UPDATE: While this list remains a fantastic resource, be sure to also check out our updated list for 2014 here –,>, The Best Prenatal Vitamins of 2014
The Best Prenatal Vitamins. Period.You want what’,s best for your child. You’,ve already read our beginner’,s guide, and you’,ve seen our vitamin dosage recommendations. Now you want to know, of everything out on the market right now, what is the best prenatal vitamin around. Well, it wouldn’,t be worth calling ourselves Prenatal Vitamin HQ if we couldn’,t deliver the answer. For your convenience, we’,ve broken it down by category and then declared an overall winner. If you’,re the impatient type, scroll to the bottom, but there’,s a lot of good information along the way, too. Let’,s jump in.
The Best Prenatal Vitamin (Tablet)
While Rainbow Light Just Once Prenatal One is also a strong and popular contender, we went with New Chapter’,s vitamins for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that the vitamin A in Perfect Prenatal comes entirely from beta carotene. as opposed to a mix of beta carotene and palmitate in the Prenatal Ones. The second reason was that the New Chapter Perfect Prenatals stuck fairly closely to our vitamin recommendations. Prenatal One, on the other hand, seemed to follow the “,more is better”, mantra and crammed its tablet full of vitamins, often to an excessive extent. Just as with anything in life, vitamins should be taken in moderation.
One thing to note is that the New Chapter Perfect Prenatal vitamins have very little calcium in them. If you choose to take these, be sure to grab an extra calcium supplement as well.
The Best Prenatal Vitamin (Softgel)
There actually aren’,t many options for prenatal softgels. Sure there are plenty of omega-3 supplements that come in softgel forms, but not many options that provide complete prenatal nutrition. Of the group, Nature Made offers the best mix of the necessary vitamins while avoiding potentially toxic additives like titanium dioxide and artificial colors. Make sure you pick up the “,new”, formulation. as the old one still had these harmful additives.
A great bonus about these softgels is that they include DHA. While DHA doesn’,t have an official recommendation, it is believed to be beneficial for your baby’,s brain development. Whether you choose the Nature Made Prenatal Multi + DHA or not, we recommend you find a way to include DHA in your daily intake.
The Best Prenatal Vitamin (Liquid)
For women who struggle swallowing vitamins, there are liquid alternatives that may be good for you. Especially when pregnancy has you feeling nauseated, a liquid vitamin can seem a lot more appealing than a “,horse pill”,. Our favorite is from nutraMetrix, as it very closely matches our recommendations. Unfortunately, it doesn’,t have an Amazon product page, so we had to link to the manufacturer’,s website instead. One interesting note about this liquid multivitamin is that it contains potassium, a vitamin we reccomend but is rarely found in prenatal multis .
The Best Prenatal Vitamin (Gummy)
We’,ve already reviewed these vitamins here , so we’,ll just say that out of the limited field of gummy vitamins, Vitafusion’,s gummies come out on top for their combination of health benefits and taste. Beware of the retinyl palmitate and complete lack of iron, however.
We would definitely recommend a separate iron supplement if you choose to take these, and always remember to take only the recommended dose. While these may be gummies, they are not candy!
The Best Prenatal Vitamin (Chewable)
These vitamins had a strong showing in our prenatal gummy vitamin roundup. even though they aren’,t gummies. That should tell you already that these are a strong contender for the top overall prenatal vitamin, but here are the details. Bellybar’,s chewables meet or slightly exceed our recommendations for vitamins B2. B3. B6 , B12. C, D, E, plus zinc. Vitamin A is kept to 4,000 IU, all from beta carotene. These vitamins also double your recommended minimum folic acid intake. You might argue that Prenatal One was dinged for having an overabundance of vitamins, but 800 mcg folic acid is fairly standard, and none of the other vitamins are very excessive, either.
Do note that these vitamins fall just slightly below the recommended amounts of iron and thiamine (vitamin B1 ), but you should easily be able to make that up with a balanced diet.
The Best Prenatal Vitamin (Overall)This one ended up being a photo finish. We were really enamored with how well Bellybar’,s chewables matched with our recommendations, but at the end of the day we had to give the top spot to New Chapter Perfect Prenatal. Not only does Perfect Prenatal get you the basic vitamins you need, it also includes a lot of the extra vitamins many multivitamins lack. Things like iodine are great for thyroid health, and can play a role in your baby’,s growth. While important, these “,fringe”, vitamins are often missed.
Furthermore, New Chapter has a couple of proprietary blends meant to really make this vitamin a complete nutrition source for mothers. Both the Prenatal Herbal Blend and the Breast Support Blend come entirely from organic sources. We know that the term “,organic”, can sometimes be misleading, but in this case, the intent at least seems to be in the right place.
Assuming you don’,t have any unique needs from a prenatal supplement (if you do, definitely discuss them with your doctor), we wholeheartedly recommend New Chapter Perfect Prenatal as the best prenatal vitamin today.
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