Pregnant women and those who are trying to get pregnant have always been advised to use prenatal vitamins. They may be natural, they may not require a prescription. But for once, whether they are MD or DO, doctors agree that prenatal vitamins are actually essential to the health and wellbeing of the everyday fetus. It’s one thing that most will always agree on. And of course, everybody has an opinion. But while there are many resources out there, we often trust the judgment of a doctor even on something as simple as prenatal vitamins over anything else. So what are the doctors saying?

Most doctors will never recommend a specific set of prenatal vitamins, unless of course they are getting paid. They will talk about certain factors to look for. But most leave it up to the everyday consumer to decide for themselves. For example, doctors will tell you that you need to have certain vitamins and minerals such as folate to see success. With folate, you improve the development of the brain and other vital organs, avoiding certain birth defects. Likewise, iron can actually help you to avoid early delivery! Too much iron can be more harmful than helpful. But that’s something to keep in check with your own body.

But many are starting to recommend other ingredients. For example, while breastfeeding is essential to healthy adult weights according to some studies and a decreased risk of eczema in others, they actually say that probiotic supplementation during pregnancy can help you to avoid those same problems in the fetus! Likewise, some are recommending more basic vitamins such as vitamin C and E as well as B vitamins for more energy and other valid ingredients. In the past, they kept it more basic. But as time goes on, we are quickly doing more research and therefore finding out quite a bit more about what people actually need.