Vegan prenatal vitamins?

[citymagnolia]

Anyone have recommendations on vegan prenatal vitamins? I can't remember what I used for my last pregnancy, but I know all the ones I tried made me gag/nauseous! Just wondering if anyone else has had luck with a particular brand?

[MountainMamaGC]

Rainbow Light Prenatals are vegan and IMO awesome.

[PoetryLover]

Originally Posted by Lydiah

Rainbow Light Prenatals are vegan and IMO awesome.

These are what I use, as well. I love them!

[germin8]

Vitamin Code & New Chapter

Here's a good link as it includes vegan DHA (O Mega Zen) & vegan (Jarrow Methyl-) B12 supplements while pregnant:
http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/2009...-pregnant.html

I used both, but in the end (after reading the Vitamin Code book) preferred New Chapter.

[katroshka]

I also love Rainbow Light prenatals!

[hmkrueger]

Another vote for New Chapter from me! I know this isn't really how you're supposed to do it, but I was able to take all 3 at once in the morning and my midwife confirmed this was OK for me if I could tolerate it. I did have nausea, but this didn't make a difference with the level or duration.

[citymagnolia]

I went with New Chapter. I love that they're made from whole foods. Thanks for the replies!

[mum2sarah]

I don't get it.  Rainbow Light is highly insufficient in calcium, and New Chapter is wrongly advertising its Perfect Prenatal as vegan, seeing as how it contains vitamin D3, which by definition is *not* vegan (only vitamin D2 is vegan): http://www.newchapter.com/products/perfect-prenatal  (just scroll down to the ingredients).  Isn't there anything better out there?  I, too, am trying to shop around for a vegan prenatal, since my partner and I are TTC. This one: http://store.veganessentials.com/maxi-pre-natal-vitamin-mineral-and-dha-supplement-by-country-life-p1482.aspx seems a little better with calcium content and also contains vegan DHA, but you have to take 6 of them and probably would still need an additional calcium supplement.  If I'm going to take that many pills I might as well just stick with my current regiment of Deva vegan cal-mag plus (1000mg calcium in 3 pills, plus 100% vit C, vit D2, magnesium and zinc) and vegan DHA, veglife iron (25mg), 800 mcg folic acid and a B-12 lozenge...  

[mum2sarah]

FYI After visiting my local food co-op today, I discovered Solgar Prenatal Vitamin: http://www.naturalbodyinc.com/store.html#ecwid:mode=product&product=538117   Has everything you should need (except DHA) in vegan form with 4 pills/day.  Can't tell you yet how it is on the stomach since I just bought it, but I'll keep you posted.

[germin8]

I was told by two doctors that you will not find enough Calcium in pre-natals because the element is too big.  Hmmmm... How big are the capsules/tablets?

And, I thought D3 was synthetic... not animal derived.

[TrishWSU]

For all of my pregnancies I have taken a regular multi vitamin, plus a B-complex, and a cal/mag supplement. My midwife told me that since my iron levels were fine I didn't need the excess iron in the prenatal (it was making me majorly constipated with my first pregnancy!) So, if you have a vegan multi you like you might not need a prenatal version.

[mum2sarah]

@germin8, the pills are fairly big but still not as big as my calcium pills (which contain some other vitamins, too and you only need 3/day so it makes sense that they'd be pretty big).  I am *awful* about swallowing pills--I have a big phobia and have to place one pill at a time near the back of my tongue and down lots of water and consciously focus on keeping my throat relaxed.  BF makes fun of me for it.  But even as bad as I am with pills, I can swallow the solgar prenatals pretty easily (unlike the calcium pills which I often struggle with).  My midwife said the same thing too; that you need a large pill to get enough calcium but I guess if you divide it into 4, and much of the other vitamins don't take up much volume, it ends up being a manageably-sized pill.  

Oh, and I promised to report on how they are on your tummy--I have had zero problems digestively so far with these pills so I highly recommend them!

[Sayward]

D3 is always animal derived, never synthetic. D2 is always vegan.

My understanding is that the body can only absorb so much calcium at one time. So one-a-days will have a lower calcium content, whereas the ones broken up into multiple pills throughout the day, will provide more calcium over the day. Still, you'll never find a prenatal with 100% RDA of calcium.

[mum2sarah]

Originally Posted by Sayward 

D3 is always animal derived, never synthetic. D2 is always vegan.

My understanding is that the body can only absorb so much calcium at one time. So one-a-days will have a lower calcium content, whereas the ones broken up into multiple pills throughout the day, will provide more calcium over the day. Still, you'll never find a prenatal with 100% RDA of calcium.

It is true that you can't absorb all that calcium at once; however, what I was arguing before is that, even with multiple doses you get nowhere near 100% RDA of calcium in some of the recommended prenatals.  I think one of them only had 15% total even if you took the recommended number.  My midwife stresses that calcium is crucial for *any* woman approaching or past the age of 30 and he (yes, a male midwife) had me taking calcium pills just for my own health prior to my decision to TTC.  He even claimed that some nutritionist believe that woman may need more than 100% RDA of calcium. So my point is 15% is not nearly enough for a pregnant woman (!) or when you're TTC,  and if you take a prenatal that only gives you that much total in one day, you'll definitely want a calcium supplement too.  

The Solgar pills do give 100% RDA of calcium if you take all 4 in a day (so each pill essentially has 25%), and yes, you should not take all 4 at once or you won't be able to absorb all that calcium, so I've been taking one at breakfast, one at lunch and two at dinner.

[faeriecurls]

I take Rainbow Light and a separate calcium supplement.

besides the fact that your body can only absorb a certain amount of calcium at a time, iron blocks the absorption of calcium. Since the prenatal has iron in it, it basically negates the calcium. You should separate them by at least 2-3 hours. I would take the prenatal in the am, 500 mg calcium at lunch and 500 at dinner.