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Does taking prenatal vitamins help you get pregnant. The Benefits of Prenatal Vitamins Before Pregnancy: Preparing Your Body for a Healthy Pregnancy

Do prenatal vitamins help you get pregnant? While they may not directly increase fertility, taking them before conception can have significant benefits for a healthy pregnancy. Discover the advantages of starting prenatal vitamins at least 3 months prior to trying to conceive.

The Importance of Prenatal Vitamins Before Pregnancy

Congratulations on considering pregnancy! Prenatal vitamins are an essential part of preparing your body for a healthy pregnancy, even before conception. While they may not directly increase your chances of getting pregnant, taking prenatal vitamins in the months leading up to pregnancy can provide numerous benefits for your baby’s development and your overall well-being.

When Should You Start Taking Prenatal Vitamins?

The word “prenatal” suggests that you should start taking these vitamins before pregnancy. It’s recommended to begin taking prenatal vitamins at least three months before trying to conceive. This timeline is crucial because it takes approximately 90 days for an egg to fully mature and develop before being released during ovulation.

During this 90-day period, the egg is influenced by various factors, including your nutritional intake, stress levels, hormonal balance, and oxygen-rich blood flow to the ovaries. Providing your body with the necessary nutrients through prenatal vitamins can help ensure that your egg is well-nourished and prepared for conception.

How Prenatal Vitamins Benefit Egg Health and Fertility

Eating a balanced, nutrient-rich diet can be challenging, which is where prenatal vitamins come in as a valuable supplement. These vitamins help fill the nutritional gaps in your daily intake, providing essential nutrients like folic acid, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids that are crucial for egg health and fertility.

Stress, hormonal imbalances, and poor blood flow to the ovaries can all negatively impact egg quality and development. By starting prenatal vitamins before pregnancy, you’re giving your body the support it needs to maintain a healthy hormonal balance, reduce stress, and increase oxygen-rich blood flow to the ovaries, all of which can help optimize the health of your developing eggs.

Prenatal Vitamins and Pregnancy Outcomes

Taking prenatal vitamins before pregnancy can also have a positive impact on your pregnancy outcomes. Research suggests that women who take prenatal vitamins prior to conception have a reduced risk of preterm birth by up to 50%. Prenatal vitamins have also been linked to a lower incidence of birth defects, such as neural tube defects, heart defects, limb deformities, and cleft palate.

Starting prenatal vitamins before pregnancy gives your body the opportunity to build up the necessary nutrient stores and establish a strong foundation for a healthy pregnancy. This can help minimize the risk of complications and ensure that your baby receives the optimal nourishment from the very beginning of their development.

Preparing Your Body for Pregnancy

While prenatal vitamins may not directly increase your fertility, they play a crucial role in preparing your body for a healthy pregnancy. By starting to take them at least three months before trying to conceive, you’re giving your body the time it needs to build up the necessary nutrient reserves and optimize the health of your developing eggs and overall reproductive system.

Remember, a well-nourished body is the foundation for a successful pregnancy. Taking prenatal vitamins before conception is one of the best steps you can take to ensure a smooth and healthy journey to parenthood.

The Benefits of a Nutrient-Rich Diet

In addition to prenatal vitamins, it’s important to focus on maintaining a nutrient-rich diet during the preconception period. Eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats can help provide your body with the essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants it needs to support egg health and overall fertility.

Consider incorporating fertility-boosting foods like leafy greens, nuts, seeds, avocados, and fatty fish into your diet. Pairing a well-balanced diet with prenatal vitamins can help ensure that your body is receiving the comprehensive nourishment it needs to prepare for a healthy pregnancy.

Conclusion

In summary, while prenatal vitamins may not directly increase your chances of getting pregnant, they play a crucial role in preparing your body for a healthy pregnancy. By starting to take them at least three months before trying to conceive, you’re giving your developing eggs and overall reproductive system the support they need to thrive.

Remember, a well-nourished body is the foundation for a successful pregnancy. Take the time to prioritize your preconception health, and you’ll be on your way to a smooth and rewarding journey to parenthood.

The Benefits Of Prenatal Vitamins Before Pregnancy
– feedmomandme

Written by: Co-Founder Maria Davi

Medically Reviewed by Dr. Nicole Palmer, DO

In This Article:

Congratulations, you are thinking about getting pregnant! Pregnancy is one of the most exciting times of your life, and you may be wonder, do prenatal vitamins help you get pregnant? However, the short answer is no; they help prevent pregnancy complications, such as low birth weight and premature birth. Ultimately helping you experience a healthy pregnancy and childbirth.

Prenatal multivitamins may not help your chances of getting pregnant, but they reduce your chances of birth defects. Their use significantly helps reduce the likelihood of neural tube defects, spina bifida and is associates with a lower risk of miscarriage. Think of them as an extra insurance policy with essential nutrients that help fill the nutritional gap of your daily food intake.

We recommend you add a prenatal multivitamin before getting pregnant. While doing this may not make you pregnant, it may help prepare your body to nourish your eggs and aid your uterus to be in optimal condition for implantation. Here are the benefits of taking prenatal vitamins before pregnancy.

★ WHEN SHOULD YOU START TAKING PRENATAL VITAMINS? AND WHY? 

When many think of prenatal vitamins, they think of a prescription prenatal being taken during pregnancy, not before pregnancy. However, as the word PRENATAL suggests, think of taking prenatal multivitamins before pregnancy. It’s a good idea to start taking prenatal vitamins at least three months before trying to conceive. It takes 90 days for an egg to develop before they are released fully. A well-nurtured egg is ideal before conception.

Before an egg reaches its full maturation, it takes a 90-day adventure, changing and preparing for ovulation. During this time, the egg is impacted by both healthy and unhealthy influences. Some factors affecting healthy eggs and ovaries are nutritional intake, stress, hormonal balance, and oxygen-rich blood flow.

As many have heard before, you are what you eat! Your nutritional intake can have a positive or negative impact on the health of your eggs and ovaries. The lack of nutrients like folic acid, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids can negatively affect your reproductive system. Check out our, Feel Good Food For A Healthy Pregnancy Recipe Book for nutrient-rich recipes & nutrition guidelines to help with nutritional intake.

Stress can overall affect your health, including harming your developing egg. When you are continuously under stress, your body produces cortisol and other stress hormones, interfering with or preventing regular ovulation. Reducing your stress levels can help improve your egg health.

A women’s hormonal balance is critical for proper egg health. Factors like stress and food intake can cause hormonal imbalance, leading to a disruption in your fertility cycle and your egg health. Having a nourished endocrine system significantly influences a healthy egg’s hormonal balance and fertility cycle.

Ovaries thrive on oxygen-rich blood flow for healthy egg development. Research suggests that embryos have the highest implantation potential from oxygenated well-vascularized eggs and ovaries. Some ways to increase oxygen-rich blood flow to the ovaries are to drink at least 64 oz of water every day and exercise.

★ DO PRENATAL VITAMINS MAKE YOU FERTILE?

The short answer is no. Even though prenatal vitamins don’t make you fertile, prepping your body with prenatal vitamins to get pregnant is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your growing family. If you’re planning on getting pregnant, you should start taking a prenatal vitamin three months before conception. A developing baby strives off a well nourished body. 

Here are more advantages of taking prenatal vitamins before pregnancy.

★ REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE PRENATAL VITAMINS BEFORE TRYING TO CONCEIVE 

  • As we mentioned before, healthy eggs are a vital fundamental to a healthy pregnancy. It is essential to nourish your body at least 90 days before your egg is fully developed and released from your ovary.
  • Let’s be honest, eating all your recommended daily nutrients is extremely hard. That’s where a prenatal vitamin comes to save the day; it’s like a safety net to optimize your daily intake for pre-pregnancy nutrients.
  • The nourishment you receive from taking prenatals before pregnancy may potentially prevent the risk of preterm birth.Research suggests women who take vitamins before conception reduced the risk of preterm birth by one-half!
  • Prior to conception, taking prenatal vitamins has been clinically proven to reduce birth irregularities. These birth defects are neural tube defects, heart defects, limb deformities, and cleft palate. 
  • From the moment of conception, folate is crucial for fetal development. Within the first month of pregnancy, the baby’s neural tube develops and is one of the most critical stages of fetal development. Having adequate consumption of folate will help your developing baby thrive. We use MTHR folate in our prenatal vitamins, which is the natural form of folate. Unlike the synthetic form, folic acid.
  • Like folate, choline is vital for fetal development. Choline also helps prevent neural tube defects during early pregnancy. This building blocks nutrient helps your baby’s brain and spinal cord properly develop and helps form neurotransmitters in the brain.
  • Vitamin D is significant during pregnancy. Some women, especially during the winter, don’t get enough to support their baby and themselves. Vitamin D is needed to keep your bones strong and to grow your baby’s bones. It is also linked to a lower risk of first trimester miscarriages.
  • DHA is a type of omega-3 fatty acid that’s in many prenatal vitamins. Omega-3 fatty acids help improve egg quality, helps support an ideal level of reproductive hormones, and improve cervical mucus quality needed for the sperm to reach the egg. 
  • Did you know that pregnant women need twice the amount of iron? Iron in prenatal vitamins helps your body produce hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to your body’s organs and tissues.

★ BEST PRENATAL VITAMINS BEFORE PREGNANCY

We highly recommend you add a prenatal vitamin before pregnancy and each week of pregnancy. One of the best over-the-counter prenatal vitamins before pregnancy is Feed Mom & Me Complete Prenatal with DHA.

This prenatal is formulated by an OBGYN & Registered Dietitian, containing all the nutrients needed to conceive and during pregnancy. Each small and easy-to-swallow pill is packed with 22 key natural nutrients to provide nutritional support for you and your growing baby. It contains Folate (methylfolate form), DHA, Iron, Calcium, Choline, Biotin, Zinc, Magnesium, and Selenium.

The vegetarian formula is free of artificial colors or flavors, chemicals, preservatives, non-GMO, dairy, soy, or gluten-free. Each of their capsules contains B6, Organic Ginger, and Peppermint Powder, which can help alleviate morning sickness and nausea.

Adding to that, it is a women-owned company. Who better than a female would understand pregnancy!

Click here for more info on Feed Mom & Me Complete Prenatal with DHA, a great pre-pregnancy pill!

+SOURCES

  • https://www. plannedparenthood.org/learn/pregnancy/pre-pregnancy-health/what-are-prenatal-vitamins
  • https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/21/4/1055/585607
  • https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/insufficient-vitamin-d-linked-miscarriage-among-women-prior-pregnancy-loss
  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15496541/
  • https://www.jogc.com/article/S1701-2163(15)30230-9/fulltext
  • https://natural-fertility-info.com/increase-egg-health
  • https://feedmomandme.com/products/feel-good-food-for-a-healthy-pregnancy
  • https://feedmomandme.com/products/complete-prenatal-vitamin-with-dha

Can taking prenatal vitamins help you get pregnant? – Stix

You’ve likely already heard a lot about prenatals, and that’s because taking a daily prenatal vitamin is important for a healthy pregnancy journey. So you know that they’re good for you—but why are these pills so important for pregnancy and what do they do, anyway? Could taking a prenatal vitamin improve your chances of getting pregnant? When should you start taking them?

Don’t worry, we’re here to help straighten out the details!

Will taking prenatal vitamins increase your chances of getting pregnant?

Sorry to break it to you but taking your prenatal vitamin won’t make you any more likely to get pregnant.

Prenatal vitamins will, however, make it significantly more likely that you experience a healthy pregnancy. So, we recommend that you add prenatals into your trying to conceive (TTC) journey, but don’t expect them to be magic fertility pills.

Taking a prenatal vitamin is also healthy for someone not looking to conceive. While it won’t support fertility, it will replenish folic acid, iron, vitamin D, and calcium stores in the body. This can help keep you strong and prevent potential health complications in an unexpected pregnancy. prenatal-multi-dha

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When should you start taking prenatal vitamins?

It’s much earlier than you may think! The ideal time to start a prenatal vitamin is around 3 months before conception. Here’s why you should start taking prenatals before pregnancy:

  • Your eggs develop 90 days before they are released, and healthy eggs are key to a healthy pregnancy. It’s important that your body has quality nutrients to pull from. 
  • The first few weeks of pregnancy are a really important time for fetal health and development. Taking folic acid and other prenatal vitamins can help reduce the risk of early pregnancy birth defects. Start taking folic acid at least 1 month before you start trying to get pregnant. Keep taking prenatal vitamins throughout your entire pregnancy.
  • Pregnancy is taxing on the body’s nutritional stores. Give yourself a boost by taking a multivitamin to bridge any gaps. Starting a prenatal now will help you avoid any nutritional deficiencies during early pregnancy. You’ll also have time to try out a few brands to see what works for your body. 

    Benefits of taking a prenatal vitamin before pregnancy

    A prenatal vitamin is an excellent investment for you and your future baby. Although many of us have well-rounded diets, most of us are also unable to absorb adequate amounts of essential vitamins needed to support a healthy pregnancy. Prenatal vitamins help ensure that we’re receiving essential vitamins during pregnancy.

    Studies also show that taking a daily vitamin can lower your risk of giving birth prematurely and even stave off morning sickness. But that’s not all a prenatal can do before and during pregnancy.

    Taking prenatal vitamins before conception can reduce the chance of irregularities such as neural tube defects, heart defects, limb deformities, and cleft palate, according to research published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada. Additionally, taking vitamins before TTC may reduce the risk of preterm birth. Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill found that taking vitamins before conception reduced the risk of preterm birth by about one half in a group of about 2,000 women.

    After conception, folate supports the earliest, most critical stages of fetal development. The baby’s brain and spine develop within the first month of pregnancy, sometimes before you even know you’re pregnant. By the time you get that first positive test, you should already be regularly consuming folate.

    Prenatals also support you during your pregnancy. While pregnant, you need about twice the amount of iron and a prenatal can ensure adequate iron stores.

    Disadvantages of taking prenatal vitamins when not pregnant

    So what could be the bad part of taking prenatal vitamins if you’re not pregnant or trying to conceive?

    Prenatal vitamins are specific are formulated  to make up the common nutritional deficiencies you experience during pregnancy and breastfeeding. But they aren’t reallyyy intended for or optimized if you’re not pregnant or breastfeedingFor example, taking too much folic acid each day can have the adverse side effect of masking a vitamin B-12 deficiency. Excess iron can be a problem and is associated with health problems like constipation, nausea, and diarrhea.

    Also, quality is an important consideration when selecting a prenatal vitamins because the FDA is not required to review dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed to consumers. In 2015, the New York State Attorney General’s office investigated top-selling supplements at leading retailers like Target and Walgreens and found that four out of five of the products didn’t contain the ingredients listed on the label.

    We recommended using Labdoor as a resource that offers you more insight into prenatal vitamin quality. After performing a chemical analysis of a supplement in an FDA-approved lab, Labdoor produces a quality score for the product. Also, we always recommend consulting your primary care provider when selecting a prenatal vitamin.pregnancy-prep-combo

    What prenatal vitamins should I take before getting pregnant?

    Prenatal vitamins are readily available over the counter at your local drugstore and a prescription is generally unnecessary. While there are many great prenatal brands available, they can differ in the types and amounts of nutrients it contains.

    So when shopping for prenatal vitamins, we recommend you look for these four primary nutrients that are especially important during pregnancy

    • Folic acid: 600 mcg
    • Iron: 27 mg
    • Calcium: 1,000 mg
    • Vitamin D: 600 IU

    ***amounts are per day and recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

    The following vitamins are also essential during pregnancy, and you may not get enough of them through diet alone. Having these in your prenatals are helpful too:

    • Vitamin A: 770 mcg
    • Vitamin C: 85 mg
    • Vitamin B6: 1.9 mg
    • Vitamin B12: 2.6 mcg

        ***amounts are per day and recommended by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

        Consider it a bonus if you find a prenatal vitamin that also contains omega-3 fatty acids. There’s strong evidence indicating that omega-3 fatty acids may play an important role in the development of your baby’s brain and nervous system.

        If you have any questions about which prenatal vitamin is right for you, we always recommend consulting your primary care provider.

        The takeaway

        As you can see, there are many benefits of prenatal vitamins before and during pregnancy!

        If you’re thinking seriously about becoming pregnant in the next few months or you’re already pregnant, taking a prenatal vitamin should be at the top of your to-do list.

        Do you have more questions about prenatal vitamins? Ask them below in the comments section!

        Vitamins for men during pregnancy planning

        Nutrients, minerals and vitamins are required for the normal development of the fetus. But it is equally important for conception and pregnancy that the germ cells (egg and sperm) that are involved in conception are complete and free of defects. Therefore, vitamin complexes when planning pregnancy are necessary in the same way as during it.

        This article is not to be used for diagnosis, treatment, and is not a substitute for seeing a doctor.

        For a couple who wants to become parents, pregnancy planning is no less important than the pregnancy itself.

        After all, you need to carefully prepare for conception, monitor your health, and eat rationally. And this applies to both partners. It is generally accepted that only the expectant mother should think and worry about the health of the long-awaited offspring. But not only a woman must “sacrifice” in order to conceive and bear a healthy baby, a man also needs to give up bad habits, change his lifestyle and nutrition in some way. Vitamins and microelements are especially important in the diet, their consumption should be sufficient for the “bookmarking” of a future healthy person. Therefore, vitamin complexes for pregnancy planning are needed for both a woman and a man who plan to acquire heirs.

        Of course, a mother bears a much greater burden in terms of offspring, she will have to bear a child, feed, care for, and educate. But the future father needs to take into account that the child receives a set of genes from both parents. Therefore, a man should assist a woman in everything, with regard to joint children, and not just support his other half, but act in unison with her in preparation for pregnancy. This must be done in order to minimize the risks to the health of the future joint baby. It is necessary to plan pregnancy approximately 3-6 months before the intended conception.