The Best Prenatal Vitamins

Prenatal vitamins are incredibly important for women to take, not just when they are actually pregnant, but even if they are thinking of becoming pregnant or are actively trying to get pregnant. The most important vitamin you should take during pregnancy and ensure is in your prenatal vitamin selection is folic acid or folate, but there are other important ones a well.

We review the best prenatal vitamins, to help you as you make the important decision for your health and the health of your unborn child.

What Are Prenatal Vitamins?

A prenatal vitamin will provide you with the vitamins and minerals you need while trying to get pregnant and throughout your pregnancy.

As mentioned, folic acid is the most important ingredient in a prenatal vitamin.

Folic acid is a B-vitamin, and it’s required by the cells in all of our bodies to facilitate growth and development. It’s advised that you take 400 mcg of folic acid each day at least a month before you become pregnant, and every day during your pregnancy.

Taking a folic acid supplement can help reduce the risk of what are called neural tube defects, which are problems with a baby’s spine and brain.

The majority of your vitamins and minerals should come from the food you eat, but that can be challenging even when you aren’t pregnant. If you are pregnant, it can be even tougher because you may have food aversions or morning sickness.

 For most women, if there are any side effects of prenatal vitamins, they’re mild. You may feel nauseous when taking them, or you might get constipated. If you experience these side effects, switching brands and products can usually help quite a bit.

Prenatal vitamins are also unique from other multivitamins because they tend to have more calcium and iron than regular vitamins, in addition to folic acid.

Common Nutritional Deficiencies in Pregnancy

It’s fairly common for pregnant women not to get the recommended amount of vitamins and nutrients.

There was a study included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with data from 2001 to 2014, and it found that a significant portion of the pregnant women they looked at had significantly low levels of magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin E, and iron.

Some of the women were also deficient in vitamins A, B and C, calcium folate, and zinc.

Vitamin deficiencies can restrict the growth of a fetus because a mother is feeding her baby through what she’s consuming.

One big issue often faced by pregnant women is anemia.

Anemia is a low red blood cell count.

Being anemic is one reason why pregnant women may feel very tired and low-energy during their pregnancy.

If a pregnant woman is anemic during her pregnancy and then experiences blood loss during delivery, it can turn into a life-threatening situation.

Anemia can also contribute to low birth weight or even fetal death.

Most Important Vitamins During Pregnancy

The following are some of the most important vitamins and minerals pregnant women need, and this can serve as a guide as you choose a prenatal vitamin.

• Calcium: You need 1,000 mg a day if you’re between the ages of 19 and 50. It’s important to help build your baby’s bones and teeth.
• Iron: The recommended daily amount of iron each day is 27 milligrams. You need it so that your red blood cells are able to deliver oxygen to your baby effectively.
• Vitamin A: 770 mg of vitamin A is recommended each day, to help your baby’s skin and eyes, and to promote your baby’s bone growth.
• Vitamin C: For pregnant women, the recommended amount of daily vitamin C is 85 mg. For your baby, it helps with healthy gums, bones and teeth and it also helps your body better absorb iron.
• Vitamin D: The recommended daily amount of vitamin D during pregnancy is 600 IU. Vitamin D helps your baby’s bones and teeth and vitamin D is important for healthy skin and eyesight. We’re also increasingly learning about vitamin D’s positive effects on our immune system.
• Vitamin B6: You should aim for around 1.9 mg of vitamin B6 daily when you’re pregnant, and it helps with the formation of red blood cells. Vitamin B6 also helps your body use carbohydrates, fat, and protein.
• Vitamin B12: This other important B vitamin helps your nervous system stay healthy, and it’s required to form red blood cells. Aim for around 2.6 mcg a day of vitamin B12 during pregnancy.
• Folic Acid: This is such an important nutrient for pregnant women to prevent neural tube birth defects. You should get at least 600 mcg a day when you’re pregnant.

The Benefits of Prenatal Vitamins

If you’re unsure whether or not you should take prenatal vitamins, consider some of the following potential benefits of doing so:

• Even when you eat a very healthy diet, it can be challenging to get all the vitamins and nutrients you need. No one eats the nutritionally perfect diet each day, and when you’re pregnant and experiencing symptoms like morning sickness, a well-balanced diet can be even more challenging. While a prenatal supplement isn’t going to do all the work for you in terms of vitamins and nutrients, it can fill in the gaps quite a bit.
• There’s some evidence prenatal vitamins may actually help reduce nausea you experience. Vitamin B6 in particular is known to help with symptoms of morning sickness. If you take a multivitamin with at least 10 mcg of vitamin B6 even before you conceive, you may experience less nausea during your first trimester.
• This has been mentioned several times, but the importance can’t be overstated—vitamins are necessary to reduce the risk of birth defects. Folic acid and B12 in adequate amounts before conception and the early stages of your pregnancy can significantly reduce the risk of spina bifida and other neural tube defects. Folic acid may also help reduce the risk congenital heart defects.
• Some studies have shown that if you take prenatal vitamins regularly both before you’re pregnant and during your pregnancy your child may be at a lower risk of having autism spectrum disorder.
• Having a prenatal vitamin that you regularly use throughout your pregnancy is linked to a reduced risk of preterm birth. Vitamin B12 is especially important in this way because B12 deficiency is believed to be linked to preterm birth and lower birth weight.
• Iron which is usually included in prenatal vitamins, helps your body make the blood that then supplies oxygen to the fetus, supporting the development of both the placenta and the fetus.

How to Choose the Best Prenatal Vitamin

The following are important things to consider as you choose the best prenatal vitamin:

• If you aren’t sure where to begin as far as choosing the best prenatal vitamin, you might want to ask your health care provider who will likely have suggestions for you.
• You should look for a prenatal that has folic acid, iron, calcium, and vitamin D in particular.
• Your doctor may also recommend that you supplement with certain vitamins or nutrients in higher doses depending on your needs and your health.
• Don’t take higher doses of a prenatal vitamin than what you need or what you’re instructed to take. Overdoing it on vitamins can be harmful. For example, if you take too much vitamin A when you’re pregnant it can be harmful to the developing baby.
• Sometimes you may find that a certain prenatal vitamin gives you side effects like nausea or constipation. If so, you may want to change brands because a lot of women find that helps. You may also want to experiment with capsules and tablets and see which works best out of those options.
• You might think about looking for a prenatal that has omega-3 fatty acids or add that to your supplements on its own. This may help boost your baby’s brain development and you might especially need to supplement if you don’t eat a lot of foods that are high in omega-3s like fish.
• When choosing the best prenatal vitamin, try to find one that has an independent seal of approval. Three of the organizations that offer independent seals of approvals for the best prenatal vitamins are United States Pharmacopeia (USP), NSF International, and Consumer Lab.
• If you do find that taking your prenatal vitamin makes you nauseous even if you switch brands, try taking it with a meal or snack. Having a vitamin with more B6 can also help since it helps with nausea.
• If you experience symptoms like gas, diarrhea, or constipation with your prenatal, it could be because of the iron in the pill. Try to up your water and fiber intake or perhaps ask your doctor if you could do a supplement without iron. Another option would be using a liquid iron or a slow-release iron separately that’s easier on the digestive system.

The MTHFR Gene and Folic Acid

There is a unique consideration to keep in mind when choosing the best prenatal supplement, which is the MTHFR gene. The MTHFR gene instructs your body on how to make the MTHFR protein, which is used by your body to process folate. Your body requires folate for the production of DNA and to modify proteins, and it’s also needed during pregnancy.

If you have the gene variant, you might take a supplement with folate instead of folic acid. However, you should also know that taking a folic acid supplement can help prevent neural tube defects even if you have the MTHFR variant. However, if you’ve already had a baby with a neural tube defect or you have other conditions, your doctor might advise you to take more than the standard recommended dose of 400 mcg.

Folic acid is a human-made version of folate, while folate is a naturally-occurring nutrient that comes from food. Methylated folate is the most bioavailable form of folate, and that may help your body better absorb it.

Top 6 Best Prenatal Vitamins 

These are our picks for the best prenatal vitamins, along with details of why each is included in this ranking and review.