pregnancy vitamins

[ditsydoll]

What do you take and how long did you take it for?
With DD I just took folic acid for the first 12 weeks.
This time around iv been taking a multivit of vit d, c and folic acid.
Is it ok to take this all the way through?

I took pregnancy vits and Omega 3 all the way through both pg. I was so sick I reckoned I could do with some nutrition somehow, and it couldn't hurt. I think the only vit that is harmful to pg women and their babies in large doses is A, and that is limited/missing from pregnancy vitamins.

I took folic acid & vitamin d for the first 12 weeks and then various combinations of vit d and whatever, depending what was in the shop at the time, until 34 weeks.

At 34 weeks my iron levels were borderline and the midwife suggested I start taking Pregnacare to try to stop them dropping any lower. It's got some iron but not enough to make constipated (so far).

You can take pregnancy multivitamins all the way through. I'd also consider taking an omega 3 supplement to complement the multivitamin.

I took pregnacare plus last time and this. It's multivitamin and omega capsule. I don't take religiously though. Some days I couldn't bare to swallow it.
Occasionally if I'm constipated I take a small dose of magnesium. Midwife said it was ok to. It also helps with leg cramps in the middle of the night.

I have just been given free multivitamin + folic acid tablets by my midwife at booking appt. Had the same with DC3 2 years or so ago.

Doesnt everyone get these?

Ezza - I think it's just certain areas.

I've been taking Pregnacare for three months since before conceiving and will continue to take until I stop breastfeeding. Did this with DS. Main reason is that my diet isn't as good as it was due to feeling yucky.

We only get the Healthy Start vits free if we're on certain benefits (Scotland). Anyone can buy them very cheaply though, but you can only get them from certain chemists and there wasn't one convenient to me.

I wish they all sold them because I'd have preferred to take the Healthy Start ones rather than the massive Pregnacare horse pills.

How strange for it to be a regional thing - Im not on any benefits so just assumed the vitamins were given to everyone!

I've never understood how healthcare can regionally differ so much.

Yes, it might even differ between Health Boards in Scotland. There are often things that are different between, say Glasgow & Edinburgh, depending on how they've allocated funding.

Ds got free toothpaste & brushes until he was 5, but dn the same age in a different city didn't (mind you, Glasgow teeth are atrocious).

I'm in the East Midlands and got the free vitamins (and not on benefits)
They are great as so small! My mw recommended taking them all the way through for the vit D.