Did you take pregnancy multi vitamins past 12 weeks?

[LucyT87]

I'm just under 13 weeks pregnant and still have quite a few blister packs of Pregnacare Max vitamins left. I've read really conflicting reports about whether you should keep taking these beyond 12 weeks, but it feels like a waste to throw them away.

Some people say it's great to get all the vitamins (iron, omega 3 etc) throughout the pregnancy, but I've also read things saying all the neural tube development is complete and taking folic acid for more weeks is pointless or could have negative effects. I've also read the iron in them can make constipation worse.

Did anyone ask their midwife or consultant about this?

(I would ask my midwife team but they're worse than useless and never get back to me - I'm switching hospitals !)

I kept taking them all the way through then the breastfeeding ones. I’ve never heard you shouldn’t and baby was healthy. My midwife also recommended an extra vit D supplement on top! It is probably completely unnecessary if you’re getting a good balanced diet but I was making up for my pregnancy diet of donuts and chocolate.

I have to say I felt great throughout my pregnancy and even now feel I have much more energy when I’m taking vitamins, could be placebo. Even with the vitamins I got very low in iron near the end.

I was prescribed extra strength folic acid because of being overweight. When my midwife requested the prescription she told me I only needed to take them up to 13 weeks. I thought I might as well take the rest of them so have just finished them now (at 20 weeks) and have also been taking vitamin D throughout as I read that those two were the most important. Now I've finished my super folic acid I'll probably move onto taking a pregnancy multivitamin as I'm still finding that I have a bunch of food aversions so my diet is probably not as diverse as it should be!

I did not realise this!! I took them all the way through both pregnancies, plus high strength ferrous sulphate as had low iron diagnoses by doctor. Told it was fine to take alongside multi vitamins!

My midwife always asks me at each appointment whether I'm still taking my multivitamins.
I'm 33 weeks

I took a prenatal, vitamin d and DHA the whole way through and then just swopped the prenatal for a multivitamin after birth. I had to take extra iron too after bloods came back low at 16 weeks.

I did but wasn't consistent. Couple of times a week maybe.