Choosing a Prenatal Vitamin: What You Need to Know

Eating a balanced diet is a great way to keep you and your baby healthy during pregnancy, but even if you’re health-conscious, it’s possible to fall short on crucial vitamins and minerals. When you’re balancing career, home life, and other responsibilities, plus dealing with morning sickness and pregnancy cravings, your nutritional needs may be the last thing on your mind. Prenatal vitamins can help fill that gap, but browsing through 60 different brands with ingredients you’ve never heard of would make anyone feel overwhelmed.

So, with so many options on the market today, how do you choose the prenatal vitamin that’s right for you?

What are prenatal vitamins? Prenatals are specifically designed with pregnant women in mind but can also greatly benefit women before and after they are planning a family. Unlike regular vitamins, which contain the recommended daily dose of many different vitamins and minerals, prenatals contain higher concentrations of essential nutrients like folic acid, iron, Vitamin D3 and calcium that are essential for expecting mothers. Vitamin D3, which improves a baby’s skeletal growth, and folic acid, which decreases the chances of neural tube defects like spina bifida, are especially important.

 Three Tips for Choosing a Prenatal Vitamin

1. Ask your doctor. Find a physician you can trust and with whom you feel comfortable. Bring a list of questions with you when discussing your prenatal options so you can find out all the info to make an educated decision.
2. Look for key ingredients. Not all vitamins are created equal. Some products include higher levels of iron for women who may be prone to anemia – since your body is producing more red blood cells to supply both you and your growing baby, and every one of those cells needs iron to survive, you can easily be faced with an iron deficiency. Other vitamins are specifically formulated for gluten-free or vegan diets to accommodate these nutritional needs. Make sure your choice takes your personal health concerns and lifestyle into consideration and includes iron, folic acid, calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin B12, and zinc.
3. Choose wisely. Choose a vitamin that you’ll actually remember to take every day. Certain prenatals made from marine life or algae have a fishy taste, cause bad breath, and are hard to digest, which can discourage moms-to-be from taking them. OB Complete Gold is the perfect vitamin to combat these side effects because it contains the advanced technology of OmEGGa DHA, an egg-based DHA that comes from cage-free hens. Because the DHA is found naturally in the brain, eyes and breast milk, it does not give women the same unpleasant side effects.

During pregnancy a woman’s body undergoes many physical and hormonal changes and she can experience things like fatigue, loss of appetite and upset stomach that can make it difficult to maintain the proper levels of essential nutrients needed for a healthy pregnancy. Prenatal vitamins help keep your body and your baby as healthy as possible.

By Jay M. Goldberg, MD, FACOG
Photo by Freestock.org