Anyone know of best iron supplement?

[Squizzo]

Hi, I'm new to this. I'm now 11 weeks 5 days and counting down to my 1st scan on Wed. I have been suffering terrible morning sickness since week 5. It started as occasional sickness but more recently I was being sick up to 3 times a day. I have no appetite for food and have been forcing myself to eat. I resorted to acupuncture and after 2 sessions I am finally starting to feel more normal again. However, even though I'm able to eat more, I lost about 3kg in weight and I was only 52kg to begin with. I am weak, tired and incredibly pale. I already take a pregnancy multi vitamin but was wondering if I should take something like liquid feraglobin? I used to be a big meat eater but I just can't face it now and it never goes down well. Just been sick mid thread and lost yet another good meal. Please help, any advice on good iron supplements that are safe to take in pregnancy welcome. I'm worried I may be aneamic and really want more energy. I don't want to wait for my next midwife appointment where they might stick me on the nasty prescription pills I've been hearing about that can make you feel terrible and give you constipation. Thanks.

My midwife advised me to use spatone (here). It is meant to be one a day sachets but you can take two a day if you are trying to build up iron supplies. I still take them a few days a month. Not particularly tasty, you can actually taste the iron but you can hide it in orange juice. It's sold in tesco, boots, holland and barrett. I've taken ferrous sulphate pills too and found spatone much gentler.

Hope you're feeling better soon

A second recommendation for Spatone. I took it after post partum haemorrhage following dd's birth. Am 38 weeks now with dc2, and have been taking 1-2 with orange juice. Iron levels great, no side effects. Also recommended to me originally by midwife. It's amazing stuff. And you can get it cheap on amazon.

Another recommendation for spatone here! It really worked for me. My iron levels got really low at 28-30 wks and I felt faint, dizzy and incredibly tired. The ferrous sulphate tablets I was prescribed just didn't seem to work and had horrible side effects. I started taking 2 sachets of spatone a day (one in the morning and one at night) with orange juice as well as my pregnancy vitamin on the recommendation of the pharmacist. After 2-3 wks my iron levels were back to normal and I felt much better. I'm planning to keep taking it for a few weeks after baby is born. I got it on 3 for 2 at Boots and didn't think it was too expensive.

Hope you feel better soon OP

i have spatone. ive tried an apple one which was nice but ive got loads of the plain one i have to put in juice. god knows why they show off on the packet that you can taste the iron cos its grim. but buried in juice its fine.

Another vote for Spatone :)

Spatone is good, as are some of the other liquid irons, but only if you can stomach the taste & if you are already feeling nauseous you may not be able to. Capsule-wise more expensive haeme-iron supplements are the best as they contain iron in its most absorbable form. If you are worried about anaemia ask for a blood studies test to get a definitive answer.

Vote for Spatone here too xx

The hospital gave me flurodex after I had ds1. I notice there is an old thread discussing the merits of it versus spatone see here

You poor thing, I recommend Floridix too especially the yeast and gluten free one. I took it in my first pregnancy and am taking it again now 2nd time round. You can buy from chemist or health food shop.

Thank you all so much for your replies. I have bought some spatone. It hasn't made my nausea worse and I can hardly taste the iron in fruit juice. Here's hoping it makes me feel better soon. On the plus side, had my 12 week scan today and all ok so that was a relief!

Congrats on your scan! FWIW I am taking prescribed ferrous fumarate and haven't noticed any major side effects except slightly different bowel movements - but nothing nasty. I was taking Floradix but needed something stronger.

My obstetrician told me to take Ferrograd or Pregaday. Available at pharmacy counter...Pregaday has extra folic acid too so bonus! I have noticed a small change in bowel movements from Ferrograd but nothing major. Your first set of blood tests should test for anaemia I think. I had a very similar experience, dreadful sickness and was underweight before I got pregnant, and despite eating no meat for 9 weeks, my iron levels were only a bit on the low side, so I wouldn't worry too much, unfortunately weeks of nausea alone is enough to make anyone feel weak and palid! Great news about your scan!

My obstetrician told me to take Ferrograd or Pregaday. Available at pharmacy counter...Pregaday has extra folic acid too so bonus! I have noticed a small change in bowel movements from Ferrograd but nothing major. Your first set of blood tests should test for anaemia I think. I had a very similar experience, dreadful sickness and was underweight before I got pregnant, and despite eating no meat for 9 weeks, my iron levels were only a bit on the low side, so I wouldn't worry too much, unfortunately weeks of nausea alone is enough to make anyone feel weak and palid! Great news about your scan!

i really need to boost my iron it was 9.8 2 weeks ago so started taking floradix religiously twice a day as it didnt constipate me like ferrous sulphate did and after another blood test yesterday its only gone up to 9.9 :(

i've fought to be delivered on the MLBU as i'm high risk but their cut off for Hb is 9.5 - im 38 +5 so hopefully go into labour before it drops any further but dont want to feel like crap after delivery either!!!

am upping my floradix to 3x a day and will drop a ferrous sulphate in there too until i can get some spatone, am also gonna have steak and spinach for tea every other day lol will cost me a fortune!!!!

glenda have you tried ferrous fumarate instead? Ie pregaday? You might get on better with that and it's stronger than ferrous sulphate and a LOT stronger than floradix...

I got mine free from midwife.

I'm turning into a pregaday evangelist!

Floradix got me through pg with good iron levels. I ate no meat and very little else with iron in so it must be good! No bad side effects either