- Becoming a Parent (170)
- Birth (123)
- Birthing Centers (2)
- Birthing Options (56)
- Body Image (23)
- Diet (75)
- Doctors & Midwives (43)
- Exercise During Pregnancy (48)
- Fertility Issues (79)
- Getting/Giving the News (38)
- Health (216)
- In-Vitro (9)
- Involving Siblings/Family (38)
- Pain Management (21)
- Pregnancy Calendar (46)
- Pregnancy Fun (136)
- Pregnant with Multiples (2)
- Teen Pregnancy (13)
- The First 9 Months (282)
- The Week in Review (75)
- Trying to Conceive (TTC) (76)
DHA Supplementsby Kim Neyer | More from this Blogger 19 Oct 2010 09:31 PM When I was pregnant (almost two years ago now, has it really been that long?), I remember sitting in my doctor's office and talking about my health habits. He recommended a prenatal vitamin and then he handed me a free sample of a prenatal with DHA. Honestly, I can't remember what he told me about it, but I do know that I went home and tossed it in the cupboard and never touched it. I was already taking two vitamins a day; I didn't think I needed to add another to the mix. DHA? It sounded so foreign to me, and if it was in fish, I'd rather order the occasional grilled salmon and call it a day. Recently a large study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that says DHA taken during pregnancy does not have a positive effect on the baby's brain development after all. In other words, taking a DHA supplement will not make your baby smarter like all the DHA vitamin companies have been suggesting. But, DHA is still an important nutrient during pregnancy. Some studies suggest it can even help prevent premature birth. Currently DHA supplements are being studied to see if they have the same effect as DHA naturally found in fish like salmon. While I am not qualified to offer medical advice, I can say that doctors have said that there is no harm in taking DHA supplements, so if you want to take them just in case, the experts say you can. There isn't any evidence that would suggest any negative affects from taking a DHA supplement. In the meantime, make sure you are taking a good prenatal vitamin, since that is very important. Very few people eat a truly balanced diet, and a prenatal vitamin is going to help fill in those gaps while ensuring you get plenty of the essentials like folic acid, iron and calcium. Related Articles: Tips for Taking Prenatal Vitamins Learn more about Kim Neyer  Kim is a freelance writer, photographer and stay at home mom to her one-year-old son, Micah. She has been married to her husband, Eric, since 2006. Relevant pregnancy tags christmas | relationships | Kids | family | weight loss | pregnancy | sex | parenting | baby | children |
More pregnancy tagschristmas | relationships | Kids | family | weight loss | pregnancy | sex | parenting | baby | children |
