Prenatal vitamins

[Vanessa]

I just wanted to know how many other vegan women have taken prenatal vitamins and what their take on it is?

[Erin Pavlina]

I didn't take a prenatal vitamin during my whole pregnancy. However, you are young, so I would advice you to either take a prenatal or just take a regular multi vitamin.

Or, just take vitamins for the areas you think you might be deficient in, like B12, calcium, iron, etc.

[sophie]

with my first pregnancy I took spirulina tablets every day and my blood results were excellent, with very good iron levels. With my second pregnancy I was more lax and didn't take much spirulina, and at the end of the pregnancy my iron got very low, so I had to take iron supplements. This time around I am taking spirulina plus Vit. B12 every day. If you can find a good multi vitamin which is designed for pregnancy(general multi vitamins may not be suitable) then it would certainly do no harm to take them.

[Katharina]

I have been taking a pre-natal supplement every day from the first month onwards. It is vegan and not tested on animals, and contains folic acid, iron, iodine, B12 and other vitamins and minerals.

My blood results have always been fine. I also take spirulina (powder) in a shake every day...

I guess because this is my first pregnancy I just like to feel on the "safe side". Especially since in the first three months I was so sick that I could not eat at all and was losing weight, I felt better knowing I was at least taking the supplement.

Like Sophie says, it won't do any harm...;)

[Teejay]

I am taking a vegan prenatal multi that I bought from an online vegan store. Otherwise I would always be concerned about B12 -- which all vegans should be careful about anyway, not just pregnant ones! -- and about those days when I couldn't eat so much because of nausea (ie first 3 months!).

As others said, it doesn't hurt. You can't use an ordinary vegan multi, because the level of Vitamin A in most multis is way too high for pregnancy. If you take one, you need to get one specially formulated for pregnancy.