Folic acid question

[Whysoserious]

How long before you started TTC did you begin to take folic acid?

I'm such a plonker - we planned to start TTC this month and 3 months ago bought a whole stash of pregnacare pills which I started to take. I often forgot but took them a few times a week for maybe a month. Then went away for a month forgetting to take them and now I am back and TTC month is finally here.

I started taking them again yesterday but is this too late? If I do fall pregnant this month it will be in about a weeks time - is a weeks worth of folic acid enough??? I know I'd have to continue during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy also, I just find all the information about folic acid before conception really vague.

I have been so excited to start trying this month but would that be very irresponsible of me as my body does not have enough supplies of folic acid. Would I be playing a very risky game? Or is it fine to take as soon as TTC starts (which is what it seems to say on both Bupa and nhs websites)

Trying to find out what others did and what advice they were given by health professionals etc.

Hope this post isn't too rambling. I'm having ome of those lying in bed worrying about nothing panics! Thanks!

Anyone knowledgeable still awake?

Am not 100% but I thought folic acid only sticks around in your body for a short time, which is why you take a pill every day, you don't 'build up' a store at all. so as long as you're taking them when you conceive and for those 12 weeks it's fine. Thats how I understand it anyway. Am ttc atm too and know all about those lying in bed worries :)

Thanks for your reply undertheboredwalk!

That makes sense what you've said! I've read that about it not sticking around in your body too so I wonder where all this 3 months stuff comes from!

There's so much conflicting information out there about conception and pregnancy. I really shouldn't google at this time of night and I'd get a much better night's sleep!

anyone else now a few more people are up?

Am I ok to start TTC now and starting to take the folic acid now or should I wait another 3 months?

Many people get pregnant unexpectedly and only start folic acid when they find out and it doesn't do them any harm. You have done better than many by starting early! I'm sure you'll be absolutely fine, there is no need to waste 3 valuable months of TTC time. Just make sure you try to remember it better from now on, especially in the last 2 weeks of your cycle when you could have already conceived. Try to get into some sort of routine, the sort of thing people do when they are trying to remember their contraceptive pill.

Step away from Dr Google and good luck with TTC.

I know, Dr Google is baaaaaad.

I think what bothers me is that I know I will be trying and therefore would feel a huge weight of guilt if I had a baby born with neural defects. Had I fallen pregnant accidentally there would have been nothing I could have done about it anyway.

There are a couple of threads on here about folic acid that have scared me too. Man it's a minefield this TTC lark.

Before folic acid supplements were invented the overwhelming vast majority of the population managed fine. Obviously now we have them, we should use them. If you are having a healthy diet then you should be getting lots of folic acid from your green vegetables and the pills are just an added extra. If you start properly now, you will know that you are covered from the moment you get pregnant. If you eat a healthy-ish diet (breakfast cereals have added folic acid in them) you will be even better.
Try not to worry about scare stories. Things that go wrong in pregnancies are so very very rarely the mother's fault. If they are it is usually due to drink or drugs. The rest of the time it is just nature and extremely bad luck.

Don't forget that it's not just breakfast cereals that have added folic acid, other products like marmite and ovaltine do too.

My trusted and lovely GP recently advised me to start taking folic acid at the same time we start TTC. She'd never heard of the 'three months in advance' thing and said it wouldn't work anyway.