[BeanieC]

<p>Hello May Mommies-To-Be,</p>
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<p>I have a question..I'm taking Rx prenatals - Vitafol OB + DH.  Its a 1x per day vitamin (dha capsule + vitamin).  I'm a little constipated on them..but other than that, I've done just fine on them.  My insurance covers them with a $50 copay.</p>
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<p>I've read a lot of great things about New Chapter prenatals, and was considering switching, because its a whole-food supplement, but I'm scared of the herb content in them.  I'm afraid of taking herbs while pregnant.  I know someone who had a bad experience with taking herbs while pregnant..and trust me without getting into it..it didn't turn out very well.</p>
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<p>Has anyone had any problems with this vitamin?  Also, is anyone taking a DHA supplement in addition to this vitamin?</p>
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<p>Any insight would be so appreciated.  Thanks again.</p>
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[sonshine_rae]

<p>My midwife wanted me to take either New Chapter Women's vitamins, or Alive Women's vitamins (both whole food) ...... but I couldn't tolerate them as I'm having allergy issues with some of the foods in them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>However she thinks highly of both kinds.  If it matters nay the New Chapter ones are soy based (some people like/dislike soy) so I would have gone for the Alive brand if I could manage it.</p>

 

[sonshine_rae]

<p>Here's a link to Nature's Way Alive vitamin's: <a href="http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-5497-natures-way-alive" target="_blank">http://www.luckyvitamin.com/p-5497-natures-way-alive</a></p>

 

[MamaChef]

<p>Im so curious as to what herbs your friend was taking that caused a bad outcome.</p>
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<p>As for the New Chapter, Ive taken them and known lotsa women who have too. </p>

 

[becca_howell]

<p>I would NEVER pay $50/month for a prenatal! That's highway robbery. I'm not even sure the RX prenatals get absorbed! Try this: put your prenatal in a glass of hot water. If it doesn't dissolve, chances are it's not getting dissolved in your stomach. So many times I've actually seen my RX prenatals in my stool...</p>
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<p>With my first two I took generic RX prenatals. With this pregnancy, I'm taking Whole Foods brand prenatals. I see a huge difference! It also has red raspberry leaf extract in it, which is great for toning uterine muscle. I wouldn't bother with the RX stuff! Even my midwife says the Whole Foods is better than the other ones.</p>
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<p>As far as DHA, I haven't taken any, but we're fish eaters, so I get a good amount of DHA from fish.</p>

 

[BeanieC]

<p>Thank you for your responses, I will check the Alive vitamins...I'm not such a big fan of soy being pregnant...but I certainly as a vegetarian consumed a lot of it before I was pregnant.</p>
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<p>I'm not sure what she was taking...but she had some really off the wall midwife in NYC who told her to take some regiment of herbs, which sent her into very, very, very early labor.  I'm not in touch with her anymore to ask her what they were.  I will ask my mom who may still be in touch with her family as she may know and I will post the herbs.  It might not be something that would happen to everyone, but when she arrived at the ER and told the doctors what she had been taking, they attributed the early labor to this concoction of herbs she was told to take.</p>

 

[kristenburgess]

<p>I took the New Chapter prenatal last pregnancy and birthed my baby at 40 weeks, 1 day and a healthy 8lbs 3oz.  Heavy labor was a few hours and he arrived pink and healthy before the midwife did Obviously I don't attribute all of that to the prenatals, but they did no harm </p>
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<p>This time around I chose Garden of Life Raw prenatal because it's also whole foods and has no soy base.  My DH is really sensitive to soy so I wanted to avoid it for our babe this time around.  </p>

 

[homemademomma]

<br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>becca_howell</strong> <a href="/community/forum/thread/1285340/rx-prenatals-vs-new-chapter-organics#post_16114483"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/community/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>I would NEVER pay $50/month for a prenatal! That's highway robbery. <strong>I'm not even sure the RX prenatals get absorbed! Try this: put your prenatal in a glass of hot water. If it doesn't dissolve, chances are it's not getting dissolved in your stomach. So many times I've actually seen my RX prenatals in my stool...</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>With my first two I took generic RX prenatals. With this pregnancy, I'm taking Whole Foods brand prenatals. I see a huge difference! It also has red raspberry leaf extract in it, which is great for toning uterine muscle. I wouldn't bother with the RX stuff! Even my midwife says the Whole Foods is better than the other ones.</p>
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<p>As far as DHA, I haven't taken any, but we're fish eaters, so I get a good amount of DHA from fish.</p>
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<p><br>
Don't forget that your stomach is full of digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid, which makes it significantly better at breaking things down than a plain glass of water.</p>
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<p> However, I agree with you and that is why I shell out the cash for a whole foods vitamin- I really think it is absorbed better by your body than the Rx brands.I take New Chapter prenatals and their Wholemega, but I can only afford them because my family owns a HF store and I get them at wholesale. Otherwise I would probably take rainbow light or garden of life.</p>
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<p>As far as the herbs go in the New Chapter vitamin, they are specifically formulated for pregnancy (think RR leaf, etc).</p>

 

[lyndie]

<p>I don't have 1st hand experience with the prenatal but I do know New Chapter has an awesome reputation & I've used other products from them with great results.  I used to work for an independent market with incredibly picky & thorough supplements buyers and they always highly recommended New Chapter products.</p>
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<p>I really wanted to use a whole food based vitamin but I can barely remember to take my once-a-day vitamin.  The Vitamin Code Raw prenatal I looked at was 6 pills a day!  I really don't trust myself with that... and the New Chap. one was 3 pills a day I think.  That would be in addition to my 2 DHA caps & I've never liked popping pills.</p>

 

[KarenMT]

<p>This will be my 3rd pregnancy that I am taking the Rainbow Light Once a Day Prenatals.  It is whole foods based and has digestive enzymes and a bunch of beneficial herbs.  In addition, I take the Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA vitamins.  I also took the DHA vitamins with my last pregnancy.  Rainbow Light also makes a more "whole food" prenatal that requires you to take 6 tablets per day but I was not able to tolerate them.  They have an excess amount of Niacin and it caused me to have this rxn of breking out in hives on my legs.  Very odd but it made sense when I looked it up online.</p>

 

[jwoodbri]

<p>I've also taken Rainbow Light One a Day through all of my pregnancies. I would go for New Chapter if I could swing it. And I wouldn't worry about the soy since it is fermented. I also avoid soy but fermented soy like tempeh, miso etc is actually good for the immune system and I'm sure other things as well unlike regular soy.</p>