Best Prenatal Vitamins??

[disneydolphin]

Did anyone take an prenatal vitamins? My Dr. is highly recommending I take them. What is the most IC friendly one?

[YankeeCandle224]

As a nurse and 3 time mom I always gave Stuart Prenatal and also took it myself, but...I didnt have IC then. Some have iron and some dont, and I would ask your doctor if he wants you to buy the ones with iron or not. Sometimes you dont need the iron and you can get too much of it.

Also, a tip, if you DO wind up taking the ones with iron, take them with a sip of Orange Juice. I KNOW its horrible for IC, but it helps the iron absorb better in your body, or ask about taking a Vitamin C supplement along with it.

I did learn something in nursing school lol.

Good luck and let me know what your doctor says, and the Stuart Prenatals are over the counter, and you should start taking them before pregnancy if at all possible.

Sandy

[dancemomof2]

I tried several prenatal vitamins and all bothered my IC, I am taking 1 mg of folic acid and doing ok

[photomom]

Jumping in on here...... I tried taking the prescription for prenat and it made my bladder go crazy (not realising I had more than over active bladder, and not being able to take dectrol while prego) It also made me have really bad MS...... I found that the target brand over the counter worked great!

edited to add, I still take them, even with my IC today

Good luck!

[Divegirl75]

My Uro/gyn said to skip the vitamins and just take folic acid. She said that would be fine and if I eat right I'll get what I need.

[massagedoula]

Me too, I am just taking the Folic Acid, 800mcg. It increases my frequency a bit, but not unbearably so. I didn't even try to take prenatals, I am sure they would have really aggravated my IC, I am very diet sensitive.

[jailyn12]

I tried prenatal vitamins and they gave me headaches. I just take 1mg of Folic acid. You can also try flinstones vitamins.

[u06]

I was prescribed VitaFol and they seem to be working well for me !

[Blue_sky]

I have a prescription for precare and they don't bother me.

[cherish]

Well, while TTC I tried so many vitamins and no luck. So I tried JUST folic acid.. HUGE culprit.. in dire pain. I tried halfing it... still major flare. I have bad IC but this folic just brings me to tears. I tried sublingual, liquid.. everything. I just cannot tolerate it at all. I can tolerate orange juice better than the Folic acid!

I feel BAD. I do not want to hurt a baby but what do you do if it hurts so much?!?!

So after a literal decade of trying I got a positive just 2 days ago. I ran out and bought a gummie vitamin (i was trying for the flinstones but saw how this had virtually only the things I needed). It had the least amount of vit C 400 mcg of floic acid and the B's. It didn't have iodine (thyroid killer) which was a huge plus. a dosage is two gummy drops. I took half of one gummy completely determined to be healthy. I had it in my head no matter how much it hurts I'm going to do it. Ok I was hurting.. but they tasted good so I ate the other half 6 hours later... ugh I'm hurting sooo bad now.

I don't think ic flare call the fire brigade can be healthy at this point either. I can feel my bad cramps increasing as we speak :(

I desperately want to take folic acid but no matter what can't get it in and I'm having an issue thinking of eating raw spinach for the next 9 months for 3 meals a day :( I feel like such a bad person :( I am also allergic to gluten, borderline diabetic and so I just don't know what to eat or do now argh. I'm even allergic to eggs:help:

It took me 10 YEARS to get this positive I don't want to mess it up in any way! But dang am I hurting tonight after 200 mcg of folic spaced through out the day :(

[massagedoula]

Oh Cherish,

I understand your anguish on this subject. I went through a similar issue. If you would like, I can tell you my feelings on the vitamin subject, and maybe it will make you feel better. Firstly, the only component that is really important in a prenatal vitamin in the first trimester is the folic acid. So you were right to try it seperately. However, if you are unable to take the folic acid due to flares, that does NOT mean that your baby is going to have a neural tube defect. What folic acid does is help the neural tube close if the baby was already going to have a problem. So if you have anyone in your family who has a history of NTDs, taking the folic acid even though it is flaring is advisable. Otherwise, if there is no history, and you really can't take it, don't beat yourself up about it. It seems that you tried many forms and it triggers a flare for you each way. Folic acid is present in leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, beet leaves, etc. It is also present in beans. (And fortified cereals like Cheerios or Total, but I can't personally eat those because the fortification flares me.)

Folic acid also flares me too. So what I did during the time I was TTC was I ate as much greens and beans as I could. Then when I got the positive preg. test, I bit the bullet and took a plain folate supplement for the first month. By day 28-30, the neural tube is closed, so I felt OK that after the first month I didn't take it every day. After the first month, folic acid has some protective effects against cleft palate too, however, so I tried to keep taking it. But it was rough. Between the IC flares and the morning sickness, I didn't take it every day, maybe every 2-3 days if I could handle it. Weeks 8-9 were my worst times with IC and morning sickness, and I didn't take it at all for those 2 weeks. Now that I am in week 10, I am trying to take it occasionally again, but I can't lie, it does cause a mild flare. It's only important for aiding fetal development until week 12, so I can't WAIT until I am out of the first trimester (for many reasons...) In later pregnancy folic acid has benefits for the mother (it has been correlated with a lowered risk of preeclampsia) but I will try to again get it from diet at that point.

Anyway, don't beat yourself up about it. If you can take it every other day, do it! Otherwise, try as hard as you can to get it from diet. Our babies will be fine, don't worry!

[lolobits]

Okay so I am more than certain in my search for a good prenatal I have probably wasted over $200. So hopefully this brand will work for you as well. Nature Made Multi Prenatal I think they work better than the others because they are formulated for easier absorption so maybe less is ending up in the bladder? Then today I went to Henrys Market (I live in southern California) and bought a DHA & EPA henrys brand fish oil supplement jury is still out on that. I like it because lots of fish oil suppliments have lemon in them this one is plain. I took it an hour ago and my bladder has yet to chain me to the toilet. I am also extremely careful about my diet right now and lotttts of water.