Most pregnant women take a prenatal vitamin of some sort to ensure that they're getting enough of the vitamins that are crucial to supporting a pregnant body and a growing baby. Unfortunately, one common side effect of these vitamins is constipation. There are several ways you can prevent and relieve uncomfortable bowel symptoms.
Significance
The purpose of a prenatal vitamin is to provide micronutrients, meaning vitamins and minerals, to a pregnant mother and her baby. If you're pregnant, your obstetrician has probably discussed your prenatal vitamin options with you, and you may know that prenatals generally include vitamins like folic acid and minerals like iron. Explain Drs. Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz in their book "You: Having A Baby," prenatal vitamins ensure good nutrition and sound baby development.
Features
One of the major features that distinguishes a prenatal vitamin from regular multivitamins is the large quantity of iron, explain Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel in their book "What To Expect When You're Expecting." The iron is there to help you synthesize, meaning build, extra hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the protein that makes up red blood cells -- it carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, and if you're pregnant, you have more of it than you would if you weren't pregnant.
Considerations
One negative ramification of all that iron is that it slows down your already slow digestive tract. Pregnancy hormones cause the gut to process food much more slowly than usual, and high quantities of iron amplify that effect, explain Drs. Roizen and Oz. The result of all the gut-slowing is that it's easy for the intestine to absorb too much water from digested material, leading to constipation, which increases discomfort during pregnancy.
Prevention/Solution
There are a few ways you can combat the gut-slowing effects of iron in your prenatal vitamin, explains Dr. Raymond Poliakin in his book "What You Didn't Think To Ask Your Obstetrician." Drinking lots of water -- at least 8 big glasses a day, and probably closer to 12 -- helps prevent digested material from drying out too much. Eating plenty of fruits and vegetables keeps the gut moving and also provides the benefits of dietary fiber.
Expert Insight
Drs. Roizen and Oz note that some women have cramping and gas on top of constipation as a result of the iron in prenatal vitamins. If you're among the unlucky few who really suffer as a result of your prenatals, you can try breaking the prenatal vitamin into two or three pieces and taking bits of it at several different points during the day. This prevents a huge quantity of iron from passing through the gut all at once, and might help.
References
- "You: Having A Baby"; Michael Roizen, M.D. and Mehmet Oz, M.D.; 2009
- "What to Expect When You're Expecting"; Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel; 2008
- "What You Didn't Think to Ask Your Obstetrician"; Raymond Poliakin, M.D.; 2007
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