Have you started taking prenatal vitamins yet? If not, you should. There are lots of reasons to take them, but the most important is that it will actually help you to “bounce back” after the pregnancy.

Before you are actually pregnant, prenatal vitamins can help your body become a more hospitable environment for a potential implantation of the zygote. When you become pregnant your body begins to divert nutrients from your system to the baby, before giving any to you. At different stages of your pregnancy your growing baby will need higher levels of different vitamins and minerals to achieve certain growth milestones. For example, higher amounts of Vitamin D and Calcium will be needed at key development points for the skeletal system and more amino acids will be needed during brain development.  If you are not getting them in your diet, your body will extract them from your body’s stores/reserves – for example, your body will remove calcium from your bones to help build your baby’s skeletal structure if you are not getting enough from your diet. So it is very important to take your prenatal vitamins as directed by your OB/GYN. Your doctor may prescribe a specific composition of multi-vitamin for your given situation, so be conscious of why s/he prescribed that pill. If you have certain other conditions, you will need certain supplements and it is very important that you keep yourself healthy as well as the baby.

If you are like me, and the vitamins make you nauseous (maybe the taste, maybe the size or maybe the effect on your stomach), try different tactics. For me, personally, I did well with prenatal gummies, which are newly available and a great alternative to any issues with size or taste of regular pill vitamins. You can also try harder to get the necessary vitamins in your diet. While calcium and Vitamin C are both very important, you really want to focus on getting enough Folic Acid (Vitamin B) in your system. So if all else fails with the different forms of the multi-vitamins, take a Folic Acid supplement. To learn more about vitamins please read The ABC’s of Vitamins.

Word of the Week:

Embryo – noun the young of a viviparous animal, esp. of a mammal, in the early stages of development within the womb, in humans up to the end of the second month (www.dictionary.com)

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