What Happens if You Don’t Take Prenatal Vitamins?

Women of child-bearing age are recommended to take prenatal vitamins, whether they are currently trying to have children or not. 

Prenatal vitamins certainly are not a guarantee for a healthy pregnancy, but they help reduce the chance of severe defects early on. 

What happens if you don’t take prenatal vitamins?

Today, we’ll dive into the role of prenatal vitamins and what can happen if you don’t take them. 

What is a Prenatal Vitamin?

While a healthy diet is the best way to ensure the body has the nutrients it needs for pregnancy, prenatal vitamins can help fill the gap. One of the main nutrients in prenatal vitamins is folic acid. 

While women always need folic acid, it’s even more vitamin right before and during conception. Prior to pregnancy, women need around 400 mcg per day, but after conception, they should have 600 mcg. 

Furthermore, it’s very difficult to get folic acid from just food. Prenatal supplements ensure that women get enough folic acide. They also contain:

• Iron
• Vitamin D
• Calcium
• Iodine

The Role of Prenatal Vitamins

Here’s how the nutrients in a prenatal vitamin impact pregnancy:

• Folic acid: necessary for the healthy development of the spine and neural tube. 
• Iron: prevents anemia 
• Vitamin D: reduces several complications including preeclampsia, diabetes, and pregnancy-related depression
• Iodine: reduces the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth
• Calcium: ensures the women’s body has enough calcium for the baby to develop its bones. 

What Happens if You Don’t Take Prenatal Vitamins?

What happens if you forget to take your prenatal vitamin? Take it as soon as you remember. Forgetting it one day won’t put you at risk, but try to create a system for staying on track. 

However, completely foregoing prenatal vitamins puts women and their pregnancies at a greater risk. 

Lack of folic acid is linked to brain and spinal development. Without enough folic acid, the risk of neural tube defects like spina bifida increases. 

Low iron can lead to anemia. Anemia is linked to lower birth rates, premature delivery, infant death, and postpartum depression. 

When women do not get enough calcium to support their baby, the developing baby must take calcium from the mother’s bones. This then puts the mother at greater risk for bone weakness and osteoporosis.  

Start Taking Prenatal Multivitamin in Canada Before Pregnancy 

The best time to take prenatal vitamins is before conception, as many of the nutrients play a huge role in very early development. For this reason, many doctors advise any woman of child-bearing age to take prenatal vitamins in case they become pregnant. 

Shop for a quality prenatal multivitamin in Canada at Elder Herbal Village.