Should I be taking Vit D supplements?

[spannermary]

Hi! I'm 11 weeks in, on folic acid & iron supplements but not on Vit D. I keep reading about needing to have Vitamin D, but my Midwife & GP only mentioned Folic.

I'm not able to stomach oily fish right now (normally love it) and I know we'll not get much more sunlight for the next 6 months. Wondering if I risk being deficient in it.

Anyone else on Vitamin D? I'd love to hear your views!

Unless you stay indoors all day you'll get plenty of daylight even in the winter. Aim to get out for a walk in the fresh air for half an hour a day.
Or take Pregnacare or similar supplement. They have the folic acid and a load of other vits, including vitamin D in them, so you will have pretty much everything covered with one of them. Supermarkets do their own pregnancy supplements that are cheaper than pregnacare.

I'd take a slightly different tact to kat. Although I get plenty of sunlight, I was found to be vitamin D deficient. Has anything like that ever come up in your blood tests?

As I am so deficient, I've been taking a separate supplement alongside my multivitamin. I stopped for a while, as I was feeling a lot better - but I'd rather be safe than sorry at this point!

Can you buy them separate? That would be nice actually. I hate the taste of the pregnacare and have gone back to folic acid only as the extra iron was giving me epic constipation. But if you can get them separately that would be nice. I haven't been told to take them but if you want to there is no harm in it.

Is there any way you know if you are vit D deficient other than blood tests? Are there any symptoms?

The nhs recommends you take 10mcg of vit D a day.

www.nhs.uk/planners/pregnancycareplanner/pages/vitaminsmineralsdiets.aspx

Thanks for that crosshair.
Why does the MW not tell me these things?

Also some evidence to suggest link between Vitamin D deficiency in pregnancy / early childhood and MS thus in Scotland where it rains all the time the recommendation is stronger.

I would take a multivitamin, although I doubt it is something to be worried about. Are you indoors all day or from an ethnic group with darker skin and living far north? If not, you should be fine and have no more reason to worry about Vit D than any other vitamin. If you live very far north (as in Orkney) there is growing evidence that it might be beneficial to take a supplement during pregnancy in the winter. That doesn't mean it applies across the board though, so whatever you are reading might not apply to you.

Some info on sun exposure;

www.nhs.uk/news/2010/12December/Pages/sunlight-exposure-and-vitamin-d-advice.aspx

I would highly recommend Vitamin D. Infact, I would recommend asking your mw to test your Vit D levels in your booking in bloods test.

After suffering from recurrent miscarriages, I was tested for Vit D deficiency, and my levels were extremely low. After going on a high dose course at the start of this pregnancy, I am now 24 weeks pregnant.

I think the main symptom of vitamin D deficiency is rickets, but that's only if it's really severe and left untreated. Personally, I suffered fatigue and chronic migraines. Since being treated I haven't had a migraine, and that was back in May.

I am still taking 25mg of vit D supplements a day alongside pregnacare, because it's so hard to get sun exposure with this unpredictable weather. Theoretically you should sit in the sun exposing your arms and legs for 20 mins a day.

Wow - loads of great information there, thanks guys! In answer to your questions, I had some bloods taken at 8 week scan but I don't remember Vitamin D being mentioned.

I am very fair (bordering on ginger!) and live in Yorkshire, but I only really get outside for 20mins a day (10 min walk to and from station). I work indoors and am just too knackered to go on walks etc at the mo. Is that really pathetic?

I'm also thinking that even if they did take a reading at 8 weeks of may be different from now. I'd just returned from a seaside holiday - lots of sun and seafood! This was before the mere thought of it sent me running for the sick bowl.

Sounds like it may be worth chatting to the chemist about an individual supplement or picking up a pregnacare-style supplement. I'm loath to buy the overpriced originals!

Maybe it'll do something to ease this exhaustion. (I know it's par for the course but it's driving me round the bend!)

Thanks again, everyone - and any more advice - keep it coming!

Kat2504 I agree - why doesn't the MW tell is this stuff?

The obstetrician at my recent clinic appt said that overweight women can be vitamin D deficient so he was prescribing me a supplement - then I told him I was taking pregnacare just in case that made a difference and he said that if I was taking that I didn't need the supplement. I was a bit peeved as if I hadn't told him, he'd have had me taking far too much and I think that can be a problem for the baby (although can't remember why - baby brain!)

Hi, dietitian here

Yes, all pregnant and breastfeeding women should be having a vit D supplement of 10 micrograms a day.

Most pregnancy multivits will only give you 5 mcg, so you need to top up.

Whilst you do get vit D from sunlight, you only get it in the summer months. Because of the UK's position the UV rays from October through to mid-April are not of the right wavelength to generate vit D, even if you are out in it.

Hope that helps.

Pregnacare gives you 10 micrograms per day of vitamin D

Sorry most might be an exaggeration. But I've seen a few that don't so just check the label

Yeah I think asda's are 5 mcg.