Prenatal Vitamins and Your Pregnancy
Prenatal vitamins are important during your pregnancy, as well as before you conceive. For your baby to have the best start in life, you will want to get your body in tip-top shape. One of the ways to be in optimal health and prepare your body for conception is to build up your nutritional stores. Since it’s nearly impossible to get all the nutrients you need from the foods you eat, you will need to take a prenatal vitamin.
Did you know that not getting enough nutrients can sometimes affect your menstrual cycle and cause irregular periods? This can make it difficult to tell when you ovulated. Taking prenatal vitamins, along with a healthy diet, can help improve your fertility and even boost your chances of conceiving.
Think of Prenatal Vitamins as…
Think of your prenatal vitamins as an insurance policy that helps you have the best pregnancy possible. Since many women will not realize that they’re pregnant until the week of their missed period (which is usually two weeks after they’ve conceived), you don’t want anything to negatively impact your baby. Taking a prenatal vitamin when you’re trying to conceive will ensure that you have a good supply of vitamins and nutrients to fuel your newly developed baby’s growth.
Choose Wisely
When choosing a prenatal vitamin, you need to find one with at least 600 to 800 micrograms of folic acid. This nutrient has been proven to lower your baby’s risk of neutral tube defects ““ a type of birth defect that develops in the first few weeks after conception, even before you realize that you’re pregnant. Neutral tube defects can cause nerve damage, paralysis, difficulty walking, and even death in severe cases. To protect your baby against this devastating brain and spinal cord defect, you need to start taking your prenatal vitamins with folic acid at least one month before you try to conceive.