Has anyone NOT taken pre-natals?

[Headmeister]

With my DD, I took my prenatals religiously. With this pregnancy, I took them for the first 4-5 months, along with zofran for my horrible morning sickness, but once my morning sickness was gone and I no longer needed to take the meds for it, I would totally forget to take my prenatals. It got to the point where I was taking them every 3 days or so. I finally asked my OB about it and he said "I'd like to see you take them, sure... but they're more for you than they are for the baby". Since then, I've been totally sporadic with when I've taken them, but I'm eating really well and have never thought I wasn't getting in everything I needed.

My question is, have any of you NOT taken prenatals?

[limette]

I haven't taken any for the last two pregnancies. There isn't a prenatal out there that doesn't make me sick.

[MaerynPearl]

My gramma never took prenatals and had 4 perfectly healthy little girls...

I HAVE to only because I cannot get all the nutrients I need from food... but I take them even when Im not pregnant so its no big deal to me.

If I were able to get everything from eating I wouldn't personally worry about it.

[aloneinid]

I didn't take them in my second pregnancy due to severe reflux and on the recommendation of my gastroenterologist and I REALLY regret it. I ended up being anemic, which I have never had a problem with in the past, and my son has poorly developed tooth enamel that required nearly $5000 worth of dental work at 18 months, not to mention all the pain it caused him and stress it caused us. Obviously, there is no way to tell if those things are related for sure, but I would feel better if I had just taken the prenatals.

This time I am taking whole food prenatals (didn't know they existed before) along with calcium and magnesium. Iron levels good so far and I won't know about the teeth until the come in!

That said, I was religious about taking prenatals in my first pregnancy, I never missed a dose, but this time if I miss a day or two I don't beat myself up.

[La Sombra]

I never took them! That is, I took them *very* sporadically in the beginning with dd and I've taken them here and there with this one, too, but barely at all!

It's never worried me, really--I figure the most important thing is the folic acid and I didn't even know I was pregnant yet during the most crucial period, needing-to-take-folic acid-wise. Otherwise I eat quite healthfully and figure that I get everything I need from my diet. I'm just really bad about taking pills!

With both pregnancies I was really anemic and had to take iron supplements but upon starting them, the anemia wen away and all was fine.

I suppose I would suggest taking them if you can be bothered or if they don't make you sick, but personally, I've never worried too much about not having taken them!

[phoebemommy]

I take a whole food women's multi-vitamin that's always worked well for me, makes me feel good, and has never made me feel icky the way some vitamins (incl. a prenatal I took last birth). When I look at the labels, this vitamin is as good or better than almost any prenatal, so I think, what's the point of messing around with it? I've come to think a vitamin should make you feel noticably better than you did before you took it, or else it's not worth taking.

[HeatherB]

I take them as much as I can, but when I'm in the throwing up, gagging, super-sensitive-to-smells stage, I can't do it. I was forcing myself to this time, until I took one before bed and was up a short while later throwing it up. That's a serious psychological block for me. Bleh.

I am going to try a new one that's in a capsule, in hopes it'll be easier on my nose AND stomach.

[elmh23]

I took them with my first two, but with my third I couldn't handle them at all. At first, they caused the nausea to be over the top and then after the nausea stopped, they started causing mega-heartburn. I didn't take them again until the baby was born, but even then, I was only good about taking them for like a week. Baby is now almost 11 weeks and I haven't taken one in at least 2 weeks, probably longer.

[Whimsical]

I managed to take them for about a week during my last pregnancy. Same with this pregnancy, except I only managed about three days. I took folic acid and kids' vitamins, but I couldn't even get the prenatals out of the bottle without starting to gag. Luckily, I've had textbook easy pregnancies both times (with the exception of the horrible morning sickness).

[Magali]

I'm not taking them. I'm not sure if I get everything from food, but I do my best.

[Monarchgrrl]

My MW said that I don't have to take them at all if I drink 4 cups a day of my tea infusions that have RRL, Nettles, Alfalfa, Oatstraw, lemonbalm, spearmint & sage in it. I usually drink 2 cups a day, so I take half my dose of prenatals. But I'll up it soon and then probably not buy another expensive bottle of pills once this bottle is done.

I don't get enough from food because I really don't like/almost can't eat dark leafy greens, so the nettles is like eating a big bowl of that.

[mistymama]

I have to supplement even not pregnant because of absorption issues. There are some prenatals (or even regular multi-vitamins) out there that are absorbed well and really do make a difference you can feel. But I think the majority of prenatals esp those highly processed and with synthetic vitamins are of very little use. And in fact, in most cases, a healthy, well rounded diet beats your average pre-natal vitamin.

[shishkeberry]

I take them sporadically. Those things are huge and I have a strong gag reflex.

[bri276]

This time I took folic acid only, for the first couple months. I take SA, fish oil and vit D every day, zinc and selenium occasionally. Otherwise I think my diet is good enough. I might take some Floradix towards the end if I get iron deficient.

[aikigypsy]

I'm taking regular, bog-standard multi-vitamins, and took extra folic acid through my first trimester. Pre-natals don't seem to offer much more for the money, and the regular ones are easy to swallow and don't bug my stomach.

[etsdtm99]

i took them til 8 weeks with my first and this pregnancy.. i don't think i took them much at all my 2nd pregnancy.. i did take them before and in between pregnancies .. after about 8 weeks i can not swallow them without gagging .. even after the morning sickness passes.. its like my throat is swollen or something.. very odd..

[FloridaBorn]

I take a prenatal every day or two. I really don't feel like they're doing me any good. I also take a calcium/magnesium liquid supplement I got from my birth center (it was $25). I'm pretty good about taking that.

[rparker]

I've done a pretty poor/erratic job of taking prenatals during both my last pregnancy and this one. I try to make an effort to take folic acid during the first trimester, but even with anti-nausea meds I have trouble keeping them down. I tend to eat a lot of Luna bars when not pregnant and when not having ms though and they're pretty much the equivalent of a candy bar with prenatals mixed in

My doctor said the folic acid is the only thing in prenatals that matters at all (specific to pregnancy). I try to take a calcium supplement with vitamin D when both pregnant and not-pregnant but I'm really bad at remembering vitamins.

[somegirl99]

Nope, haven't taken any. I have worked really hard to make sure I get all the essential nutrients through food including things like nutritional yeast and blackstrap molasses and flaxseed, as well as a generally balanced diet. I think prenatals would have made me feel even sicker during the first trimester.

[cadejaxellamom]

I also take a "whole foods women viamin" and just a folic acid pill to go along with it, though in my first trimester, I could not take them because I would just throw them back up. I also take cod liver oil, SA, and probiotics (most of that not during my first trimester either)