Help Your Baby Get a Healthy Start
with the Best Prenatal Vitamins

Did you know a prenatal vitamin not only helps to prevent birth defects, but can also help with your child’s brain development, behavior, learning ability and help reduce the risk of childhood obesity?

You can give your baby a head start in life by simply taking the best prenatal vitamin that contains a few important ingredients.

BestPrenatalVitamins.org was made to help educate expecting parents on the most up to date research on prenatal vitamins. This website can help you learn what the latest studies indicate, which ingredients to look for, and what percentage of ingredients should be found in your prenatal vitamin.

Key Ingredients You’ll Find in the Best Prenatal Vitamins

There are three major ingredients doctors recommend expecting mother’s look for before selecting a prenatal vitamin.

• Folate or Folic Acid- Helps to prevent neural tube defects. Neural tube defects are serious abnormalities that affect the brain and spinal cord.

• Calcium- Helps strengthen bones and teeth for both mother and baby. Calcium is also important for your muscular and nervous system to run normally.

• Iron- Helps support in the development in blood cells and muscle cells for both mother and baby. Iron helps to reduce anemia, a problem where the mother is lacking healthy red blood cells.

Newly Researched Ingredients

Below is a list of other ingredients you should also consider when looking for the best prenatal vitamins.  Based on new research for infant development, these ingredients should be a must have in your prenatal vitamin.

• DHA- Is an omega-3 fatty acid, which has been found in a number of studies to help promote a baby’s brain and eye development. Omega-3 fatty acids are mostly found in fish which many pregnant women choose not to eat due to the high mercury content found in fish.

• Probiotics- Have been found to possibly reduce excessively large birth sizes and reduce obesity later in a child’s life. It has also shown to help the mother reduce excessive weight gain during pregnancy and helpful for reducing weight after pregnancy. On top of this probiotics have shown to reduce early childhood eczema by 46%.

• Co-Q10- Studies have found that CoQ10, which is an enzyme, can reduce the risk of developing preeclampsia during pregnancy. CoQ10 also helps to promote healing after delivery.

• Ginger- Helps to treat and prevent nausea and vomiting associated with morning sickness. Ginger also contains cholesterol lowering qualities.

• Vitamin B6- In a study vitamin B6 has been found to reduce miscarriages and also increase the chance of conception. Vitamin B6 can also help with nausea.

• Vitamin D3- Helps with bone health and density. Reduces preeclampsia. Studies have also found Vitamin D3 to help with depression.

• Choline- Recent studies have found choline to increase the size of brain cells and can make brain cells faster at firing electrical signals. The study showed that choline supplementation during pregnancy could affect a baby’s lifelong learning and memory.

• Inositol- In a study done at Washington School of Medicine, Inositol was found to help reduce the chance of neural tube defects. The study found that on top of Folic Acid Inositol helped to further reduce neural tube defects.

• Vitamin A- Has been found to help with embryonic development and with infection resistance. Keep in mind that too much Vitamin can be a bad thing. Doses over 10,000 IU can cause fetal poisoning.

Researching a Prenatal Vitamin

When choosing a prenatal vitamin you need to know what to look for. To do this you should do some research. Don’t just trust one source of information. There are many companies that will claim a lot about their product, and produce a lot of hype about their prenatal vitamin. Even though a product may contain all the ingredients you are looking for, you may find out that they come from a poor source or that is does not contain the percentage that you and your baby need. Make sure to look into how much you need in vitamins and minerals. The list below goes over the amounts that several doctors recommend.

Recommended Daily Amounts of Ingredients

• CoQ10- Look for products carrying 150-200mg of CoQ10. Few prenatal vitamins contain this ingredient.

• Probiotics- Look for products containing probiotics. This is one ingredient that many prenatal vitamins do not contain. Look for a blend of at least 5 or more.

• Calcium- Look for products containing at least 750mg.

• Choline- Look for 20-25mg.

• Folate or Folic Acid- Look for at least 400mcg, but 800-1000mcg would be best.

• Vitamin B6- Most research suggests 25-50mg.

• DHA- A good number is 50-200mg.

• Vitamin A- Most doctors recommend getting no more than 5000 IU which is a 100% of your daily value.

• Inositol- Look for 20mg-25mg.

• Vitamin D3- Look for a 100% of your daily recommendation, 400 IU.

• Iron- Some people may need more and some may need less, 25-30mg is what most doctors recommend.

What to Avoid In Prenatal Vitamins

Do not take prenatal vitamins that contain over 10,000 IU of Vitamin A, because of the possibility of fetal poisoning. Another thing to look for when looking into prenatal vitamins are the other ingredients found at the bottom of the ingredient list. Dyes, sweeteners, preservatives, and hydrogenated oils should be avoided.

Types: Capsules, Softgels, Chewable, Liquids, and Tablets

Many doctors will not recommend taking a prenatal vitamin in tablet form. This is because tablets take longer to be absorbed and you may not get the right amounts for you and your baby. The first prenatal vitamin I took was tablet form and I could barely get it down because of the strong smell and how it stuck to my throat. When you are already nauseous this just doesn’t work. On top of smell, tablets do not absorb as well in your stomach and intestines when compared to the others, so you may not absorb all the nutrients you need.

My favorite form for prenatal vitamins is capsule form. They are easy to swallow, don’t smell as strong and can contain more ingredients than others. The Liquid form is just too hard for me to swallow when nauseated, and chewable prenatal vitamins make me gag. Softgels are easy to swallow, but don’t seem to be able to carry as many ingredients.

Best Prenatal Vitamin

After doing some research and taking as many as 6 different types of prenatal vitamins, I found a prenatal vitamin that works well for me, its called Prenatalgyn. Prenatalgyn contains all the essential ingredients, that recent research has found to be supportive for a healthy pregnancy. On top of all this many professionals and consumers have written and stated great things about this product.

Prenatalgyn Prenatal Vitamin is simply amazing. It only took a few days of taking Prenatalgyn and I could feel a noticeable difference. I suffer from extreme morning sickness (Hyperemesis gravidarum) and the ginger in Prenatalgyn significantly improved my morning sickness, this was a huge blessing (if you've ever had morning sickness you know what I mean!). I was able to swallow the capsules easily. I also seemed to have a better appetite, and it included all of the most important ingredients at the right amounts. Prenatalgyn does not contain any artificial colors, preservatives, or hydrogenated oils which are not good to have. I would highly recommend Prenatalgyn if you're pregnant or plan to become pregnant. Read My Full Review