Prenatal Vitamins and Morning Sickness

Posted on Aug 18, 2011 | Blog Posts, Morning Sickness Causes Category | | Print This Article

photo credit: swanksalot

The fact is that most women just don’t get enough nutrients when they’re pregnant. (For that matter, most people don’t get enough of the right kinds of nutrients, pregnant or not.) Prenatal vitamins are one way to make sure that your developing baby has access to all of the basic building blocks she needs to grow and develop the right way. Unfortunately for some women, prenatal vitamins can also aggravate your morning sickness.

It’s about the iron

For lots of women, the iron in a prenatal vitamin is the root cause of the problem. It can be hard to digest, and it can cause reflux, nausea, and constipation. There are prenatal vitamins without iron on the market today to pick from. If your prenatal vitamin seems to aggravate your morning sickness or cause severe constipation, you can talk to your doctor about switching to a prenatal vitamin that doesn’t have iron in it.

You still need all of the nutrients

The problem with switching to a prenatal vitamin without iron, or with stopping prenatal vitamins altogether, is that your body and your baby still need that iron to function and develop. Leafy green vegetables, for example, provide high amounts of iron. There are many other fruits and vegetables, as well as other types of food, that contain iron as well. If you’re taking a prenatal vitamin without iron, you need to do some legwork in order to find foods that will give you what you need.

Skipping prenatal vitamins altogether

Some women may be tempted to drop the prenatal vitamins altogether, believing that they can get all of the nutrients they need from food. While this is technically true, there are some obstacles. Most of the food we buy on the shelves today isn’t as nutritious as whole or raw foods. You’re going to need to do a lot of digging to find those foods that are full of nutrients. You also need to keep a decent nutrition journal, so you can make sure you’re giving your baby the tools that she needs to grow and develop.

So, what do you think? What’s your experience been with prenatal vitamins and morning sickness?

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