Pre-natal vitamins

Anyone know when it's best to start taking pre-natal vitamins?

NOW!!!!  Well at least folic acid!  (My mother bought some for me the minute I said I was moving to England to live with my then BF)  I think a few months before you start actually trying you can take the pre-natal's.

The best time is whilst you are trying to conceive.  That way you're covered before you find out you're pregnant. 

It's the folic acid that's important, so if you don't want to deal with the horse pills (and boy are they) you can look for a multivitamin or supplement with the folic acid.

It's the folic acid that's important, so if you don't want to deal with the horse pills (and boy are they) you can look for a multivitamin or supplement with the folic acid.

See, folic Acid   (Jenny I have loads at mine when you come visit)

Excellent! Thanks guys!

Stacey- I'll be like a folic acid junkie waiting for my hit!  hehe

Just dittoing the folic acid thing! I took Boots prenatal vitamins back in England, with some extra folic acid on the top but that's because we've got spina bifida in the family so I need to be more careful. My midwife told me the amount in multivitamins is usually just fine, and if good multis are cheaper than prenatal, get them. That was her opinion of course, and all midwives say different things.

Everything I've read says you should start taking prenatals about three months before you start trying....just to get your body really ready for it if it happens quickly. 

And if you barf your vitamin up during early pregnancy, just take another one till you manage to get one to stay down. 

Ah, first-trimester pregnancy - where everyone looks at you like a sad drunk as you puke your guts out in public in broad daylight, thinks you're just getting fat when you bulge out of your clothes, and you plan all your outings based on their vicinity to a loo.

Don't forget food sources of folic acid and other vitamins count as well. 

I am already taking a multivitamin for women with plenty of folic in it...we are not even trying yet, but hey 6 months is not too far off.  Helps me get my head around the whole thing!

Ditto the above. My GP said folic acid and a regular multi. The 'prenatal' vitamins can be really huge and I've known so many people who get ill on them even when they aren't pregnant!

The attitude towards vits is more relaxed here.  Most sources say just to take folic acid during the first trimester.  You can, of course, take the personal decision to take it as long as you like. 

So do you take a multi AND folic?  The one I got from boots says it provides 200% RDA of it.  Surely this is enough combined with lots of veggies and a balanced diet?

So do you take a multi AND folic?  The one I got from boots says it provides 200% RDA of it.  Surely this is enough combined with lots of veggies and a balanced diet?

I take additional folic.  It can't hurt.  I take a regular multi too, not pre-natal.

From some March of Dimes stuff I have...

"The key is having enough folic acid in your system by the early weeks of pregnancy, before the neural tube closes. Since many women don't discover that they're pregnant until this time, the March of Dimes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Institute of Medicine recommend that all women of childbearing age take a daily supplement with 400 micrograms of folic acid. The Institute of Medicine advises pregnant women and breast-feeding women to up their daily folic acid intake to 500 mcg and 600 mcg respectively, but these recommendations aren't intended to prevent neural tube defects. The increased amounts are needed because your body uses extra folic acid during pregnancy and lactation"