Our Fertility Experts About Prenatal Vitamins

Drs. Hummel and Kettel advise patients to start taking prenatal vitamins before
undergoing fertility treatment. In fact, it might be of benefit to start months before starting an IVF procedure. Since there are many good prenatal vitamins available over the counter, our physicians don’t see a need for patients to get prescription prenatals. Drs. Hummel and Kettel would like to point out just a few things to be aware of when choosing a prenatal vitamin.
There are three essential nutrients that a woman in her reproductive years should get in their daily-recommended dosage: iron, calcium and folic acid. It is not advisable to double up on the recommended dosage or to combine multivitamins with prenatals, even if one vitamin falls short in the daily recommended amounts. Increasing the recommended dosage can cause you to go beyond safe levels of vitamins and minerals, which can be harmful to your body. Most multivitamins fall short in providing enough calcium, and taking a separate calcium supplement like TUMS (200 mg each) is fine.
Dr. Kettel points out that prenatal vitamins don’t carry the Food and Drug Administration’s approval (FDA), which means that they don’t need to follow a required standardization. When choosing a prenatal vitamin, make sure it has the “USP” on the label, which indicates that the U.S. Pharmacopeia has approved it for safety and quality.