Taking a prenatal vitamin with the recommended 400 micrograms (mcg) of folic acid before and during pregnancy can help prevent birth defects of your baby’s brain and spinal cord.
What Is Folic Acid?
Folic acid, which is also called folate, is a B vitamin. The best food sources of folic acid are fortified cereals. Folic acid plays an important role in the production of red blood cells and helps your baby’s neural tube develop into her brain and spinal cord.
When Should I Start Taking Folic Acid?
Birth defects occur within the first 3-4 weeks of pregnancy. So it’s important to have folic acid in your system during those early stages when your baby’s brain and spinal cord are developing.
One study showed that women who took folic acid for at least a year before getting pregnant cut their chances of delivering early by 50% or more.
The CDC recommends that you start taking folic acid every day for at least a month before you become pregnant, and every day while you are pregnant. However, the CDC also recommends that all women of childbearing age take folic acid every day. So you’d be fine to start taking it even earlier.
How Much Folic Acid Should I Take?
The recommended dose for all women of childbearing age is 400 mcg of folic acid each day. If you take a multivitamin every day, check to see if it has the recommended amount. If for some reason you don’t want to take a multivitamin, you can take folic acid supplements. But you should not take both.
Here’s how much folic acid is recommended each day in terms of pregnancy:
• While you’re trying to conceive: 400 mcg
• For the first three months of pregnancy: 400 mcg
• For months four to nine of pregnancy: 600 mcg
• While breastfeeding: 500 mcg
-Nobledoctors
