Supplements to take?

I wasn't sure where to post this topic but here goes..

Last time I was at my doctors (a while ago) I specifically asked him when it comes time to try for a baby and when I do get pregnant what extra things will I have to do because I'm a vegetarian. He told me that I'd need to take folic acid but that was it.

I was suprised by this and I asked a lady at hardys and she basically said the same thing. This totally surprises me because everything that I've read about pregnancy tells me that a baby would needs tons of iron and zinc and all sorts of things to grow. And here's me a vegetarian who barely gets enough of the essential vitamins etc for myself and everyone is telling me I won't need any supplements other than the standard folic acid.

Just for myself I'm already taking a multivitamin (I just brought it, didn't care what anyone told me lol) that has folic acid in it (I know that it wouldn't be as much as I would need if pregnant but can't hurt). I go through stages of taking them, and I actually find the pregnancy ones are actually the best for me anyway because they tend to have most of the things I might be lacking in my diet. I've already noticed a difference in myself this time around so I must have been lacking in something which really doesn't surprise me.

Any thoughts? I'm really shocked to hear people tell me that I wouldn't need anything extra when its clear to me that I already must need something extra (judging by my bodys good reaction to my multivitamin) and it's just me, no baby as well growing inside me.

With the iron levels, it's more for mum than bub (I think, correct me if wrong), because growing a baby uses up a lot of your resources. Not all women have trouble with this during pregnancy, and so not all of them have to take extra iron supplements.

Folic acid is of course good because not only does it help baby with all the growing it does at super-speed in the early stages, but helps prevent neural tube defects (the pathways that are laid in the brain for certain things). There are a few different kinds out there, I took Elevit in the first trimester, and again for a little while in the second trimester, but have since run out - not long to go now though, so can't really be bothered to be honest.

Anyway, I wouldn't have thought that being vegetarian would necessarily set the odds against you all that much, it's not a marker of an imbalanced diet like some people tend to think (I was vege for two years, got this alot, long story though LOL). The reason I took the Elevit again in my second trimester (towards the end) is because my energy levels were flagging a bit and I was still working, but I'm a meat eater *shrug* and that obviously wasn't doing it for me.

Really, it's a "see how you go" kind of situation, and you will have routine bloods as well at various stages, which will be sure to show if there are any serious deficiencies.

Hope that helps !

I'm joining the iron and folic acid bandwagons!  Pregnancy has a nasty way of sapping your iron resources anyway (I'm not vego, but don't like a great deal of meat - I started this pregnancy with great iron levels and 6 months later that had turned to mush) so it's pretty common to need an iron supplement.  And of course, the essential folic acid supplements in those early days! 

I've always been told that if you feel significantly better after taking a course of vitamins, it shows that you were lacking in those vits beforehand... if you feel better on a certain kind, it could be your body telling you it likes/needs them?  But try not to stress - the blood tests they take as soon as a pregnancy is confirmed will show up any existing probs so you can nip them in the bud.  Good luck in TTC... fingers crossed for you!

Ive heard that the baby sucks it all from you so u will be lacking but the baby will be fine cos ladies in africa and stuff with no food still have babies and breastfeed.

I'm waaaaaayyyyy too lazy to read this whole thread but wanted to say that it is really important to focus on iron intake during pregnancy and then later on focus on calcium. The calcium is absorbed directly from your stores if you don't have any floating around for bub to use for bones etc and then for milk production.
So if you don't get enough calcium, it is taken from your bones and can lead to osteoporosis later on in life.