Folic acid

Hi there - I took folic acid until 10 weeks then stopped. I’m now 12 weeks. It was part of me just generally not liking to take supplements, part of me just felt sick at the thought of swallowing pills. I was and am still very nauseous although less now than a few days ago. My husband asked me if I took my supps again, and I’m not sure if I should be taking folic acid post 12 weeks— and is it something you guys feel I should be worried about not having taken them for 2 weeks? I also read that folic acid can compete with natural folate, which made me doubt how necessary this supplement is… any thoughts?

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I wouldn’t be too worried about not taking it for the last 2 weeks but I definitely would take it going forward

I definitely would continue to take it going forward. If you had to take any supplements it's the one I wouldn't go without whilst pregnant.

I take it my whole pregnancy

1. There's liquid supplement options out there.. 2. Don't stress what you can't change, what you have done, and continuing should be enough.. There's some people who get all of the way through a pregnancy without supplements and still manage to have perfect babies. 3. The first trimester is the most important time to be supplementing AND typically the worst for nausea 😭 4. A good prenatal should contain enough folic acid that you don't need a separate one. 5. Take your Iron with O.J. at a different time from your prenatal. Iron and calcium don't go together but you need both ❤️

I didn’t take any because I found my morning sickness was worse after I’d taken them? So they would just come back up and baby’s healthy and no concerns😊

I took supplements through the entire pregnancy and was also prescribed tablets for folic acid since I needed a higher dose. The supplements I took were for folic acid, iron, zinc, and probably more I can't remember. They were the pregnacare ones. I ended up having low iron towards the end of my pregnancy so it was worth to take them. You can get them in liquid form or chewable gummies. I hated taking tablets too and always used to struggle swallowing tablets when I was younger. Better get used to it though because you are also meant to take vitamin D tablets while breastfeeding 🙃

I am a fertility nutritionist and I recommend folate as opposed to folic acid. Some women can’t metabolise folic acid very well at all. Continuing to take a high quality prenatal multivitamin is advisable throughout pregnancy, look into something like Optimal Prenatal by Seeking Health or Wild Nutrition’s Pregnancy support. All the best

Tbf it's more beneficial to take folic acid before pregnant then start taking once you find out as it prevents neural tube defects which is already formed by 5 weeks but is still recommended to take up until 12 weeks I was put on 5mg due to bmi the tablets were tiny so didn't have a problem

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