Vitamin D and calcium tablets through the entire pregnancy now?

[TotorosOcarina]

I went to see my GP today to tell her I am pregnant.

She asked if I am taking folic acid, and then said they now encourage you to also take vitamin D and calcium tablets throught the whole pregnancy.

The tablets are like 10p pieces - chewable and gross!

Has anyone else had this, have never heard it before!

yes fruity.

I tried to chew them which made me heave, I could not suckthem... so I broke it up and took it like a tablets and heaved for about 3 minutes after

You could a daily Rennie antacid (calcium), they have about 680mg calcium in them (you'll be taking them soon for your preg related reflux/indigestion anyway ), and a vit D tablet in addition to the vit D that's in your pre-natal vitamins.

Also, Seven Seas does a calcium "berry" tablet with vit d..... small enough to swallow, chewable gel tablet.

We should all be on the Vit D tablets - UK is too cold and too far north to get enough.

"have a daily"

Most Calcium tablets have an additive that my dh is reluctant for me to take. Can't remember what it is and why it's harmful but I will ask him when he gets home and post later.

I just upped my cheese intake.

Oh, and to answer your question - no, I wasn't advised to take these supplements. My ds was born almost 2 weeks ago.

Butterfly - yes my dh is a Chemical Engineer too. Handy for checking things. I recognise the muttering.

I am glad you asked this. Mine are swallowable and are called 'healthy start' vitamins but they contain folic acid and I am not so sure if I should be taking so much folic acid this late into my pregnancy!

I was told that certain areas are being trialed (Bradford, Cardiff) because cases of rickets are increasing.

Hmmm, I'm really not sure if I can continue with them,

I eat alot of dairy anyway, am a cheese and yogurt addict!

I may just up my dairy and buy vit D tablets!

IT's NHS advice now that vitamin D supplements throughout pregnancy are advisable.

If you take a good prenatal supplement, that will have vitamin D in it.

sigh...

DS born two months ago and I was never told this.

VitA and Vit D are the two vitamin you can overdosed on.
You shouldn't take vitamin D suppplement when pregnant it won't stop rickets in your child.
Your prenatal vitamins probably have enough in them and 15 min in the sun per day is enough to replenish your stocks.
I agree it might be difficult in the UK but if you actually walk and stand outside it is probably enough, not if your are in your car and then sit all day in an office.

Anyway don't take supplement vitD on top of something which already have vit D. Get proper advice before twicking.

I don't take a pregnancy supplement, just floic acid,

should I stop all the different things and just gee a good 'all in' pregnancy one?

It's in the NHS pregnancy book that supplementing vitamin D is advisable throughout pregnancy. A general prenatal should be enough though.

Low vitamin D has been linked with MS and autoimmune conditions in later life, so making sure your levels are good throughout pregnancy is important.

It might be easier to swallow?

I take a calcium supplement but thats due to the blood thinning injections I'm on causing bone problems in ater life also will ahve a bone scan not sure what it entails but I'm sure it will be very exciting.

"Anyway don't take supplement vitD on top of something which already have vit D. Get proper advice before twicking"

the problem is that it's Midwives who are giving these tablets out. Mine are C, D and folic acid and I have been given 2 repeat prescriptions to take me through the rest of my pregnancy.

Perhaps these are meant for people who can't afford to buy their own?

You need more vit D than the preg supplements contain - and it's very hard to get anywhere like enough from modern diets which are very low in foods containing vit D. The "recommended daily intake" you see on the tablet box is not a "maximum safe dose", it's the minimum amount to stop you actually developing signs of deficiency (in the case of Vit D, rickets, MS, schizophrenia, cancer all increase sharply in people with low blood serum levels of Vit D, and this effect is more noticeable the further away from the Equator you were born/raised), you would need 15 or 20 mins standing in bright sun every day, with your whole arms exposed, to make enough vit d for your daily needs. This far north (Scotland), that's very difficult to do as the sun just isn't bright enough for much of the year (England's not much better....)

I haven't been able to stomach any vitamin tablets so have been looking for foods which are fortified. I drink two cups of Horlicks a day which has extra vit d and calcium.

After I had my last DC, I wasn't taking any supplements and bf him for a year. About 2 months after my cs, I started getting joint pains, which over the year deteriorated so badly that they thought I had rheumatoid - one of my blood tests came back positive.
It wasn't until I saw a consultant rheumatologist and had a bone scan done with another blood test that I found out that (thankfully) it wasn't rheumatoid, but a vit d deficiency. I'd got to the point where I couldn't drive, could barely walk, needed to use a stick, couldn't lift DC - I thought my 'normal' life was pretty much over and that all me and the family had to look forward to was a disability associated life. Naturally, had I KNOWN that a stupid little supplement could have prevented this, I wouldn't have had a YEAR of difficulties. Not even worth thinking about - I am and will be taking a multivit and then, once bfing, I'll take a higher dose of vit d and calcium.