I’m not sure about the rest of you, but I hate taking prenatal vitamins. I started taking them about a year before we got pregnant, and they are so gigantic that more times than not I would end up throwing the first one up before I could swallow the next one.

I’m not sure why they don’t make them into smaller, more manageable sizes, so I was pretty pumped when I found our that VitaFusion has gummy prenatals, and so does Up & Up (Target brand).

I had my (first) doctor check out the ingredients to make sure they were covering all the bases, and (though they contain just slightly less of each ingredient than the prescription kind) she gave me the go-ahead to take them instead of the giant ones.

And so I have been. They taste delicious and are easy to take, and baby is growing and kicking just fine!

Then this week I really started to get tired. Like more tired than I should be. My mom asked when the last time I had red meat was because maybe I was low on iron, and I couldn’t even remember. I didn’t really worry about it though, because I was taking my prenatals everyday, and those have your daily iron in them, right? Wrong.

I checked mine out (both brands) and they both say “Iron: 0mg.” So that’s super. I immediately went out and bought steak for dinner and called our nurse to see what I should do. Should I get an iron supplement? Are there smaller prenatals that I am able to take without throwing up?

The nurse was helpful, but was afraid that the iron supplements would be just as difficult to swallow than the original prenatals. She recommended I call back Monday morning when my doctor is at the office and ask for her recommendation, especially about the amount of iron I should be taking (apparently this varies from doc to doc).

More to come after I call on Monday…

Do you know of any smaller prenatals that are easier to take?

UPDATE:

My doctor was not very concerned about my iron levels because last time I had a blood test my levels were normal. They said they will be retesting that at my next appointment anyway, so I can just wait until then to decide if I want to take a supplement (though it can’t hurt). The nurse gave me the appropriate dosages for certain supplements in case I want to try them, but I think I’ll just wait. I don’t want to take anything extra if I don’t have to!