Choosing The Best Pre-Natal Vitamins for Vegetarian Diets

During Pregnancy selecting the proper Pre-Natal Vitamin is of utmost importance. It can be difficult for an expecting mother to get proper nutrition and this can be increasingly hard when you balance a vegetarian lifestyle with busy modern life and the burdens of carrying a child.

We had difficulties ourselves when consulting with Doctors and Midwives to find one that was familiar to our (not so) unique needs as Vegetarians. We were ultimately successful and found a great midwife and Doctor who fully supported our lifestyle choices and even encouraged our diet as being the most healthful for our baby!

There are many great choices for Pre-natal Vegetarian Vitamins but one had to be our final choice and between our Midwives suggestion and the 5 Star reviews on Amazon we selected, Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal vitamins.

When sourcing and reading reviews on Pre-natals, we looked for organic ingredients, bio-available (RAW) make up , nutrient makeup and of course free of any animal products.

Quick Overview of Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal Vitamins:

• Raw Vitamin (No Preservatives)
• Completely Vegetarian
• No Gluten / Gluten Free Vitamins
• No Dairy / Non-Dairy Vitamins
• Organic and natural Ingredients
• Can be broken up over food easily if you are having difficulty swallowing

What Customers and Fans of Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal Vitamins are saying:

“This Vitamin was recommended to me by Whole Foods”

“I found this Vitamin to be more easily digestible then any Pre-Natal Vitamin I had tried previously”

“I was excited to find that it contains organic ingredients, sprouted grains and real fruit juices”

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We are price savvy here at Vegetarian vitamins and recommend price comparisons, A Pre-natal vitamin is a very important choice and its important to pick the right one for nutrients and cost. You will be taking these every day for the entire course of your pregnancy and longer if you breastfeed (which you should) . Be sure you can afford your choice.  The Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Prenatal Vitamins we selected as our Best Pre-Natal Vitamin includes a subscription price and auto-delivery every month as one of the options. In our own research we were unable to beat that price due to the volume discount.

Compare on eBay

Brain Strong Prenatal (30 multivitamins and 30 vegetarian DHA softgels) 6 boxes

US $0.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Thursday Feb-09-2012 12:40:53 PST Buy It Now for only: US $20.00 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

FoodScience of Vermont Prenatal Superior, Vegetarian Tablets 150 ea

US $16.99 End Date: Wednesday Feb-15-2012 15:40:59 PST Buy It Now for only: US $16.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Thorne Research - BASIC PRENATAL - 90 Vegetarian Caps

US $18.60 End Date: Tuesday Feb-28-2012 19:12:05 PST Buy It Now for only: US $18.60 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Maxi Prenatal - Vegetarian by Maxi-Health 90 Tabs

US $18.45 End Date: Thursday Mar-01-2012 20:22:50 PST Buy It Now for only: US $18.45 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Deva Vegan Vegetarian Prenatal Multivitamin & Mineral

US $11.49 End Date: Saturday Mar-03-2012 3:36:14 PST Buy It Now for only: US $11.49 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Your Vegetarian Pregnancy Month-By-Month Guide Prenatal

US $12.99 End Date: Monday Mar-05-2012 5:37:30 PST Buy It Now for only: US $12.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

When living a vegetarian lifestyle the difficulties of maintaining a proper diet and keeping healthy are only the concerns of you.

But when one becomes pregnant and you are now a pregnant vegetarian, the stakes change quite a bit. Now you must keep up your health, nutrition and vitamin and protein intake for two.

You certainly will need to take protein supplements and a prenatal vitamin, most likely your doctor will suggest a vitamin and give you a prescription. Be sure to raise your concerns about your vegetarian diet and look for a vegetarian vitamin for prenatal care. In most cases an organic prenatal vitamin will also be a vegetarian vitamin.

In our household we use the Devo Vegetarian Vitamin prenatals, we took the bottle to our pregnancy nutritionist just to be on the safe side, not only did she confirm that this was a satisfactory vitamin she pointed out that it was better than most due to its high DHA content.

You should look for a organic prenatal vitamin that is high in DHA, vegetarian prenatal vitamins with DHA are important to your babies health development and functioning.

The Pre-Natal stage is a vital stage for a mother and infant. Proper care in this stage is important to ensure a healthy baby and complication free delivery. Prenatal care is simply regular medical and nursing care given to women before and during pregnancy. Prenatal care requires monthly / biweekly / weekly visits to the Doctor. Prenatal care involves regular Physical examination and dietary regulations. One of the most important healthful prenatal practices is to consume vitamins by expecting mothers. DHA is one such vitamin which is necessary for pregnant women.

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega 3 fatty acid. DHA is produced from eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in your body.One naturally ocurring vegetarian source of DHA can be obtained from seaweed. DHA plays an important role in the proper functioning of the brain in adults and development of nervous system in first 6 months of our life. DHA also helps in prevention of heart disease. DHA is especially important for infants because it helps in the development and growth of central nervous system and visual functioning. DHA is now recommended as a supplement for pregnant women.

DHA is also present in breast milk and is vital for child growth. Scientific study has shown that lack of DHA results in poor retina development, poor cognitive development and low visual accuracy. A society called ISSFAL (International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids) recommended 300mg/day of DHA for pregnant and lactating women. DHA is now an ingredient in several brands of infant formula.

Some study also show that vegetarians have low stores of DHA. DHA level in vegetarian may not rise even with high level of linolenic acid input (helps in production of DHA in body). There are some DHA supplements available in the market for vegetarians.

DHA can be found in cold water fatty fish along with salmon, blufin tuna, mackerel, shellfish, sardines and herring. But being vegetarian you don’t make these products as a part of your diet. You have to search for the supplements for these foods. Before buying any supplements you have to carefully find the product which has quality DHA supplements. You can consult with your doctor for good DHA supplements. Once the child is born you have to choose a good infant formula which has DHA. Carefully reading the labels will certainly tell you if the product has DHA or not.

You can get a good amount of DHA form foods like carrot, Peas, Brown rice, Flour, Whole wheat flour, Whey, Tomato pasta, Onion powder and Egg Whites. Flax seed and flax seed supplements are also a great source of Omega 3 fatty acid which gets converted to DHA in our body. It’s a good alternative for vegetarians. You can get flax oil and eat it with cereal and salads. Flax seed oil capsules are also available if you prefer so.

Consuming a handful of Walnuts will increase the amount of Omega 3 fatty acids which will eventually increase your DHA amount. You can also eat green leafy vegetables to increase the amount of essential fatty acids. Eating a well balance diet is the key. Eat green, leafy vegetable, eggs, walnuts, flax seed and some supplements will ensure that you get essential amount of DHA.

This information is for general guide only and should never be replaced for professional Doctor Advice. I hope this information was helpful for you. Any comment and suggestions are welcome.

Ultra Natal Prenatal Vitamin 90 caps by BioGenesis

US $24.13 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 7:13:43 PST Buy It Now for only: US $24.13 Buy it now | Add to watch list

PRENATAL WOMEN'S MULTIVITAMIN VITAMINS ONE A DAY DHA PREGNANT LACTATING 30 SGELS

US $8.99 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 8:51:40 PST Buy It Now for only: US $8.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

GNC Women's Prenatal 30-Day Program - Vitamins

US $5.50 (5 Bids) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 10:00:40 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

MATERNAL SYMMETRY - PRENATAL VITAMINS, MINERALS, HERBS

US $29.95 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 10:14:25 PST Buy It Now for only: US $29.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list

NewChapter PERFECT PRENATAL Multi Vitamin 192 Count

US $42.95 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 12:38:58 PST Buy It Now for only: US $42.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Vitafusion Prenatal, Gummy Vitamins, 90-Count

US $12.52 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 13:01:45 PST Buy It Now for only: US $12.52 Buy it now | Add to watch list

What is DHA and why is it needed in pre-natal vitamins?

Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an essential omega-3 fatty acid responsible for many physiological roles particularly  in early development.

The human body cannot synthesize DHA from fatty acid precursors and as a result must be obtained through the diet.

DHA is vital for brain development in fetal and infant stages as well as for the maintenance of normal brain function throughout life.

DHA is required for brain cells to communicate properly.

During fetal development, maternal DHA is preferentially transported across the placenta and into fetal circulation. DHA accrues rapidly in the human brain during the third trimester of preganancy and during the early postnatal period. Maternal omega-III fatty acid stores are the sole source of DHA for the fetus as well as for exclusively breast-fed infants. DHA is the most abundant omega-III fatty acid in human breast milk. Due primarily to the less-than-average consumption of seafood and coldwater fish, American women have among the lowest levels of DHA in breast milk. Hence the recommendation for fish oil supplementation for pregnant and nursing mothers.

In the United States, infant formulas do not require supplementation with DHA. But, In Japan and most of Europe, infant formulas are supplemented with DHA.  Some premium infant formulas in the United States do contain DHA. These formulas typically contain 8-17 mg of DHA per 100 kilocalories of formula.

More about Vegetarian Prenatal Vitamins with DHA

our Vegetarian Pre-Natal Vitamin Store

Spectrum Organic Prenatal DHA 580 mg

US $20.34 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 7:37:07 PST Buy It Now for only: US $20.34 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Spectrum Prenatal DHA New and Sealed Omega-3 Pregnant or Nursing 60 Healthy Baby

US $12.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 8:15:29 PST Buy It Now for only: US $15.00 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

PRENATAL WOMEN'S MULTIVITAMIN VITAMINS ONE A DAY DHA PREGNANT LACTATING 30 SGELS

US $8.99 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 8:51:40 PST Buy It Now for only: US $8.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

RAINBOW LIGHT DHA Smart Essentials Prenatal One 30+30S

US $18.35 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 11:24:19 PST Buy It Now for only: US $18.35 Buy it now | Add to watch list

ONE A DAY WOMEN'S PRENATAL WITH DHA & FOLIC ACID 450

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ONE A DAY WOMEN'S PRENATAL WITH DHA & FOLIC ACID 90

US $7.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 11:25:22 PST Bid now | Add to watch list