron the recommendation
is 27 milligrams a day you will find
varying contents in the various
supplements out on the market and so
just take a moment to ensure that you're
getting at least 27 milligrams of iron
from your prenatal supplement
help prevent anemia later in your
pregnancy another really important
nutrient during your pregnancy is
calcium most women do not realize that
their prenatal supplement will not
supply the adequate 1,000 milligrams of
calcium a day so it's very important to
work in dietary sources of calcium most
prenatal supplements will contain up to
200 milligrams of calcium in one single
supplement and the reason why that is is
because calcium is such a large mineral
they just can't add that to all the
other minerals and have the size of a
prenatal supplement that you can
tolerate so I encourage you to get
grounded and take a moment these two
examples do not contain any calcium so
you'll just want to make sure that
you're consuming at least three servings
of dairy foods a day and span those out
throughout the day because you're going
to absorb calcium the best in about 5 to
600 milligrams at a time if your
prenatal does have some calcium then you
can at least add in 200 milligrams from
that source and then just try to strive
for at least two servings of dairy foods
a day as well as some of the dark leafy
greens that can also provide
supplemental calcium in to ensure all of
your needs are met the last nutrient
that you want to consider during
pregnancy is omega-3 DHA fats currently
we're recommending that all pregnant
women consider eating two servings of
fish each week some of my pregnant moms
are a little bit cautious because
they've heard about concerns of the
mercury and the fish that they're
consuming so really handy resource that
I like to use is the Monterey Bay
Aquarium safe seafood watch you can
research which fish are going to be the
lowest in mercury and a safest for you
and your baby now if we'd rather
supplement with DHA omega-3 fats rather
than eating the fish regularly then you
can consider looking for either a
supplement that already contains DHA it
most will contain about 200 milligrams
of the DHA omega-3 fats now if you find
that you've been opting for something
like a gummy because of your nausea in
the mornings you'll notice that there
isn't any DHA in this type of supplement
otherwise some of the more Whole Foods
versions which are wonderful resources
for my pregnant moms may not contain the
DHA is
so what you can consider is just adding
in a handy useful prenatal DHA
supplement in and of itself
I love the Nordic Naturals brand it's
got great research and very clean source
of the DHA omega-3 fats so as you
explore your supplement options I
encourage you to reach out to your OB
team to really think through which
supplement is going to best meet all of
your needs and to promote the health of
your developing baby
