Hi all,
Not sure how common this is, but a husband here actually posting to try and find some advice to allay my wife's fears... i'm hoping you can help.
We recently found out we are expecting a baby and could not be more pleased, we've been trying for a little while!! And whilst excited it has led to a little anxiety. Let me explain.
My sister has Spina Bifida, and advised us months ago to take folic acid regularly if we were trying, which we have been. So every night my wife has been taking the folic acid capsules (the regular over the counter size). Upon finding out we were expecting my wife went into overdrive 'googling' everything and on the NHS website (and others) it states those parents that have siblings with Spina Bifida should take a higher dose (5mg i think??) - although this needs to be prescribed.
We went to the doctor with the good news, but also this folic acid concern, and she seemed to think what we were doing with normal doses was absolutely fine, and no need for the higher dose. However, my wife had to phone the doctors a couple of days ago as she was worried over some blood appearing (apparently can be normal) and mentioned the folic acid to this other doctor. This doctor apparently checked the NHS website and the prescribed the folic acid... my wife now has no idea what to do, is worried she has harmed the baby as we didn't start taking it sooner, but also, are there any side affects to taking a higher dose??? We're six weeks along, so can take for another six weeks as i understand it.
Have we been really stupid? is it detrimental to the baby? is there any point in taking the higher dose now?
Any help or advice, or previous experiences would be really helpful to me when chatting this through with my wife.
Many thanks in advance