Pregnancy Forum - Questions: 5th to 6th week pregnant, no prenatle vitamins!


Questions: 5th to 6th week pregnant, no prenatle vitamins!

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Mommys_little_star_08

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Questions: 5th to 6th week pregnant, no prenatle vitamins! Posted: 09-24-07 12:13pm


I am in my 5th to 6th week and I dont have any prenatle vitamins can that hurt the baby this early in????? I have not had any morning sick sympotoms or any heart burn is everything okay????

dandylion

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Posted: 09-25-07 12:15pm


I took pre-natal vitamins for about a week when i was pregnant and stopped because they made me feel sick. my baby is 15 months old and perfectly fine. I don't think people in our parents or grandparents generation took them and they were all fine right? Not to worry. it's great if you do, but not life threatening if you dont.

AyaMiyaki

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Posted: 09-25-07 12:34pm


You can take Flintstone's Vitamins plus a folic acid suppliment until your OB prescribes prenatals.

Dannzibelle

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Posted: 09-25-07 12:35pm


you don't have to take them. I only took folic acid for about 5ish weeks and my daughter is perfectly healthy all snuggled up in her moses basket at the moment. Also my mum never took any and had both myself and my older sister with no complications

Ingi

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Posted: 09-25-07 12:38pm

dandylion wrote:

I took pre-natal vitamins for about a week when i was pregnant and stopped because they made me feel sick. my baby is 15 months old and perfectly fine. I don't think people in our parents or grandparents generation took them and they were all fine right? Not to worry. it's great if you do, but not life threatening if you dont.

Well... not to be a downer, but spina bifida is life threatening. You can buy some pre-natal vitamins at any drugstore. Walmart has them fairly inexpensive.

Quote:

The most common neural tube defects are spina bifida (an incomplete closure of the spinal cord and spinal column), anencephaly (severe underdevelopment of the brain), and encephalocele (when brain tissue protrudes out to the skin from an abnormal opening in the skull). All of these defects occur during the first 28 days of pregnancy - usually before a woman even knows she's pregnant.

That's why it's so important for all women of childbearing age to get enough folic acid - not just those who are planning to become pregnant. Only 50% of pregnancies are planned, so any woman who could become pregnant should make sure she's getting enough folic acid.

young Girl

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Posted: 09-25-07 12:43pm


i didnt start takeing mine until week 8 but yeah you can buy them for cheap at the store or like laura suggested take flinstones

dandylion

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Posted: 09-25-07 16:52pm


i think if you are destined to get spina bifida, taking a multi vitamin isn't going to help. as long as you are eating healthy and getting the right vitamins through your food intake, you don't need to take a daily vitamin. you should ask your doctor his/her opinion of course as i'm no doctor. this is just my opinion.

Ingi

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Posted: 09-25-07 18:16pm

dandylion wrote:

i think if you are destined to get spina bifida, taking a multi vitamin isn't going to help. as long as you are eating healthy and getting the right vitamins through your food intake, you don't need to take a daily vitamin. you should ask your doctor his/her opinion of course as i'm no doctor. this is just my opinion.

I don't think pre-natal vitamins would be so widely prescribed if the majority of women were, in fact, getting the recommended daily allowances of folic acid and other nutrients. American diets are notoriously not healthy.

There have been numerous studies done on the subject of vitamin intake during pregnancy and, while it may seem we would get what we need from our food, as a society we don't.

During pregnancy a woman's blood volume increases and a lot of women will also become anemic. The easiest cure for that is to take iron supplements.

Quote:

Folic acid: Pregnant women need 400 micrograms (400 mcg) of folic acid every day to help prevent birth defects.

Folic acid is important for any woman who could possibly become pregnant. Folic acid is a B vitamin that helps prevent serious birth defects of a baby's brain or spine called neural tube defects. Getting enough folic acid can also help prevent birth defects like cleft lip and congenital heart disease.

Getting enough folic acid is most important very early in pregnancy, usually before a woman knows she is pregnant. So, at least one month before you try to become pregnant you should make sure you're getting enough folic acid. Women who are already pregnant need to get enough folic acid every single day.

An easy way to get enough folic acid is to take a multivitamin every day. Most multivitamins sold in the U.S. contain enough folic acid for the day. But be sure to check the label! Choose a multivitamin that contains 400 mcg or 100% of the Daily Value (DV) for folic acid.

Another way to get enough folic acid is to eat a serving of breakfast cereal that contains 100% DV for folic acid, every day. Check the nutrition label on the box of cereal to be sure. It should say "100%" next to folic acid. Orange juice, spinach and legumes are also good sources of folic acid.

Iron: Pregnant women need twice as much iron — 30 mg per day — than other women.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that pregnant women start taking a low-dose iron supplement (30 mg/day) or a multivitamin with iron beginning at the time of their first prenatal visit. Ask your doctor what she recommends. Prenatal vitamins prescribed by your doctor or those you can buy over-the-counter usually have the amount of iron you need. But be sure to check the label to make sure. Pregnant women should also eat lots of iron-rich foods. Some good sources of iron include lean red meat, fish, poultry, dried fruits, whole-grain breads, and iron-fortified cereals.

Pregnant women need extra iron for the increased amount of blood in their bodies. Iron helps keep your blood healthy. Plus, your baby will store iron in his body to last through the first few months of life.

Too little iron can cause a condition called anemia. If you have anemia, you might look pale and feel very tired. Your doctor checks for signs of anemia with the routine blood tests taken at different stages of your pregnancy. If your doctor finds that you have anemia, she will give you a special iron supplements to take once or twice a day.

Calcium: Pregnant women aged 19 to 50 years should get 1,000 mg/day of calcium. Younger pregnant women need even more — 1300 mg/day.

Most women in the U.S. don't eat enough calcium. So many pregnant women will have to change their diets to get their fill of this important mineral. Low-fat or non-fat milk, yogurt, cheese or other dairy products are great sources of calcium. Eating green leafy vegetables and calcium-fortified foods like orange juice and breakfast cereal can also provide calcium. If your diet is not providing 1,000 mg/day of calcium, talk to your doctor about taking a calcium supplement.

dandylion

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Posted: 09-27-07 15:16pm


If you are worried about spinal issues, take a folic acid supplement. you don't need the pre-natals. plus you don't need to get them perscribed. they're over-the-counter. the extra iron in a pre-natal vitamin is what made me feel sick. i was better off eating food with extra iron in it every day instead.

Eyes Wide Shut

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Posted: 09-28-07 10:06am


With my first daughter, I stopped taking them after about a month or so because they made me vomit. But with this one, I've gotten a special one prescribled that eases the nausia of the prenatal. It's a duet vitamin. I'm determined to take them this time to see if there is a difference. Not in the after effect, but in the pregnancy effect. I want to see if taking them will help me make it full term as opposed to 37 weeks. I felt aweful about not taking them for my daughter and she's fine. But I would have LOVED to go to 40+ weeks! Sarah