A balanced diet is required for a healthy living and it is very vital at the stage of pregnancy. You need to get it right because it does not only influence your health but also that of the growing baby. Vitamins and minerals play key roles in our overall well-being and even if you strictly follow the food pyramid guidelines, it is still possible to come short of these nutrients.
At the stage of pregnancy, doctors usually recommend prenatal vitamins because they are capable of supplementing the vitamins and minerals that may be short in your body or missing in your diet. However, you can easily get confused when you get to the pharmacy and find over 50 different types of prenatal vitamins with different ingredients. Therefore, you need to look at some criteria before purchasing a good one that will improve the health of your growing fetus.
In this article, I have compiled a list of the best 5 prenatal vitamins on the market in 2024 as well as include some common questions to guide you on how to make the best option for yourself. The health of your unborn child should be the most important thing to you at this stage and so you can’t just afford to joke with it. Follow this review and you won’t be having any problem choosing the best prenatal vitamin for yourself because I will be highlighting everything you should look out for in a good prenatal vitamin.
What Exactly Are Prenatal Vitamins?
I know you must have heard about probiotics before but might be wondering what they really are. Probiotics are live microorganisms which are often considered as “good bacteria” residing in your gut. This is because of the important roles they play in the digestive system where they help to fight the bad bacteria, therefore, helping you have a better health and well-being.
Prenatal vitamins are designed in such a way to achieve the primary aim of filling in any nutritional gaps, making sure all the vital nutrients your baby requires for a healthy growth are available in abundance, especially nutrients like magnesium, calcium, zinc, vitamins B and C, and folate.
In particular, the supplemental folate is very important as it has been proven to help reduce neural tube defects in babies, and you will need up to 400 micrograms of this nutrient on a daily basis as recommended by the World Health Organization.
Most prenatal vitamins are water soluble which means when they are taken in excess, they can easily be removed from the body as urine. The only exception for this is iron which tends to be harmful when in large doses. However, in as much as you stay within your daily prenatal and not supplementing with even more iron, you should be fine with the extra iron fortified into most prenatal vitamins.
When Should I Start Taking Prenatal Vitamins?
It is not until you become pregnant before you start taking prenatal vitamins. In fact, the CDC recommends all women of a childbearing age to take them. Prenatal vitamins prepare the reproductive systems ahead to manage pregnancy; it keeps it healthy. However, it is not too late if you have not been taking them. You can still take them the month before you start trying to conceive. Prenatal vitamins contain folic acid which provides all the needed protection that a baby needs to prevent a birth defect. Ensure you have these vitamins in your system before conception
What Should I Look For In A Prenatal Vitamin?
Don’t stop searching if the choice of prenatal vitamins does not contain Folic Acid (500mcg), Iron (17mg), Calcium (200 to 300mg) and Iodine (150mcg). Folic acid prevents birth defect; Iron builds hemoglobin for your blood; Calcium helps to build healthy bones in your baby, and iodine aids the development of the brain and nervous system of your baby. Some other vitamins you should look out in prenatal vitamins include Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and Zinc.
Who Should Not Take Prenatal Vitamins?
Certain vitamins aren’t right for every woman. There are some situations where women should not take them or talk to their doctor before going for any prenatal vitamin. Don’t take prenatal vitamins when
- You have once experienced allergic reactions from any of the ingredients contained in prenatal vitamins
- When you are on a medication that can interact with the active components of your prenatal vitamin and
- When you have iron-related problems
What’s The Best Time To Take Them?
Look at how many pills you are to take daily. If it is two for example, then you take one in the morning and the other at night with food. But it’s really up to you to determine the best time of the day that suits you in cases of a single pill per day.
What Are The Benefits Of Taking Prenatal Vitamins?
Taking prenatal vitamins even before pregnancy actually help your chance of conceiving. Also, the folic acid, copper, iron, copper, vitamin C, vitamin B6 vitamin D components help support the health of a growing baby. The risk of birth defects is also greatly reduced.
What’s The Difference Between Regular And Prenatal Vitamins?
Prenatal vitamins contain minerals and vitamins formulated in the right amount which can greatly support the health of a pregnant woman. Regular vitamins, on the other hand, are formulated to serve non-pregnant women. The constituents of these vitamins are good distinguishing factors. Both prenatal vitamins and regular multivitamins contain folic acid, Iron and Calcium but the prenatal vitamins usually contain a regulated amount needed for a pregnant woman to support the nutrition of the growing fetus.
How Do I Choose The Best Prenatal Vitamin From The So Many Options Available?
Most times, it is not very easy sifting through Amazon or drugstore shelves for the right prenatal vitamins. The so many options available to you may make choosing really overwhelming. However, here is the best 5 prenatal vitamins in the market for 2024. I’m sure this is going to be pretty helpful when it’s time for you to make a decision.
The Top 5 Best Prenatal Vitamins
| Product | Best For | Contains Iron | Dose Per Day | Contains DHA | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garden of Life | Vegan | Yes | 3 | Yes | |
| Smarty Pants | Gummies | No | 6 | Yes | |
| Vitafusion | Gummies | No | 2 | No | |
| Nature Made | Organic | Yes | 1 | Yes | |
| Rainbow Lite | All Round | Yes | 1 | No |
Some Tips to Help You Purchase the Best Probiotics for Weight Loss
1 .
Best Organic and Vegetarian Choice
>> Garden Of Life Prenatal Vitamin
It’s very unfortunate that even as important as folate, which is also known as vitamin B9 is for a healthy baby, many women are not getting enough of this essential nutrient. Folate is very helpful in preventing neural tube defects as the fetuses develop, and that is the reason many doctors recommend that their parents take folate supplements.
If you seek a prenatal vitamin very rich in folate, then this vitamin is a very good option to consider. The Garden of Life Prenatal Vitamin is made from raw whole foods and contains 90 vitamins in just a bottle. Apart from the wide variety of nutrients contained in the multivitamin, it also contains 200% of your daily folate needs when you take the 3 tablets per day, which is the recommended dose.
The Garden of Life Prenatal vitamin contains vitamins A, C, D, and E, as well as biotin, iron, manganese, and many more. The multivitamin is also formulated with probiotics, zinc and even ginger to ensure they don’t upset your stomach but help with effective digestion.
If you are also the type that is disturbed so much by morning sickness, the ginger included in the Garden of Life prenatal vitamin may be of great help to you. What else? The vitamin is completely vegetarian-friendly and free of gluten and dairy.
During the formulation of this vitamins, high heat wasn’t employed and they don’t contain synthetic fillers or binders. No artificial flavors, additives, colors or sweeteners added. The product have been confirmed to be a complete non-GMO product.
Combing through many reviews, many users said they chose the prenatal vitamin because of its folate content (not the synthetic alternative, folic acid anyway). Many of them also claimed that the vitamins really helped them with their morning sickness and that the pills are very easy to take.
However, the only downside noted by the users in their reviews is that the prenatal vitamins do not contain DHA, so you may have to get an additional supplement for that. When it also comes to affordability, this product is not one of the most affordable on the market.
What you may like about the Garden of Life Prenatal Vitamin
- You can take the vitamins even without food
- A perfect choice for moms worried about clean ingredients
- Gluten- and dairy-free
- It is completely vegetarian-friendly
What you may found not so good about it
- It is a little pricey compared to some other brands on the market
- It doesn’t contain DHA
- You may have to take it three times daily
2 .
The best pill alternative
>> Smarty Pants Prenatal Vitamin
Okay, let’s be sincere now. For some mom-to-be, swallowing anything and keeping it down is a major challenge. But some women swear that having vitamin gummies is just good enough to do the magic.
Smarty pants are vitamin gummies, not unlike the kind many parents use to trick their children into taking their daily vitamin dose. Rather than dread the vitamins, they are actually designed to have flavors that will make you look forward to taking them. They come in orange, lemon and strawberry-banana flavors and doesn’t contain artificial sweeteners, colors, preservatives or high fructose corn syrup. And also, since they are gummy, you can conveniently take them anywhere without needing a glass of water to gulp them.
However, just because the Smarty Pants Prenatal Vitamins are gummy, that doesn’t make them any less nutritional either. The vitamins hold up to 15 essential nutrients for your body and also for the healthy development of your baby. It is also rich in Omega 3 fish oil, DHA and EPA fatty acids. All these three are very essential for the development of your unborn baby. If you must also know, the Omega 3 fish oil comes from wild-caught fish. The vitamins are completely gluten and dairy-free.
The only downside of the Smarty Pants Prenatal Vitamins is that you won’t get any iron from it – just as it is for every gummy vitamin. Therefore, you may need to ask your doctor if it may be necessary for you to get an additional supplement in order to get iron and calcium during your pregnancy.
What you may like about the Smarty Pants Prenatal Vitamin
- The vitamins are gummy, so you won’t bother about swallowing a large pill daily
- They don’t taste or smell very strongly so they are great for soon-to-be moms dealing with nausea and morning sickness
- They are not overly sweet since they are not made with added sweeteners
- They contain folate instead of folic which is much easier for the baby to break down and absorb
What you may found not so good about it
- You may have to take 6 of this daily which may seem like a lot to remember
- Some people complain about some pieces getting stuck in their mouth because of the gummy nature of the vitamins
- Unfortunately, you may not enjoy any of the three flavors in which the vitamins come – orange, lemon, and strawberry-banana
3 .
Another great gummy on the market
>> Vitafusion Prenatal Vitamins
The Vitafusion gummies is another great gummy vitamin on the market you can opt for if you do not only want to take the best prenatal vitamin but also don’t want to swallow a horse pill! Most moms-to-be love this little awesome prenatal vitamin because of the ease it poses.
Like the Smarty Pants, they also contain Omega 3 fish oil which will be an added bonus that your doctor might suggest you take during your pregnancy. I may also need to tell you that they also don’t contain iron – that may be a plus or minus to you anyway. But since they are free of iron, they are gentle on the tummy and should not give you any problem which is what lots of women would prefer.
It is very easy to take compared to other gummies like the smarty pants. You only need to take 2 per day and the gummies taste really great! They are a lot like candy, so instead of you dreading taking your daily pill, these vitamins will continually make you look forward to taking them. They contain many features and benefits as the Smarty Pants but are much affordable.
I will warmly recommend these vitamins if what you want are some great and affordable prenatal gummy vitamins!
What you may like about the Vitafusion Prenatal Vitamin
- They are gummy vitamins which will make it much easier for you to take even where there is no water
- It’s very convenient since you only need to take 2 daily
- Rich in Omega 3 fish oil
- It’s gentle on the tummy
What you may found not so good about it
- It doesn’t contain iron so you may need to supplement from other sources
4 .
Best with DHA
>> Nature Made Prenatal Vitamins
One of the most vital Omega 3 fatty acids needed during pregnancy is DHA. This nutrient plays an essential role in the development of your baby’s eyes and brain, which is the reason most mothers would prefer to take a DHA supplement when they are pregnant. While you can also take DHA supplement on its own, it is quite better to take multivitamins that include this omega 3 fatty acid.
When comparing prenatal vitamins for their DHA content, Nature Made Prenatal vitamin is highly rated among many other multivitamins. These soft gels combine both a multivitamin and 200mg of DHA in just one easy-to-swallow pill. One bottle of this prenatal vitamin contains 90 capsules which are recommended you take once in a day when you are pregnant. When you opt for Nature Made Prenatal Vitamins, you are simply getting your daily dose of vitamins C and D, plus biotin, folic acid, magnesium, and more.
If you are the type that dreads swallowing too many pills, it will interest you to know that you only have to take one of these daily. However, you should also know that they are a bit large, therefore, if you have difficulty with large pills, you need to put that into consideration too.
Even though these pills are not vegan, they are surely a great way to get all your required nutrients and vitamins in a single capsule per day. Along with most other nutrients, these vitamins meet the folic acid and iron requirements of you and your baby, especially when combined with a healthy diet.
Going through many reviews from people who have used this product, they stated that Nature Made Prenatal Vitamin is their go-to vitamins whenever they are pregnant and when nursing. However, some reviewers complained about the fishy smell it has. This, for some women, could be a deal breaker as it could offset nausea. Also, to help minimize the likely side effects like nausea, I will recommend you always take them on a full stomach.
What you may like about Nature Made Prenatal Vitamin
- It is very rich in DHA which is one of the major fatty acids required for a healthy development of your baby
- You are required to only take one pill per day, making it an easy and convenient option
- It contains iron
What you may found not so good about it
- Its fishy smell could offset nausea in some women
- It could have an aftertaste
- The pills are a bit large
5 .
Best for folic acid
>> Rainbow Light Prenatal One Multivitamin
Even though I consider this prenatal multivitamin to be the last on this list of top 5 best prenatal vitamins in 2024, Rainbow Light Prenatal One vitamin has no doubt, remained one of the best and well rated prenatal vitamins in the market right now. This once-in-a-day tablet supplies you with complete nutrition for you and your babies and formulated to be gluten-free, vegan, and easy to digest.
This vitamin only requires you to take one daily which means if you are the type that finds it difficult to remember to take your pills, you will surely like this one. In one container, you will get 50 multivitamins, and each supplement is loaded with essential nutrients.
This prenatal vitamin recommend by babyadvisor.org is loaded in folic acid and also contains your recommended daily dose of copper, biotin, vitamin, iron, magnesium, lots of B vitamins, and many more.
If you are also one of the moms who struggle with allergies, then it will interest you to know that the Rainbow Light Prenatal Vitamin doesn’t contain any of the 8 major allergens, including gluten, wheat, nuts, sugar, soy, dairy or lactose, yeast or shellfish. It’s also free of animal ingredients as well as artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors, preservatives, and additives.
Rainbow Light Prenatal vitamin is also rich in both enzymes and probiotics, so they are pretty much gentle on your stomach and also keeps your gut bacteria happy.
Perhaps the most compelling part of the Rainbow Light prenatal is the glowing reviews given by happy moms who have used it before. Many of them confessed of having tried a lot of other similar products, they have chosen Rainbow Light as their favorite because it doesn’t upset their stomach and help them mitigate some of the side effects of pregnancy.
However, you should know that this vitamin does not contain DHA.
What you may like about the Rainbow Light Prenatal Vitamin
- You only have to take just one pill per day
- Its well-rounded nutrition
- It’s rich in folic acid
- Doesn’t contain any allergens
What you may found not so good about it
- It doesn’t contain DHA
- Dark spots may appear on the vitamins as a result of moisture
Some Important Questions About Prenatal Vitamins Further Answered
What are the common side effects of using prenatal vitamins?
Some mild side effects like constipation and nausea are common with prenatal vitamins. Sometimes these are triggered by the smell of DHA fish tablet and you can curtail this by taking them later in the day with food instead of early in the morning.
Can I take prenatal vitamins for hair growth?
Don’t believe any rumor that prenatal vitamins promote the growth of hair and nails. As a matter of fact, there is no scientific evidence to back up this claim. Experts believe that the growth is triggered by hormones like estrogen that are boosted with the use of prenatal vitamins. The hair growth stops after a woman gives birth. So don’t add this vitamin to your shampoo thinking it will boost your hair growth. You will end up disappointed at the negative result.
Can men take prenatal vitamins?
Men normally should take the regular multivitamins because they contain all the needed nutrients for the general well-being of a man. However, when they take prenatal vitamins, it does not cause any kind of harm and it cannot kill them.
Are there any prenatal vitamins without Iron?
Yes, there are some prenatal vitamins in the store without the iron component. This is because some women suffer constipation when they take prenatal vitamins containing iron. A good example of prenatal vitamins without iron is Vitafusion Prenatal Gummies. They contain other essential nutrients save iron.
Do prenatal vitamins help you get pregnant?
They actually prepare your body for conception but it does not magically make you become pregnant.
Do prenatal vitamins make you gain weight?
Vitamins contain zero calories and cannot be stored in the body as fat. So, there is no way they can cause weight gain. What actually causes weight gain in pregnant women is hard to tell.
What’s the best time to take them?
Look at how many pills you are to take daily. If it is two for example, then you take one in the morning and the other at night with food. But it’s really up to you to determine the best time of the day that suits you in cases of a single pill per day.
Are prenatal vitamins necessary?
Women have been having babies long before the introduction of prenatal vitamins, so, it is not absolutely necessary. Doctors usually have a say on whether or not you need one.
What kind of side effects can my prenatal vitamins cause?
Drugs usually have side effects and prenatal vitamins are not left out. The only difference is that prenatal vitamins have milder side effects than what will get with drugs like antibiotics. Side effects like constipation, weird colored poop, nausea and loss of appetite are common with prenatal vitamins but it varies depending on every woman.
