How important is Folic Acid / Pregnacare before 12 weeks?

[Trustynickname]

Hi all
I have been taking Pregnacare since around 6 weeks pregnant, managed to take for the first 3/4 weeks fine, although would feel sick after. But the past week I haven't managed to keep one down, so I've practically went a week without any pregnacare. And I have also sicked up on other occasions before this for days in a row and also skipped a few because I couldn't swallow it due to the sickness. I'm 12 weeks today according to last period.

Will this have affected the baby? I feel so bad. I didn't struggle with sickness my last pregnancy and managed to use folic acid the whole time no issues and my son is healthy. I'm worried of the affect lack of folic acid will have had on the baby?

Thanks for any advice

It is important but you've been taking it when you can which is the main thing.

Pregnecare makes a lot of people sick though. You'd be better off buying just folic acid and vitamin D as themselves.
Doesn't need to be expensive. Just a supermarket own brand has exactly the same in

Maybe speak to your midwife and tell her you can't keep them down she maybe able to suggest another option and up the intake of food high in folic acid in the mean time

An alternative is Better You Pregnancy oral spray (got mine on Amazon)

Folic acid is the most important before 12 weeks, and easier to keep down than pregnacare. Get separate folic acid from the supermarket/pharmacy.

It's the iron in pregnacare that makes most feel ill.

If you can stomach them, I found taking pills with a yoghurt drink rather than water made a huge difference in my first pregnancy, as my gag reflex was awful and I couldn't swallow pills at all, even tiny folic acid ones.

It can be pretty important. It's really effective in preventing some severe birth anomalies including spina bifida. I'd definitely recommend speaking to your midwife. Hopefully all is fine but they should be able to help with you being ill so regularly too!

Pregnacare made me really sick and it’s a common reaction. So I switched to Seven Seas Pregnancy and that stopped right away. (I got mine on amazon) As others have said Folic acid is the main thing which you can take separately plus you were taking it very early on, which is the most important time when the baby’s neural cord is developing. You can also get folic acid in to you in other ways - leafy greens, cereal, echinacea drink, pumpkin seeds, beans etc ... google it for things you can stomach. I take an iron spray which I spray under my tongue separately from the tablet now that I’m later in my pregnancy and need more iron. Google what you need and try not to panic. In days gone by there were no pregnancy vitamins to take and most women had healthy babies because they ate a healthy diet.
Good luck op

I just took folic acid for both my pregnancies as it's the most important in those first 12 weeks and Pregnacare is hideously expensive and make me sick (which I gather is a really common reaction). Honestly if I were you I'd just take folic acid at any time of day when you think you may be less likely to be sick, as for all you know the Pregnacare is actually making it worse! 😊

Hey hun I was really struggling with my pregnacare and extra folic acid too. I switched to pregnacare liquid just to help me keep it down and it didn't irritate me as much! Then just a very small folic acid to go with it which didn't annoy me at all xx