Throughout my whole first pregnancy and even a couple months postpartum I was taking the Costco prenatal vitamin. It was affordable and easy to get. Plus my doctor had said that any prenatal vitamin brand would be good.

Come to find out, that’s actually not true. When it comes to supplements, there are very little regulations so it is super important to do your research so you know what exactly is going into your body.

I didn’t look into prenatal vitamins until after I had given birth to my first baby. I saw a chiropractor all throughout my pregnancy and he also practices homeopathic medicine. After I gave birth, I felt like my hormones were all over the place – not at all balanced. So I decided to do the computer test he offers so I can figure out what’s wrong and address the problems with homeopathy. This was really cool because this test was also able to tell me if the vitamins I was taking were actually having an effect on my health.

Well, it turned out my body was having a hard time absorbing my Costco prenatal. And so the search began.

Some of the most important nutrients I look for are:

1. No folic acid. It has to say folate because folic acid is synthetic and not everyone can absorb it very well. If you have the MTHFR variant your body can’t convert the folic acid very easily, meaning it can build up in your bloodstream and potentially lead to other health problems.
2. Magnesium needs to be in the form of magnesium glycinate. It is the easiest form for the body to absorb.
3. Vitamin D needs to be in the form of D3. Again it’s the easiest form for the body to absorb.
4. No iron. Iron is super personal and you should do a lab test to see if you are deficient. Too much iron can lead to toxicity and other issues. And for me it also causes nausea and constipation so I rather not take it if I don’t need it.
5. Omega 3 is also super important though I prefer to take this as a separate supplement to ensure I get enough of it.

But if this is too much to remember my two biggest rules of thumb for choosing a prenatal vitamin are:

1. Serving size can’t be a single tablet. It is impossible to fit all the vitamins a pregnant women needs into one pill so I don’t trust any brand that claims the whole dose is one tablet.
2. Look for an organic prenatal to avoid synthetic chemicals and pesticides.

But even better than all of this, is a prenatal based on whole foods. After trying a few different brands I came across Birthright. Their prenatal is all whole foods except the magnesium that is in the form of magnesium glycinate. This prenatal has beef liver, fish eggs, oyster, colostrum, and other whole foods that provide all the necessary nutrients for pregnancy. These are foods that I would never eat but are so healthy. Because they are real foods the body can absorb the nutrients easily. The serving size is 6 tablets which is a lot but you know your body and can figure out if you actually need that many. Because I was working with my chiropractor during this time, I learned I only need to take 3 tablets. I highly recommend getting labs done no matter what prenatal you decide to take. In addition to my prenatal I also take vitamin D3 because I am deficient in that.

I strongly believe that I didn’t feel super nauseous with my second pregnancy because I changed to a prenatal that my body could absorb.

I encourage you to inspect your prenatal and evaluate yourself to see if its actually working for you. And go get those labs done to see if you are deficient in something and need more or less of a specific vitamin.

Shop for birthright prenatal here:

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