fish oil wisdom?

[blue_salsify]

hi All. i want to hear your opinions about/experiences with taking fish oil supplements.

normally i'm not a vitamin/supplement gal. i'd rather try hard to get what i'm after in my diet. however, i have less tolerance for seafood when pg and though i try to eat wild AK salmon twice a week i have started taking fish oil pills. i did take 400 (mg?) folic acid the first trimester, but no prenatals (first pg same).

i got Spectrum Essentials- Wild Caught Small Fish Capsules and take one 1000mg softgel daily. i also try to eat other sources of healthy oils in walnuts, canola, etc. TIA!

[AGlimmeringHope]

I take 6000mg of fish oil a day. It helps with my anxiety and bad skin. I just feel all around better when I take it and definitely notice if I go a few days without. I don't eat fish normally (just not a fan of the stuff), but these supplements are great! I've gotten my parents hooked, too. My dad's depression and even the memory issues he has from his Parkinson's are better when he's taking fish oil.

[mothragirl]

i take cod liver oil. it helps my skin and my mood a ton. i feel all around healthier when i'm taking it.

[starry_mama]

Anyone have any good brands they recommend? I'm very sensitive to mercury, so I need a brand that is as mercury free as possible.

[sophi4ka]

I am using "ESKIMO-3" by Tyler. It is fish oil supplement that I buy from my midwife. She swears it is the best out there

[GinaRae]

I use Nordic Naturals. There was a brand I tried that made me burp fish taste/smell. GROSS!!! Nordic just doesn't do that at all, and the brand is supposed to be phenominal!

Just an FYI, my midwife says that DHA/Fish oil can increase your gestational time. In other words, if you're worried about going late, you may not want to take the supplements.

[mothragirl]

Originally Posted by GinaRae

I use Nordic Naturals. There was a brand I tried that made me burp fish taste/smell. GROSS!!! Nordic just doesn't do that at all, and the brand is supposed to be phenominal!

.

we do too, although if you have soy problems, it has soy based vitamin E.

[Shachar613]

Another vote for Nordic Naturals. I was taking the ProEFA supplement, but recently switched to the Prenatal DHA one. GinaRae, I never heard about it increasing gestation time...that's good to know. Also, I heard that it does act as a slight blood thinner, so most women stop taking it a few weeks before birth.

[GinaRae]

Originally Posted by mothragirl

we do too, although if you have soy problems, it has soy based vitamin E.

GOOD to know. I don't have to worry, but it's good to know for others I might recommend to!

Originally Posted by Shachar613

Another vote for Nordic Naturals. I was taking the ProEFA supplement, but recently switched to the Prenatal DHA one. GinaRae, I never heard about it increasing gestation time...that's good to know. Also, I heard that it does act as a slight blood thinner, so most women stop taking it a few weeks before birth.

Great idea. Stopping a few weeks before sounds good to me. I am taking the Prenatal DHA as well. Or, well, I WAS before I got pregnant and until I got really sick with Hyperemesis. I need to get back to it! I am already 20 weeks!

My son takes the Omega-3 to help with his diagnosis. I trust the brand and hope to never find a reason NOT to trust the brand. It's expensive enough (and my son's well-being is everything to us) so it had better be good!

[pamama]

I was taking Nordic Naturals ProEFA too before the m/s kicked in. Now that my hyperemesis is more under control, though I think I will get the Prenatal DHA. My ds has been taking very high doses for nearly 3 years and I really don't know what we would do without it!! It doesn't taste like fish, it has lemon oil added. I tried another cheaper brand and it wasn't as good. I really trust the NN brand. I believe they have an article on their website about how they third party test their products and they are mercury free. At least they used to. It is one of the more expensive brands, though.

[crsta33]

Another caveat, there has been some speculation that fish oil/ flax oil supplements might cause larger babies...of course that may be b/c they cook longer.

All I could find when I was looking for more info was anecdotal evidence, but I did have a 10 lb 7 oz kid after taking flax seed oil supplements the entire pg.

Christa

[blue_salsify]

thanks for all the info Mamas!

regarding the flax issue, maybe it's b/c of the phytoestrogens? i recently read that some people don't rec. flax during pg b/c of this.

i use to eat flax seed products regularly, but found it made me painfully bloated during pg.

[HypnoMama]

I take Naturally Preferred Concentrated Omega 3s. The have even more EPA and DHA then the Nordic Natural Ultimate Omegas. 360 mg EPA and 240 mg DHA per pill. They have an orange oil added so you dont burp up fishy tastes.

[chann96]

I take 2 NN ProEFAs every day and have since long before I got pregnant. We started it to help with my daughter's speech and I started taking it too. I think it really does help my brain to function better.

[mama_b]

For those of you who take cod liver oil, how much do you take? It says to take 1/2 tsp on the bottle and I have been taking 1 tsp since I'm pregnant. I'm wondering if I should be taking more.