When should you probably take prenatal vitamins? For most, it is recommended that you take them on hearing that you are pregnant. In case you are planning to get pregnant then you might consider taking these prenatal vitamins even before getting pregnant. In the present day scenario, most of the people do not fulfill the optimal requirements due to various reasons. The various reasons include poor diet, rushed lifestyle and consumption of processed food. Thus, taking prenatal vitamins should prove helpful for would-be-mothers. Prenatal vitamin is necessarily a multivitamin formula designed for pregnant women. The multivitamin comes in various formulations, depending on requirements. There are several multivitamins available in the market for teens, women, men, senior citizens and for other special requirements. Prenatal vitamins would contain additional nutritional minerals and vitamins that a woman would probably require for coping with the pregnancy period. Some women might experience iron deficiency even before pregnancy. It is mainly true that women after they get pregnant, as they are supplying blood not just for themselves but also for the baby. Thus, most of the prenatal vitamins contain some additional iron supplements in order to help prevent a pregnant woman from getting anemic. As the baby is developing inside the womb, the mother will require additional calcium in her daily diet. Development of the skeletal system of baby can steal away traces of calcium from the mother. Lack of calcium supplements in the body could cause an increased chance of stress fracture. However, good prenatal vitamins could allow a flow of additional calcium to the body. Most of the prenatal vitamins include folic acid. Folic acid prenatal is very important during the first stage of the pregnancy period. During the first stage of pregnancy, the baby’s skeleton and the spinal cord will develop. Folic acid will help prevent the various birth defects like spinal bifida. This does not mean that you take prenatal vitamin as well as other multivitamin supplements. This would only increase the vitamin levels in the body. Thus, it could prove dangerous for the baby as well as the mother. Make sure you have a prescription letter for prenatal vitamins from your doctor. The doctor will provide you with help, as to which prenatal vitamins you should consume and what dosage is suitable for you. It is important to increase the levels of a few vitamins. However, there are certain vitamins that you should decrease during the pregnancy period. For instance, Vitamin A, Vitamin D and Vitamin K need to consume in lower amounts when compared to non-pregnant women. Therefore, if you are planning to get pregnant you might consider taking a good prenatal vitamin.
Are you already pregnant or planning to have a baby soon? Read up on prenatal vitamins and promote your good health and the health of your baby.
Stick turned into blue! Congratulations on being pregnant. You are soon going to have a baby and become a mother. You should consider planning a trip to your doctor. Your doctor will advise you to take special care, stay happy and take prenatal vitamins. This is when you will have questions that you will want to be answered.What do you mean by prenatal vitamins?
A pregnant woman is usually advised to take prenatal vitamins to help maintain her good health and for the better development of the baby. These days you can find specially formulated prenatal multivitamins just for pregnant women. These are easily absorbed during the pregnancy period when chances of nutritional deficiencies are high in pregnant women. The prenatal vitamins are a form of supplements and are not a substitute for a healthy and well balanced diet. Although the prenatal vitamins are considered to be multivitamins, they mainly focus on calcium content, iron and folic acid.
Need for prenatal vitamins
As stated already the prenatal vitamins are multivitamins that have higher levels of iron, calcium and folic acid. Therefore, this brings us to the important role of iron, calcium and folic acid.
Folic acid
It is very important as it could help prevent any birth defects in baby, mainly defects related to spinal cord and the brain. Such defects are mostly known as spina bifida or neural tube. It’s a condition where, the spine wouldn’t be close, thus leaving an exposed nerve which can get damaged. The damage could further lead to incontinence, mental retardation or paralysis. The defect of spina bifida would occur after four weeks of conception. It could also occur even before a woman realizes that she is pregnant. In order to prevent the condition of spina bifida from happening, pregnant women are advised to take prenatal vitamins that contain about 400 mcg of folic acid.
Calcium
The fetus will absorb calcium from the mother for the growth of bone. This could further lead to severe complications. It could also cause the condition of osteoporosis in future. This could be easily prevented from occurring by ingesting sufficient amounts of calcium.
Iron
Iron is an important component for transporting oxygen in the body. The chances are that a few pregnant women may require extra amounts of iron for the baby as well as themselves.
Therefore, you need to take the best prenatal vitamin and ensure your good health and health of your baby as well.
About 80% of women suffer from morning sickness. The feeling of vomiting or nausea is quite common during pregnancy. Usually, a would-be-mother can experience such a condition anywhere from the first trimester to a couple of months or even for the entire term. The condition of morning sickness should not be treated lightly. If this condition is not treated in the right way then the chances are it could get serious and could have serious side effects on both the mother and the unborn baby. We do not know the reason for the cause of morning sickness. However, it is believed that it is hormonal in nature - the way the body makes adjustments during the pregnancy period.
A severe condition of morning sickness could result in mental and social problems for would-be-mother. The chances are that the mother-to-be would feel isolated due to shying away from usual social activities – because of unpredictable condition of morning sickness. She might require help constantly. At times, she might also feel hopeless or rejected.
The unchecked condition of pregnancy morning sickness could cause various health troubles like weight loss, dehydration, thyroid, anxiety, diabetes, lesion to central nervous system, depression, spontaneous abortions of the healthy fetus, liver damage and damage to other organs of the pregnant woman and the fetus. In case the mother-to-be happens to lose around 5% of her weight due to morning sickness, then the fetus too would be born with a low weight. This would further increase the odds of infant mortality. Nausea and vomiting can go from a mild level to a moderate level and in some cases; it can result in the condition, which is known as Hyperemesis Gravidarum, which occurs in the case of severe vomiting. With the condition of Hyperemesis Gravidarum, treating morning sickness becomes critical. Those women who are suffering from such a level of vomiting need to be hospitalized. Thousands of would-be-mothers are found to be admitted to hospital due to morning sickness cases, which are very harsh. Some of these cases occur as people don’t know the seriousness of the condition or don’t detect it early enough for treatment.
You can possibly treat the condition of pregnancy morning sickness in several ways. A few of them include eating small and frequent meals throughout the entire day to keep the blood sugar levels even. Consuming a protein high diet during the evening to allow proteins to last longer. Many also rely on the age-old formula “keep the crackers near the bed”. However, this will not necessarily always help. There are also prenatal vitamins, which can reduce morning sickness sensations. One of the best things to do at various levels of morning sickness is to keep your doctors informed of the situation. Therefore, in case there are any problems or changes then they can be contacted at an early stage.
Therefore, you need to keep the condition of morning sickness in check and treat it as it could cause harm to you or your child.
So you find out that you are pregnant. Congratulations on this very special event. Now that you are pregnant, you will need to take extra care. This extra care is not only for you but for your baby as well. The first thing that you need to consider doing is taking prenatal vitamins. Most of us know that in taking prenatal vitamins we are making a great choice. However, not many of us are aware of which type of prenatal vitamins we should be taking and which is the most important ingredient.
Many of us believe that taking these prenatal supplements and prenatal vitamins before conceiving would help to prevent various types of defects, which could affect the unborn child. Others believe that you can benefit from prenatal vitamins even after the delivery of your child. You might want to ask your doctor to provide you with some detailed information and look out for other products that may suit you. You should take your doctor’s advice, as they know which prenatal vitamin will suit you.
However, one thing you should remember is that these prenatal vitamins are a form of supplement and should not in any way replace a balanced diet. You should not rely simply on prenatal vitamins for all your nutritional requirements. However, consult your doctor before taking any supplements would be the ideal scenario. Keep a track on calcium. A would-be-mother needs about 1200 mg to about 1500 mg calcium on a regular basis. Calcium is an important ingredient for development of the baby. No two prenatal vitamins are same and the chances are that some will not provide you with any benefits at all. A recent research study stated that a pregnant woman would not necessarily absorb all the nutrients available in prenatal vitamins, mainly folate. For the prenatal development of the baby, folate is very important. Vitamins will help in protecting the baby from the occurrence of any sorts of defects like the spina bifida. Just three of the nine essential vitamins would provide you with the required supplements necessary for your body. It does not mean that prenatal vitamins don’t have vitamins but that some woman cannot absorb all the correct vitamins.
You might want to conduct a test for determining whether your body could possibly absorb the vitamins or not. All you need to do is to put the prenatal vitamins in a cup full of water and then wait for a while. In case that the vitamins may stay hard then it would possibly pass through your body without any deposition of nutrients that it is carrying. Therefore, by conducting this test you will certainly be reassured.
Searching for the right prenatal vitamins could take time and a lot of trial and error on your behalf. However, the benefits are just very beneficial to you. Taking prenatal vitamins in combination with a healthy diet will prove the most beneficial for you and your child.
