Midwife's comments on pregnacare

[LongJohnGlitter]

Hi there

This post / question is not meant to upset anyone - I am just looking for some advice or reassurance myself.

I'll keep it short: my midwife told me that pregnacare are a waste of money and that multivitamins in general are ineffective. Speaking as someone who was very unwell (couldn't stomach any meat, dairy, even my beloved porridge) - during most of this pregnancy and barely ate, I was relying on the pregnacare for peace of mind. If she's right, I haven't been getting nearly enough of anything - vit d, zinc, b12, iodine etc . I'm 30 weeks, have been feeling better for the past 6 weeks, baby is measuring fine, my bloods are ok, and I'm clinging on to that.

@LongJohnGlitter

I think this post should highlight to you how varied midwife and doctor advice is, and therefore, like you will for the rest of your time as a mother, just continue to do what you feel is best and right.

Multi vitamins and folic acid made me violently sick during my pregnancy, I had awful morning sickness on top of that also. I had a very healthy 8lb 6oz baby who is now 12 weeks old and trying to sit up on her own! I wouldn't overthink it.

I know it's not the main line of enquiry here, but vitamin A is important in pregnancy. If it's from beta carotene (plant source) it's all good. If it comes from retinol (animal source) too much can be dangerous in pregnancy. Most multi-vits contain a mix as far as I know, so don't panic, just check the lable.

@StoneSourFan congratulations!

I think you are confusing what a few of us/the midwife are saying actually @LongJohnGlitter

Pregnacare is a waste of money, but it isn't useless. What the midwife was meaning was it does exactly the same thing that a supermarket pregnancy multivitamin does, but pregnacare costs £££ in comparison.

Most women don't actually need all the vitamins in a pregnancy multivitamin anyway, the important ones are folic acid and vit D (and iron for those who need it) so actually even the supermarket own brand pregnancy multi vits are often overkill.

Pregnacare have a contract with a lot of trusts to put free samples of pregnacare into maternity packs, this has the impact of making women think that this is what they have been given to take by their midwife and keep buying it at £15 a month. It's plain old advertising to a vulnerable market.

It's unnecessary, there are much cheaper ways to get the vits you need. But they will still have done the job, just not very cost effectively.

The only supplement that is really required is folic acid. Vitamin D can also be recommended depending on your circumstances, then of course if you are found to have any deficiencies through blood tests, you'll have to take those. When deficiencies happen it's because your diet isn't quite balanced or your body has trouble absorbing that particular nutrient. Seems like iron is the main one this happens with.

So there's not really any NEED for Pregnacare or other multi vits and in that sense they are a waste of money, though I wouldn't judge anyone for investing in them for peace of mind. Personally I'm only on folic acid at 11 weeks.

@pastabest thanks very much, your post is definitely reassuring. I didn't misunderstand what she said, she said that combined multi-vitamins are 'ineffective' and don't get broken down in the gut. But I feel better after reading a lot of these posts. A pp who is a midwife did point out that these vits would be tested extensively and that also put my mind at ease

OP you say you’re worried about harming your baby and she’s not got what she needs... trust me she will have taken exactly what she needs from your body. Babies are clever like that! I had an absolutely shocking diet whilst pregnant because there was lots I couldn’t stomach, but our DD turned out absolutely fine!

@LakeTittyHaHa thank you, I hope so. Perhaps I am feeling more scared the closer I get to my due date too. I'm sure everything will have worked and everything will be ok x

@FilthyforFirth just reading through these messages again and wanted to say thanks, it's good to hear that pregnancies where diet was crap could turn out happy healthy babies. Like most women I am somewhere between terrified and worried that I've cocked up somewhere. Nice to hear you made it to the other end and the outcome was good

@LongJohnGlitter

Just to provide some reassurance, I had hyperemesis for 5 months and genuinely didn't keep a thing down during that time and survived merely on a fluid drip at the hospital. No vitamins etc, just a plain standard drip.

DS came out a chunky 8lb2oz baby and is ahead in all developmental stages.

Babies are parasites in the womb and will deprive you of anything and everything before they suffer

@2007Millie that sounds fine to me! Thank you for saying that x