When Prenatal Vitamins Make You Sick

best-prenatal-vitamins-that-won't-make-you-nauseous.jpg Forget morning sickness! 

Prenatal vitamins made me vomit.

But if you’re trying to conceive or already pregnant, you have to take those vitamins!

What’s the best prenatal vitamin to take?  Can you find a prenatal vitamin that doesn’t upset your stomach?

 

When we were open to conception, I took regular Centrum vitamin tablets.

They provide 500 micrograms of folic acid per day…

…more than enough to prevent neural tube defects.

 

When I realized I was pregnant, my doctor recommended prenatal vitamins with more calcium and iron.  I happily filled the prescription for PreNate Advance.

Uh oh.

I never had morning sickness, but my stomach started churning day and night.  Perhaps it was the funny tasting coating?

—>This article from Dr. Spock.com gives a good analysis of some of the most popular prenatal vitamins by prescription.

Well, this is no time to scrimp, I thought. 

I went straight to the health food store for the best prenatal vitamin I could find. Surely an organic vitamin in capsule form would do the trick…

prenatal-vitamin-organic-capsule-new-chapter-organics-perfect-prenatal.jpg

 I’ve never been so sick in my life. 

I tried taking them with food–and without food.  Vomiting, for 2 days and nights, before I finally threw the $30 bottle in the trash.  You have to take a LOT of capsules to equal one horse-size prenatal tablet!

—>This article gives you some strategies for coping with prenatal vitamins that make you feel sick.

At this point I worried for the health of my baby! 

But the doctor reassured me that while an adequate diet alone isn’t ideal, I was certainly keeping down more healthy foods than a pregnant woman with hyperemesis (frequent morning sickness).

Most importantly, I had been taking adequate folic acid at the most important moments–during and just after conception.flintstones-with-iron-as-substitute-for-prenatal-vitamins.gif

—>Here are Whole Foods’ Top 10 Power Foods For Pregnant Women.

In the end, his nurse recommended I take 2 Flintstones with iron per day, and that’s what I’ve been doing since 3 months pregnant.

Without the vomiting, thankyouverymuch!

Meredith

I'm a wife, mom, and resident of Brentwood, Tennessee. I love finding fun new things to see and do in the Brentwood area! Most recently, I've enjoyed blogging about my pregnancy with baby #3.

  • Vanessasimonstar

    I wanna know what women in the 30′s did? They did not take prenatal vitamins! I have been taking on and off Raw prenatal vitamins ” Garden of Life”- vitamin code Prenatal vitamins. They are awsome!  this is my second pregnancy and I had severe morning sickness for 4 months straight I thoought I was going to die. ITS finally over, but I am not that great at taking pills so I just go with the flow. With my first baby i took those horse prenatal vitamins that they sell at the drugstores and they made me sick. Does taking the prenatal vitamins during pregnancy really make a huge difference, well I am not going to lose sleep over it!