Prenatal Vitamins?

I never took prenatal vitamins but I did take regular vitamins everyday before I got pregnant this time. I had aweful morning sickness in the beginging (15 weeks now)... I couldn't keep anything down and the sickness lasted all day, but my OB gave me some prenatal vitamins that have extra B vitamins in them and they helped so much with morning sickness. If you get it again when you get pregnant I'd ask about them, they are wonderful!

It's never a bad idea to take prenatals before pregnancy anyway. I started taking them several months before I got pregnant. I didn't have a problem with morning sickness but that was probably coincidence.

Hi P., I can't say any research supports prenatal vitamins will prevent morning sickness. The most important thing is folic acid prior to pregnancy to decrease the risk of spinal defects.

Each pregnancy is different, and you may or not have morning sickness again. Depending on the severity, there are many treatment options if needed.

Come see the midwife when you become pregnant!

K. V

I too take prenatal vitamins (not pregnant YET) for the goodness and well being of a future pregnancy. I do have to take on a full stomach to avoid nausea. Take in the morning wtih breakfast (I wait until half my food has been eaten). If I do take them at night, I will be awake (learned the hard way). Keep in mind each pregnancy is different, maybe you'll be blessed with a nausea free "next time"!

Hi P.,

I think that taking prenatal vitamins is great! Even though I did breastfeed my daughter up till she was 5 months old and she is only 6 months now, I am still going to continue taking them till I finish the bottle. I am not taking the prescription vitamins though, I bought some from Walgreens that are over the counter as soon as I had found out that I was pregnant and still looking for a doctor and although my doctor did prescribe some prenatal vitamins, I still continued to take these throughout since they didn't make me nauseated. My daughter was born very healthy and I was extremely healthy throughout my pregnancy. So I am going to continue taking them until I finish the big bottle even though I probably don't have to take them anymore.

You might want to look into these vitamins in case you are interested and this way you will not need a prescription. Good luck to you and your growing family :)

Absolutly take prenatal vitamins before you conceive. It certainly can't hurt anything. As far as the morning sickness. I didn't have any "morning sickness? persay when i was pregnant with my son but my prenatal vitamins made me a little nauseous. i started taking them in the evening before I went to bed with a couple of crackers instead of first thing in the morning and that helped a lot.

I really don't think there is anything at all you can do to cause or prevent morning sickness. Prenatal vitamins obviously don't make a difference for me, because I had been taking them for months/years before both pregnancies & I still puked up my guts for months. Do take the prenatals while you are trying to conceive, though...here is an exerpt from marchofdimes.com explaining why...

"It is especially important for women who can become pregnant to get enough folic acid. Folic acid, a B vitamin, helps prevent birth defects of the brain and spinal cord when taken before and very early in pregnancy."

But back to morning sickness...I had also heard that it could be due to the surge of progesterone early in pregnancy, but I argue that theory, as well. I miscarried twice, which was due to very low progesterone levels keeping my body from being able to support the pregnancy. But even with those pregnancies, with super low progesterone, I had morning sickness before I lost them. So with my two successful pregnancies, I did take progesterone supplements & had horrible morning sickness...but I only took the supplements until week 9, and had extreme nausea and vomiting until week 20-24.

It was better with my second successful pregnancy, though. With my son, I threw up constantly until month 5, then spent the rest of my pregnancy feeling like I would throw up any minute. I lost 20 pounds the first 4 months of pregnancy, was hospitalized twice, and spent quite some time on a home IV. But with my last pregnancy, I was nauseated for only three months, threw up quite a bit, but not nearly like before, only lost 5 pounds in the beginning, then started gaining in my 3rd month, and spent the last 5 months of pregnancy feeling pretty darn good. So there is hope that the second time around will be better. But you just never know. From my experience and the experience of those I know who have had terrible morning sickness, there is no rhyme or reason to it. Just stay hydrated as much as possible.

Good luck with conceiving, and good luck with your pregnancy.

C.

Absoultly, it is recommended that u take them 3 months before conceiving. i have taken them for years, just to make sure im healthy, and it didnt detour from morning sickness. so good luck wiht that

Your Dr. sounds like a tard. The vitamins don't help with m/s- most of the time they make you more sick, which is why many moms-to-be take them at night before bed instead. You should be taking the vitamins, it's just a matter of seeing if it makes you more sick or not. It's different with every woman and every pregnancy, so you need to see what works for you. My sister didn't have a problem with her vits, but mine make me sick. The research is more that they can make you nauseous than helping m/s. Good luck to you.

I had morning sickness with my first and not my second. I don't know that it is something that you can control. Yes, take prenatal vitamins while you are trying to conceive. I have never heard of prenatal vitamins to stave off morning sickness. It has to do with the amount of progesterone I think. There is a HUGE surge of progesterone when you first get pregnant, if I recall correctly. Been awhile since I have read up on all that (my youngest is 5). Like I said, I was afraid I would have it with my second child but I didn't. So just because you had it the first time doesn't mean you will have it the next. I was vegan (consumed no animal products not even cheese) when I had morning sickness so that wasn't true for me (as in Kimberly's response).
Good luck on conceiving.

I took them for three months before getting pregnant and at 5 weeks pregnant I became so violently ill that I was unable to even keep water down... I missed taking them again until 17 weeks... my son is extremely healthy and I am taking vitamins again... he is 5 weeks old now...

Good luck and I ho0pe it works for you

I agree. I feel taking prenatal vitamins before getting pregnant is the best thing to do. When I was trying to get pregnant with my son my OB/GYN recommended that I start taking prenatals. My son is now 3 1/2 yrs old. You go girl!! and good luck!!

I don't know much about morning sickness (I had it sparingly depending on the food I ate or the smells around me), but make sure you take 1mg (or 1000mcg) of folic acid every day prior to pregnancy, and during pregnancy. This helps decrease the risk of certain brain & spinal cord defects. Also, my mom used to work for an OB-GYN and brought home some prenatal vitamins. I took them when I was younger, but they made me nauseated. So, when I was pregnant, I just kept on with my normal Centrum Vitamin plus an 800mcg folic acid supplement. (The Centrum already had 400mcg of folic acid in it.)

If nothing else, it helps your body to prepare for baby by giving you everything you need. Since I get pregnant if I sneeze, it isn't something I do, but many of my friends who planned to get pregnant were told to take the prenatals for that reason.

I took prenatal vitamins before I got pregnant and I still got really bad morning sickness! I have to take them at night now because they still make me sick in the morning(I'm now 7 months!)But it is a good thing to take them, the first few weeks are the most important, plus you'll have great nails and silky hair!

never heard about that one lol (I only got sick when I got pregnant with my daughter but I guess that is another topic!) but it is a good idea to start taking your prenatals before you conceive.

My doctor, and a lot of books I've read say to take them if you're trying to get pregnant, along with a healthy diet. Getting your body ready and healthy for the baby is the best thing you can do for yourself and the baby. I don't think that prenatal vitamins have anything to do with morning sickness. If you have it, you have it reguardless of the vitamins. I am now 35 weeks pregnant and haven't experienced a day of morning sickness yet and I've been taking my vitamins since 1 month prior to my pregnancy.

Hi P.-

My Ob/Gyn actually recommended that I begin taking prenatal vitamins as well as Calcium with Vitamin D as this is also very good when you are trying to get pregnant. My doctor explained to me that especially folic acid is important and many of us don't get enough in our daily diet.

By taking prenatal vitamins I think you provide an excellent first start for your new baby even before conception. The calcium is important as well as the fetus will use so much of your calcium during your pregnancy. I took both vitamins and calcium during my pregnancy. I am not sure if this helped with morning sickness but I didn't have any at all.

I think you should start taking prenatal vitamins now, I think it's never too early to start. If you are unsure about the calcium, you may want to ask your doc at your next visit. Good Luck!

If you find a vitamin that is high in B6 then it is supposed to help with morning sickness. The one I take is Complete One Source Prenatal and it has 800% of your daily allowance for B6. I found the information about how this vitamin is supposed to help in a pregnancy journal. I have had some morning sickness but not an extreme amount. I can only imagine what it might have been like with a different vitamin. hope that helps!

10-26-06
I was told that your consumption of red meat and cheese before getting pregnant is what contributes to morning sickness. I don't jnow , but what I do know is that I think it has to do with your body chemistry. It has to do with a balance, so keep up the vitamins so it will all stay in balance.

i have read that it's recommended to take prenatals while trying to conceive, but i've never heard of it helping with morning sickness. the only thing that helped me during both my pregnancies was taking vitamin B-6. you can take up to 70mg per day safely so check on your prenatals and see how much is in there before taking an additional supplement

Hi, I will tell you a person experience with my only pregnancy. I stopped taking birth control to get conceive, and the next day began taking over the counter prenatal vitamins. Three months later I conceived with my now 2 1/2 year old son, and throughout the entire pregnancy, I NEVER had a single moment of morning sickness. When I began to take the prescription vitamins the OBGYN recommends, they made me sick, and I stopped taking them. I continued to take the over the counter ones, and an additional prescription of folic acid and B-12 or 6 only , not sure what they were, (two very essential vitamins needed for pregnancy). I later found out that women who have morning sickness are given B-? to help with it. I contribute my lack of morning sickness to the B-?. Check with your doctor, I am not sure if that is what did it or not. Good luck!

I'm not sure if it was the Centrum vitamins I was taking before and while trying to conceive (I wasn't on Prenatals, just Centrum), but I had NO morning sickness with this pregnancy. With my other two, my boys, I had "morning" sickness every night, accompanied by terrible migraines. This has thankfully been an easy pregnancy. You should try taking the Prenatals. You'll already be getting important vitamins while you're conceiving, at least, if they don't help with your morning sickness.

Hi P.,

While I think that taking prenatal vitamins before you get pregnant is a good idea, they did not help me in the morning sickness area. I have a 2 year old daughter and am expecting my second child in May. I took prenatals before both pregnancies, and had horrible morning sickness with both. So, for me they did not help. My doctor has recently prescribed prenatals that are supposed to have a higher than normal amount of vitamin B6 in them, to help with the nausea, but I haven't started taking them yet, so I don't know if they'll help or not.

I don't think taking vitamins before does much. I was taking them before I found out I was pregnant, and still had morning sickness. I am taking over the counter One Source prenatal vitamins. I like them because you take 2 smaller pills rather than 1 giant horse pill-which did make me naseaous.

I was taking them when I became pregnant with both of my children and was horribly sick with both and didn't continue them until later in pregnancy when the vomiting subsided. That being said I do think it's a great idea to take them before becoming pregnant b/c you already have the folic acid, etc. in your system, which is critical for your baby early on. So, even if you do become sick and have to stop taking them, he/she got a great amount of what he needed when you didn't even know you were pregnant. And you never know, you may not be sick at all the 2nd time around! My 2nd was definitely better than my first. Another thing - if your prenatals are making you more sick you could try taking them at night, but they also make some especially for sensitive tummy's -- ask your doctor. Good luck!

Prenatal vitamins are wonderful to take even if not trying to conceive. However, I would be surprised if it helped with morning sickness> The sickness that is felt when pregnant is typically related to how your body responds to the HCG hormone that is very high during your first trimester. Certainly can't hurt to take them, but I wouldn't count on any relief.

Good Luck!

I don't know about the morning sickness, but definately continue with the vitamins. You are supposed to get 400 mcg of Folic Acid every day for at least 3 months prior to getting pregnant. It is very important to help prevent many birth defects (spinabifida, MS, neurological disorders). Also it is good for your heart health and reproductive system. Plus you can't go wrong with the strong hair and nails they help to grow. Good luck.

I am not sure if the prenatal vitamins will help with the sickness or not, but i do know that it is a very good idea to take prenatal vitamins while trying to concieved. The folic acid in the vitamins is of particular need because it helps prevent nueral tube defects. It is a good idea for all women of child bearing age to take the folic acid. I think you need 400mcg/day, but I can't be 100% sure this is the dosage so check with your doctor. It should be the dosage that is in the prenalal vitamins. I encourage you to take this rather you get sick or not!!

when i was pregnet with my fist i couldnt take any it made me so sick i couldnt stay out of the bathroom all day so my dr tried me on half a day and it still did it so she took me off completly.

cant hurt! although, every pregnancy is different. My 1st was all day sickness from 2 weeks in to 2 weeks before delivery, 2nd I maybe got sick 3 or 4 times total. Good luck!

I went to the doc for a check up after I had a misscarrage and I asked him if it was ok to take prenatals because we were going to start to try again. He said that would be fine, that I would be at my top level with the vitamins when I got pregnate. I know of these GREAT prenatals vitamins that will help with you sickness. I have testimonials if you would like me to e-mail them to you. Thanks and goodluck.

don't know about helping with morning sickness, but atleast your body will be getting the vitamins it will need from the start.

I wish I could remember to take my vitamins