Pregnancy vitamins that don't contain iron

[moveitorloseit]

Does anybody take pregnancy vitamins that don't contain iron? I can't seem to find any. I have anaemia so I'm taking iron tablets from the dr for that but I still want to be able to take a pregnancy vitamin but as they all seem to contain iron I don't want to over do it! If not a specific pregnancy vitamin what separate vitamins did you take? I'm 22 weeks so folic acid isn't an issue.

I don’t tolerate iron supplements so I was unable to take pregnancy vitamins. My midwife advised on calcium and folic acid. I take calcium that’s combined with vit D, zinc and magnesium. I keep taking folic acid as it can prevent folate deficiency anemia.

I cannot tolerate iron in multivitamins and it’s actually really hard to find one without! I get ones I know are lacking in my diet separately. Folic acid, D3, B12 & 6, magnesium & calcium. Oh and take some form of vitamin C with your iron tablets as it helps absorption! It does work out a bit expensive but it’s only for pregnancy. I have a really good diet when I’m not super nauseous & vomiting for 9 months.. 😩

I'm in Scotland & our mw give all expectant mums pregnancy vitamins that don't contain iron.
Pity this isn't carried out nationwide.

I'm on iron tablets as well, started at 22 weeks. I asked my doctor if I could still take my usual supplements. She said I could still take my normal vitamins as the iron content isn't much. I'm on 420mg of iron a day (taking with orange juice) and my Pregnacare are only 17mg. I had a routine blood test at 28 weeks and had been on the tablets for 7 and a half weeks and my levels have hugely improved to 121 (originally level 14). I plan on asking for another blood test in the coming weeks to ensure I don't over do it. You do want them raised quickly so that you are able to function again. Once you hit levels you're happy with might be best to discuss with your doctor about cutting down in order to maintain.

That's interesting that you could still take pregnacare, that's what I was taking before. It would be easy if I could talk to my doctor about it but they make it impossible to speak to them at my surgery now. I've bought b12 and vitamin d so far. I just find it harder because different ones of the same supplements have different levels and I don't know what's enough or more importantly too much.

I also had low iron levels at 28 week blood test. I was advised to take iron supplements and continue taking Pregnacare. And at 32 weeks my iron levels had increased from 108 to 120, so not such a big difference as I had imagined. I was also worried as you are about overdoing it, but the midwife reassured me that Pregnacare doesn't contain that much iron and I could really see that in my second blood test results.
Maybe it's worth asking the midwife for an advice if you can't get through to the doctor.

I take all my vitamins separately, I wanted high doses of the best absorbed formulations. All in one tablets tend to have the lowest concentration - which is perfectly fine for the average person. I knew that I needed more than this.

The gold standard of what you should be taking

Vit B
Vit C
Vit D
Calcium
Magnesium
Folate/Folic acid
DHA
Zinc
Iodine
Iron

The bare essentials at 22w
Vit B
Vit D
Calcium
DHA

You can't take too much these as long as you're not taking more than advised on the box.
I found getting my vitamins online either amazon or a company called Lindens worked out the cheapest. Hope this helps.

I am anemic too and was advised to take my supplements on top of Pregnacare - my top up dose was adjusted to take it into consideration.

I just took a combined folic acid and vit d supplement, anything with iron in made me feel sick.