When Should You Start Prenatal Vitamins? Earlier Than You Think

There are a lot of limits on the types of medications and supplements you can take during pregnancy — but prenatal vitamins are not only allowed, they’re strongly recommended.

A good prenatal can help keep you and your growing baby healthy, ensuring that you’re both getting all the nutrients you need to make it through those 9 codependent months of pregnancy.

If prenatal vitamins are for you and baby, though, why do so many healthcare providers tell women to start taking them before pregnancy? Is that safe to do? Also, have you checked out the vitamin aisle lately? It’s chock-full of options.

Don’t stress — we’ve got you covered.

When should you start taking prenatal vitamins?

There are two answers here, but (spoiler alert!) neither involves waiting until your first trimester ultrasound.

When you decide to try for a pregnancy

Ready to start a family? In addition to scheduling a well visit with your gynecologist, quitting birth control, and cutting out unhealthy behaviors like smoking, you should start taking prenatal vitamins.

You won’t be able to predict how long it will take you to get pregnant — it could be weeks or months — and you won’t know you’ve been successful until a few weeks after conception. Prenatal vitamins are an important part of preconception care.

As soon as you find out you’re pregnant

If you aren’t already taking prenatal vitamins, you should start as soon as you get a positive pregnancy sign on that pee stick test.

Your OB-GYN may eventually suggest a specific brand or even offer you a prescription to make your vitamin-popping life easier, but you don’t have to wait — every day counts when you’re in the first trimester (more on why in a sec).

Why take them before you’re even pregnant?

Here’s the deal: Pregnancy takes a lot of you. Your cute little fetus is actually a major drain on your body’s natural resources, which is why you spend so much time in those 9 months feeling nauseated, exhausted, achy, crampy, moody, weepy, and forgetful.

Your baby gets all the nutrients it needs directly from you, so it’s easy to become deficient in important vitamins and minerals during pregnancy. Making sure your body has what it needs to nourish both of you is much easier if you get started before baby is in the picture.

Think of it like building up a reserve: If you have more than enough of the vitamins and nutrients you need to thrive, then you can afford to share those vitamins and nutrients with your baby as they grow.

What are the most important nutrients in prenatals, especially for the first month of pregnancy?

While it’s important to have a well-rounded balance of vitamins and nutrients during pregnancy, some are truly MVPs because they actually help your baby form vital organs and body systems, many of which begin developing in the earliest weeks of pregnancy.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), these are the most important nutrients you need:

Folic acid

The granddaddy of prenatal nutrients, this B vitamin is responsible for creating your baby’s neural tube, or the structure that eventually forms the brain and spinal column. Without a fully developed neural tube, a baby could be born with spina bifida or anencephaly.

Thankfully, the expertsTrusted Source are all in agreement here: Folic acid supplements significantly increase the likelihood of healthy neural tube growth. The American Academy of Pediatrics has long held the position that folic acid can reduce neural tube defects by at least 50 percent.

The only catch? The neural tube closes within the first 4 weeks after conception, which is often before or right after a woman realizes she’s pregnant.

Because folic acid is so effective — but only if you’re getting enough at just the right time — the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionTrusted Source recommends that all sexually active women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid daily (either in a prenatal vitamin or an individual supplement).

That way, you’ll have it when you need it — even if you’re not expecting to! Once you’ve confirmed a pregnancy, you’ll need at least 600 mcg per day.

Iron

Iron supplies the fetus with blood and oxygen, helps build the placenta, and gives you the extra blood volume you need throughout pregnancy. Since pregnant women are prone to anemia, iron supplementation also ensures that you have the right amount of red blood cells in your blood.

Anemia during pregnancy is associated with higher rates of premature delivery and low infant birth weight.

Calcium

Your baby is spending a lot of time in your uterus building up their bones and teeth. In order to achieve this Herculean feat, they need plenty of calcium — which means you need plenty of calcium, too.

If you don’t get enough calcium, your baby will take whatever it needs straight from your bones during pregnancy and breastfeeding. This can lead to temporary bone loss.