Saturday, March 15, 2008 | By: Sara

Prenatal Vitamin

Hello all you girlies out there. I am going to stand on my soap box for a minute.
If you are of birth-giving age (between puberty and menopause), I recommend you take a prenatal vitamin or an equivalent that will give you the nutrients you need in case you become pregnant (on purpose or accident). Most of you probably know about folic acid. The recommended daily intake is 600 mcg if you are pregnant. Make sure you are taking at least 600 mcg folic acid daily. Folic acid deficiency results in (completely preventable) neurological problems, specifically spina bifida. The catch is... if you start taking folic acid when you find out you are pregnant it could be too late. This defect occurs within the first two weeks of pregnancy.
When I worked in the newborn intensive care unit, the majority of babies coming through were sick due to malnourished mothers. So please take at least a multivitamin that has > 600 mcg folic acid if you can't take prenatal vitamins. Thanks! I want to keep my girls' babies healthy!

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