by Julie Schweitzer WHNP
Maintaining a healthy balance of essential vitamins and minerals are important during all stages of pregnancy and nursing. To make it easy for you, here is a list of vitamins that you will want to include in your daily diet.
Vitamin B6 is important for your body to metabolize proteins, fats and carbs. Vitamin B6 also helps in forming red blood cells and antibodies. In the developing baby it plays a vital role in developing the baby’s brain and nervous system. Pregnant and nursing mothers need at least 2mg of Vitamin B6 every day. Vitamin B6 can be found in beans, nuts, lean meat, fish, breads and cereals. Prenatal vitamins typically contain 100 percent of the recommended amount
Calcium builds strong bones and teeth in developing babies. It also helps in growing a healthy heart, nerves and muscles. All women over the age of 18, whether they are pregnant or not should get 1,000mg of Calcium every day. Calcium is easy to obtain in dairy products, dark green vegetables and yogurt. Most prenatal vitamins have about 200mg of the recommended amount.
Iron is essential in pregnant women because it produces hemoglobin which is a part of our red blood cells, which carries oxygenated blood throughout our body and to the baby. Iron, when in vitamins, can be upsetting to ones GI tract and can lead to constipation so some prenatal vitamins do not include iron, so check your label. If you are not getting iron in your vitamins you can find it in dark leafy green vegetables, lentils, enriched cereals, whole grains, peas and dried fruit. 30mg of iron a day is sufficient.
Iodine regulates the thyroid gland and metabolism. During pregnancy it helps with the baby’s brain development and nervous system. Pregnant women need 220mcg a day and breastfeeding moms need 290mcg. Dairy products, eggs, vegetables and seafood all contain iodine.
Protein is important because it is the building blocks of our cells for both mom and baby. 70gm of protein is encouraged daily, especially in the second and third trimester. Sources of protein include lean meats, such as chicken, fish and beef. Eggs, dairy and nuts are other great sources for protein so even if you are a vegetarian, getting your recommended amount of protein daily is easy to achieve.
Most of these vitamins can be found in multi vitamins. Prior to getting pregnant, start on a daily multivitamin and when pregnancy occurs you can then switch to a prenatal vitamin
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