Pregnacare

[apples82]

I have recently found out i'm pregnant- is it worth taking these pregnacare vitamins:

www.amazon.co.uk/Vitabiotics-Pregnacare-Original-Dietary-Supplement/dp/B000LNHBCG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1297337905&sr=8-4

In my brain, i'm telling myself you only need folic acid, but the other part of me is saying shouldn't I do everything I can to make sure the baby will be alright?

Am I being sucked into the pregnancy nonsense, or are these vitamins valid?

I would say multi vits are pretty much valid. Yes you need folic acid but pg does put alot of strain on every aspect of your body so extra vit c, calcium, iron, vit D etc etc all helps. I'm sure some would say that if you have a healthy lifestyle you dont really need them but imo even the healthiest body needs a boost when pg. Pregnacare are not necessarily the cheapest or best ones though - others will give their opinions but I use the Boots ones

By the way, congrats on your pg!

Thank you jasmine, we're very very happy.

Ooh, onto Boots I go to look for cheaper ones, thanks for the heads up

I've taken pregnacare with both of my pregnancies and I think they're great. I know opinion is mixed on whether multi-vits are necessary but I really believe pregnancy is a time when your immune system in particular can do with any support it can get and lets face it, even with the best intentions you can't eat so well all the time that you're getting the full range of vitamins.

At the end of the day they can't do any harm, they may do nothing or they'll do you good.

Pregnacare are/were on 3 for 2 at Boots, Tesco's and Ocado recently, maybe still are.

Thanks believe, I've just been onto boots and got the 3 for 2 as at least I get advantage points with that.

I mentioned about buying them to DH last night, and he got all pissy like I was jinxing the pregnancy by buying something pregnancy related- surely i'm boosting it by trying to cover my bases with vitamins! (Rant over)

I think Boots etc do generic 'prenatal' vits which are the same but cheaper. I believe you shouldn't take standard multivits as you're supposed to avoid vitamin A whilst pregnant (no idea why, though) - that's why you can't eat liver (also - no idea why anyone would want to).

apples82, congratulations!

I've jumped on that vitamins/folic acid bandwagon already although I only found out I'm pg the other day, and I was thinking about the jinx thing but, like you say, you have to do your very best to look after your little bean. Hopefully we'll be alright. Either way, it's good for you to be on those things if you're trying to conceive/are pg.

Congrats again!

apples82, congratulations!

I've jumped on that vitamins/folic acid bandwagon already although I only found out I'm pg the other day, and I was thinking about the jinx thing but, like you say, you have to do your very best to look after your little bean. Hopefully we'll be alright. Either way, it's good for you to be on those things if you're trying to conceive/are pg.

Congrats again!

Congratulations! I bulk bought Pregnacare online, knowing folic acid was the biggie, but as you say, you want to give your baby the best possible start, so have the multi vits as well.

It's also important to keep yourself as healthy as possible, especially given the number of over-the-counter remedies for colds etc that say 'not to be taken while pregnant or breast feeding.'

Kept on taking them for the first few months of BFing when you need all the energy you can get.

apples I think you are doing the right thing - even if you dont feel you need them early on in your pg, a few weeks down the line you might find you are catching all sorts of colds and coming down with all sorts of stuff you would normally shake off - you will be doing yourself a favour getting prepared for this.
By the way, re jinxing - the vits are not necessarily for the bub, they are for you since your growing bean will take all they need from you and drain you before they go short. Therefore you can consider that you are simply keeping yourself in tip top condition to give your pg the best chance, rather like keeping fit...if that helps!

Last thing - if your wee goes a funny colour, dont panic it is simply your body expelling excess it doesnt need. An if the tablets make you feel a bit funny dont worry..frankly everything in early pg makes you feel a bit funny!

I don't know I agree. I know folic acid has been proven to reduce spina bifida (and took that myself) but I really think if your diet is healthy there is no evidence that anything else is of any benefit. There is evidence that mega-doses of vitamins are bad for you (but don't think they would put mega-doses in pregnacare etc) and so to say it can't do any harm isn't necessarily true as they haven't done any studies to look at it as far as I know. I also don't think there is any scientific evidence taking pregnancy vitamins stops you getting coughs and colds etc. So, I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing, but I wouldn't be convinced about doing it either (and haven't and am not doing it personally). I don't think we know.

Many congratulations on your pregnancy by the way!

Pregnacare would have been very thoroughly tested and trialled to make sure the doses of vitamins are not harmful to the baby. Sure, folic acid is for the baby, but as Jasmine said the rest of the vitamins are aimed at keeping Mum healthy.

You could try and encompass all of the vitamin doses in pregnacare into your diet, in which case no-one would suggest you're doing anything remotely harmful or unnecessary but in reality, especially in the early days when you become averse to so many foods it would be near impossible to do.

I know big doses of some vitamins can have negative effects, but they are very very big doses - not just what you'd find in a multi-vitamin tablet.

With vitamin C for example, you can OD, but you'd have to be taking a supplement and eating 40 oranges before that would happen!

I don't know or even necessarily think it is harmful, but I'm not at all convinced it's been vigorously trialled in the same way a drug has - if it had there would be evidence it was a good thing to do and it would be recommended by NICE etc. Therefore if it has been trialled and tested it has not shown to be of any harm, but if there was any glimmer of it being shown to be good or positive then I think they drug company would be making a big deal out of it. It is virtually impossible to get a licence trial things on pregnant or breast feeding women. I suspect it is more an extrapolation of what pregnant women do need in terms of vitamin and then packaging it up.

And yes re vit C, but there was a trend of taking mega doses of vitamins and these were associated with negative outcomes. I'm not suggesting taking a normal vitamin C supplement and then eating 40 oranges!

I didn't take anything in my previous 2 pregnancies apart from folic acid and then iron when suggested.

But this time I'm giving them a go. Looking after 2 DCs on my own whilst being pregnant is going to be tough...

Thanks ladies, you've made me feel better for ordering them. I know it's very early, and DH just doesn't want us to get too excited as it is early, but I just want to at least feel happy and get the vitamins into me.

Like some of you have said, you don't want to be pregnant and have a stinking cold, so if I can try to avoid the cold, its a good thing!

Was just an example pirate, not saying that was what you were suggesting.

All I know is that I took them first time round, didn't bother to begin with this time, had a tummy bug and two colds within first 3 weeks of pregnancy so decided I needed to look after myself better which included taking these and now haven't been ill again (touch wood). So I definitely think that getting the RDA's of vitamins while pregnant makes a huge difference and if taking a supplement helps you achieve that then so be it.