When To Start Taking Prenatal Vitamins?

(December 20, 2010)

When To Start Taking Prenatal Vitamins

Going through a pregnancy is usually one of the highlights of a woman’s life and despite the pain, mood swings and considerable amount of suffering that the woman has to endure through the nine month period while her body changes shape to accommodate the new life being nurtured within; it always seems worth it at the end. However, the amount of pain that the woman has to go through throughout that period is unimaginable to someone that has never experienced it. A well-planned pregnancy is probably the best way to get through the entire phase, although pregnancy is not always planned. Planning a pregnancy will allow a woman to make sure that her body is ready for the physical as well as emotional demands of the pregnancy.
Prenatal vitamins are specially designed sets of vitamins that help a woman’s body counterbalance any known or unknown nutritional deficiencies.

Such deficiencies are generally rooted in an unhealthy diet and these vitamins can help to ensure that they do not affect the child. The primary components in these prenatal vitamins are folic acid, iron and calcium.


The purpose of the folic acid is to reduce the risk of birth defects, especially those affecting the brain or spinal cord as it promotes healthy growth and development. A healthy calcium count in the mother’s body during a pregnancy will ensure that the woman does not suffer from reduced bone density as the creation and development of the baby will require significant amounts of calcium for bone growth. Iron helps with the transport of oxygen from the mother’s body to that of the child. It is important to remember that prenatal vitamins are not considered to be a substitute for a healthy diet, but are mainly used to augment and better a diet that may possibly be lacking in the right quantities of these substances. A healthy pregnancy diet is an absolute necessity as it will ensure the health and well being of both the mother and child.

While the importance of taking prenatal vitamins is never really disputed, a number of women wonder to themselves ‘when should I start taking prenatal vitamins in order to ensure a healthy baby?’. The timing of when to start taking prenatal vitamins isn’t really complicated because of the fact that a woman should start taking them as soon as she finds out that she is pregnant. If you are trying to conceive, you could also follow a course of prescribed vitamins as this will help to maintain optimum health levels and can marginally increase your chances of becoming pregnant. Taking prenatal vitamins when you plan to get pregnant will help deal with any kind of iron deficiencies in your body that you may or may not be aware of. It is also important to remember that certain vitamins in an expecting mother’s body should be lower than that of a woman that is not expecting. For instance, vitamins A, D and K should all be comparatively lower in volume as compared to that of a woman who is not pregnant.