During pregnancy, most women take prenatal vitamins. If you're used to taking another multivitamin supplement, such as Flintstones Vitamins, you may wonder whether you can continue with what you're accustomed to. Flintstones Vitamins aren't appropriate for use on their own during pregnancy, but you may be able to incorporate them into your regimen.
Pregnancy and Vitamins
During pregnancy, you have an increased need for vitamins and minerals -- nutrients you need for cellular health, but that don't provide you with energy. Specifically, while you continue to need all the vitamins and minerals you normally do, you need more iron and folic acid than you did pre-pregnancy. The iron helps you build blood volume, and the folic acid prevents neural tube defects -- where the neural tube becomes the brain and spinal cord -- in your developing baby.
Flintstones Vitamins
Flintstones Vitamins are daily multivitamin and mineral supplements designed for both adults and children. They contain a variety of micronutrients, many of which are present in the amounts you'd need during pregnancy. For a pregnant woman, however, they are too low in folic acid and iron. During pregnancy, you need 800 to 1,000 mcg of folic acid each day, and Flintstones have 400 mcg. You need 27 mg of iron, where Flintstones Vitamins have 18 mg.
Options
If your obstetrician is willing, you might be able to take Flintstones Vitamins during pregnancy if you also take a separate folic acid supplement and an iron supplement to ensure that you're getting enough of these key nutrients. One advantage to this strategy is that Flintstones Vitamins plus separate iron and folic acid supplements may be cheaper than prenatal supplements, which can be very expensive. You can also select a slow-release iron supplement, which will help prevent gastric upset.
Other Considerations
Another thing you should consider if you're using Flintstones Vitamins during pregnancy is that they're very low in calcium. A tablet contains 100 mg of calcium, just 10 percent of your daily requirement during pregnancy. Complicating matters, the vitamins also contain some iron, which interferes with calcium absorption. You should therefore purchase a separate calcium supplement and take it at a different time of day, well apart from when you take your Flintstones Vitamins, for optimal absorption.
References
- FlintstonesVitamins.com
- "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
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