Feel so guilty for not taking pregnancy vitamins

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How important is it to take the pregnancy tablets like Pregnacare, Seven Seas? I’ve not taken mine since week 12 (when I stopped the folic acid tablets) and am now 23 weeks. I’m worried I’ve affected or disadvantaged my baby in some way by not taking them - and they’re not even born yet!

I’ve not been doing my pelvic floor exercises either - I have no discipline

Do you eat well? If you do then don't worry. If you live on McDonalds you have a problem! I didnt take mine either as I have a very healthy diet and don't believe over supplementing is helpful, nor recommended on NHS

Are you eating a healthy diet? That's more important than taking the vitamin.

I actually never took any vitamins during my 1st or 2nd pregnancies only folic acid... I took them this time till 12 week then stopped. I kept forgetting to take them tbh so in the end just gave up. Also never even done pelvic floor exercises either

I stopped taking mine at 8 weeks because I was certain I'd had a mc. 5 days later had a scan and the baby was fine but by then I felt so much better (all day nausea was gone etc) that I decided that pregnacare was making me really sick. So I didn't start taking them again. I asked midwife about it and she told me not to worry unless I had a really horrible diet.

You can't change what you've done up to now so try to relax and just focus on what you want to do now I'm sure it's not a problem but you are clearly worried so maybe start taking them now and set an alarm on your phone.

When I had my first DC nearly 27 years ago, folic acid tablets and pregnancy vitamin tablets were non existent! I was so sick I lost weight and got prescribed Complan as I couldn't keep anything down - even the Complan came back up! My DD was born perfectly healthy.

As long as you are eating ok, baby will be fine.

Welcome to motherhood! 9 months of worrying followed by 18+ years of more!

I only take vitamin D now I'm 15 weeks. The first time I was pregnant they didn't even tell you to take that (and it was only 2 years ago). I wouldn't worry.

I only took folic acid no other supplements but always had a very good diet and the only change was to go nearly 100% organic whilst pregnant and breastfeeding and weaning was done on organic food as well (waste of money probably, the crap teenagers eat on their own nowadays is shocking ).
Honestly, if you have a decent diet you do not need other supplements.

Not. At. All. Important.

Seriously though, they aren’t. If generally you eat healthy you’ll be absolutely fine.

I know this from personal experience.

I had hyperemesis and not a single thing went past my lips for 4 months, the only thing that kept me going was a hospital drip. I distinctly remember crying to a nurse one day about how guilty I felt that I hadn’t managed to take vitamins; she laughed, laughed some more and then reassured me that they really weren’t necessary .

I bet your mum didn’t take pregnancy vitamins.

Funnily enough I read an article today that said pregnancy vitamins are absolute bollocks. If you have a varied diet then they're entirely pointless and a waste of money. As long as you're taking folic acid that's the only one that matters.

As Hedda says, we didnt take vitamins 30 years ago. Only iron if diagnosed as needing it.

I didn't take them. They made me ill.

I took folic acid and that was it, third Pregnancy I can't touch pregnacy vitamin's. As long as you have your folic acid and you eat well then you should be ok :)

Don't worry about it, I was told that babies are actually perfect parasites (not in a horrible way) they take everything they need from the mother so if anyone suffers it will be you not the baby. Provided that you eat a sensible diet the baby will be fine.

5 kids here and never taken a vitamin n my life, have 5 healthy kids I wouldn't worry yourself.

I take vits plus iron and vit d but prior to pregnancy i knew my folic acid, iron and vit d were always really low so my advice is to only take them if u need too. They are expensive, big and tbh i have hyperemesis so i am not sure how much i am absorbing anyway!

The only vitamins recommended are folic acid and vitamin D. If you have a healthy diet they rest are not needed. Perhaps restart vitamin D if you don’t want to take the entire supplement, this is particularly helpful if you plan to breastfeed.

Don't worry about it, I was told that babies are actually perfect parasites

I was also told this by my consultant when I worried because I was losing weight and only eating cake, custard and baked beans.

Thanks all. I did take folic acid from five weeks (when I discovered I was pregnant) up until 12 weeks, then stopped as I thought it wasn’t needed after that.

My diet is good but not great - I tend to get three of my five a day but have also been eating quite a bit of chocolate.

A typical day for me would be:

Breakfast: cereal with a piece of fruit and glass of juice

Lunch: soup or a sandwich of some sort

Dinner: oven meal such as fish pie or cottage pie with one type of veg; or spaghetti bolognese, sometimes a curry

Snacks: fruit, yoghurt or chocolate muffin

If nothing else, you MUST take vitamin d

Folic acid till 12 weeks.
Vitamin D for last 10 years (!) and counting
Fish oil (not fish liver oil) for last 5 years and counting

That’s all I’ve taken this pregnancy and continued eating a normal diet. Free of nausea, constipation due to iron in tablets or weird cravings. WithDS1 took super pricey pregnancy vitamins and my entire system was fucked up.

If nothing else, you MUST take vitamin d

Oh dear - is it a major issue that I haven’t been taking it? I will restart on the Seven Seas today

(I did take vitamin D as part of the folic acid tablet up until 12 weeks)

The NHS doesn’t actually recommend you take multivitamins. The only two things they recommend is folic acid till 12 weeks and vitamin D throughout