Vitamin A BEFORE TTC

[nannyl]

Just wondering if anyone knows the answer to this...
I have been reading that it is important NOT to have too much vit A when pregnant or Trying to get pregnant.

Im NOT TTC yet, but planning on coming off pill in Augast, having a few months regulating my cycle and actually Trying to concieve from Jan 2011...

At the moment i am just taking a "normal" multi-vit + iron tablet, but it contains 100% RDA of Vit A.

I was planning on swapping to a pregnancy multi vitamin as soon as i stop my pill, but was wondering IF i accidently got pregnant in Augast (when im superfertile havng stopped pill) would this vitA affect baby? and I should I stop taking this multi-vit sooner and start taking a pregnancy multi vitamin (which i assume does not contain Vit A) earlier?

Its just IF i got pg i wouldnt want to harm the baby if swapping vitamins a month or so earlier would be better...

or does vitA very quickly leave your system?

(on the multi-vit + iron it clearly says do NOT take if pregnant OR likely to become pregnant, so it got me thinking)

Hi there,

Not sure what the answer is hun but even if you are waiting until August there is no harm in swapping your vitamins for the preconception/pregnancy vitamins? They don't have any vitamin A in them so maybe Vitamin A isnt particulary good for pregnancy?

Hope this helps

I've just found this nanny:

"I've read that pregnant women must be careful about their intake of Vitamin A because an overdose can cause birth defects. I'm worried that I may accidentally "overdose" on Vitamin A with my prenatal vitamin combined with additional amounts in my diet. Is that possible?

It is highly unlikely that you will overdose on vitamin A. Prenatal vitamins are developed using a safe dosage. The additional amount of vitamin A in your diet is most likely in the form of beta-carotene, which does not act the same way in the body (from a toxicity standpoint) as preformed vitamin A, and therefore will not contribute to the level of preformed vitamin A retained in your body.
Vitamin A is required for growth, for cellular differentiation, and for the normal development of fetuses. Signs of toxicity usually appear only after sustained daily intakes exceeding 50,000 IU in adults. These doses are more than 10 times higher than the RDA and usually cannot be obtained from foods, except by the ingesting large amounts of liver or fish liver oils which are especially rich in vitamin A.
Notice how much vitamin A is in your supplement, and if that is not more than 100 percent of the RDA, and if you are not eating lots of liver and fish oil, than you can rest assured that you are not overdosing on Vitamin A."

Sounds like you need to have loads of it to cause harm. You do need some Vitamin A.

A totally more sensible answer!

thanks for that

so i wont worry about it and will just swap to pregnancy vitamins in augast so should have 3 months on pregnancy vits before i actually TTC.

i guess lots of people get PG without even trying and may take multi-vits (with vit A) and still have healthy babies at the end

I was taking Cod Liver Oil capsules containing Vitamin A when I got pregnant back in 2005. I'd mentioned to my GP that I was taking them but he didn't tell me to stop. Did tell me to avoid Hellmans mayonnaise though - so I guess his pregnancy knowledge wasn't quite up to date! I stopped taking them as soon as I realised I shouldn't be doing so - around 7 weeks or so. DD was/is fine.

The concern with Vitamin A is more for things like Retin A, Roaccutane and the like. These are based on the high doses of vitamin A that can cause birth defects. When you are prescribed these types of meds you are usually required to sign an agreement to say you will be using contraception for the duration and and while after the course of medication.

I've read that stuff that goes on your skin enters the bloodstream at a much higher concentration than anything taken orally so I would probably avoid using any skincare products that are vitamin A or Retinoic Acid based from now on.

wow having kittens...

that had never even crossed by mind but also obviously needs to be thought about

I only really put noisturiser on my face (I dont think it is a vitA one but i will check )

I did read that on the internet though and I can't remember where so it may be hokum! But with stuff like VitA it's worth avoiding the risk.