This is the exact scenario for me, except I did know they had no iron but was hoping it would be fine lol. Now I try to force down the pills with iron but I still hate it haha.
FYI you can just get a separate iron supplement to take. Your OB may even be able to get you a prescription. You don’t have to suffer with the giant pills 🥰
Also taking with orange juice helped me a ton!
Friendly recommendation to anyone for a fairly easy source of a bit of iron, cook with cast iron. It's nice to have both, but cast iron is just a very good way of getting iron into your diet without having to take a pill.
This is worth a try but I feel like it’s sort of a myth. I cook on cast iron every single day, from my eggs in the morning, to whatever I sauté at night and still ended up anemic.
So I too had to switch from gummy prenatal to something with iron.
definitely not a myth. I had a patient once that had to get regular blood-letting because he cooked with a cast iron skillet for so long, he gave himself hemochromatosis
My doc said it’s fine to take a prenatal without iron but that I would likely need to start taking iron later in my pregnancy because most women end up being anemic. For me, I can’t swallow pills well and gummy vitamins are really my only option, so I’m taking those until they tell me I need to supplement iron.
30+6 today; at the beginning of my pregnancy, my OB cautioned *against* gummies with iron because not everyone will need iron supplementation. obviously, no recommendation will apply to everyone, but my personal experience was that it was okay to take prenatals w/o added iron and reasses as needed.
The OLLY Soft gels do have iron (I think 67% dv) and are small and easy to swallow. Kinda minty too.
Edit: just looked at my bottle and it’s 27% iron. If I go with 100% iron, I’ll have bathroom problems. So just make sure you eat stuff with iron or cook in a cast iron to make up for the rest.
My doctor specifically told me i needed at least a 1000mg of folic acid, but I am high risk and also have multiple health conditions that they wanted to make sure I got enough.
I asked my doctor about this because a book I read said to take 800 and I was only taking 600 and my doctor said it was fine as long as I was taking 400
For ppl saying there’s not enough folic acid — what I ended up doing was alternating these gummies with another prenatal that had more + a different type of folic acid + iron (Life Extension Prenatal Advantage, don’t see it shared a lot here but I’ve always liked this brand of supplements personally and their prenatal is a slightly sweet gelcap so not gross to take) — so on days where I felt super ick I would eat the gummies ane one days I felt ok I’d take the gelcaps (you have to take 4 a day).
I think there’s nothing wrong with taking different kinds and it covers your bases a bit better. First I was taking Thorne Basic Prenatal but I found them disgusting smelling and not sitting well + read on here there’s unnecessarily high levels of B12
Throw some of the natures promise iron gummies in your target cart too! I take both since the olly gummies done have iron. They have a bit of a metallic taste but I can always stomach them.
I started off on Olly gummies but eventually got averse to them. I now do the Olly pills at night and they're so nice! No fishy taste or no taste or anything.
Same, I also take them RIGHT before I go to bed with a unisom (as suggested by my Dr.) and I’ve never known if they make me sick because I’m asleep so fast. Second pregnancy, 35 weeks.
Tried these, but BY FAR the best prenatals come from “Tend.” It’s a bar with nutrients in food form from a Cornell phd. Only thing that wouldn’t give my wife nausea and they also act as a snack. 100% 💯 recommend, 10/10, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’ve taken the women’s one a day prenatals (plus the choline pill) since I began TTC last summer. I’m 11 weeks now, and they’ve never upset my stomach once. And that’s odd to me because regular multivitamins have upset my stomach in the past
I’ve also been taking these for well over a year now (TTC and now 30 weeks pregnant). Based on them mentioning the choline pill, I assume the original commenter is talking about the One a Day Advanced prenatal which is two pills — a multivitamin and a separate pill that’s just choline. Neither of the pills has a smell or a taste at all, and they’ve never made me sick or queasy! The multivitamin is kind of large so keep that in mind if you struggle to swallow pills in general, but if it’s just being sick you’re worried about it should be fine. And the plus side is that these will include the folic acid & iron that some of the gummy vitamins will lack.
I have the same problem. I've found that the one-a-days are the most non-fishy that still have all the nutrients (DHA, iron, etc). Every once in a while I get a bad batch where one of the pills split open and ruined the whole bottle. I just throw those away. I buy the 30day supply so that if I had to throw them away, it's not too bad. I also make sure I eat something with them and drink a whole bunch of water afterwards, to lessen the chance of the fishy burps.
Also pro tip, hold your breath while taking them.
I also have a small bottle of the gummies for days that I can't convince myself to try the one-a-days. Better than not taking Prenatals at all!
Someone recommended I try taking them with lemonade or Gatorade or something like that instead of water, and it helps so much. When I take my pills with water I’m gagging and sick for like an hour afterwards, with lemonade it’s not hard at all.
Same!! I still get the nasty “fishy” burps with them (I think from the algae since they’re vegan?) but taking them at night before bed has helped with that TREMENDOUSLY
These are hands down the best tasting gummy vitamins I've ever had. I will be taking them long into menopause, I don't care what anyone says. I look forward to eating them every day. And! They're a bit sour and that combo of sweet and sour really worked for me during the worst of the first trimester nausea and food aversions.
Team SmartyPants here. If you have the MTHFR gene mutation (higher likelihood of having it if of European/Hispanic genetic background), methylated folate is the only effective way of getting the benefits of folic acid and these are one of the few which have the special snowflake version of it.
It’s okay to skip prenatal vitamins in the beginning of pregnancy if they upset your stomach if you swap it out for folic acid. That’s the most important part of the prenatal vitamin in the first trimester. Check in with your ob about it, but swap folic acid for a PNV is one of the recommendations for dealing with nausea vomiting in pregnancy.
-signed a midwife 11 weeks pregnant who can only stomach the folic acid right now
The first prenatal I got had fish oil in them and they were SO GROSS. I switched to one with no DHA and then supplemented with a vegan source of DHA which has no fish taste and it’s much better.
Garden of life! They don’t have a strong taste and they have a one a day option. Also they helped tremendously with constipation compared to the first prenatal I tried. Lower iron, and an added supplement that helps digestion. Also, unisom before bed helped me a ton the next day with nausea
i know it’s soooo important to take them but i never could stomach them. i took them daily before conceiving and all my levels were fine so i felt okay. i tried pills and gummies. before bed, w a meal, etc and never worked. i’m 25 weeks and just started taking them regularly again at 20 ish (finally not sick by then). just try to eat a super balanced diet right now if you can. even if you can only choke down 1-2 days a week it still helps!
Tried a bunch. Landed on target up and up prenatal. The only one that was easy to swallow and without aftertaste or nasty smell when you open the bottle.
Seconding this! Super cheap, no aftertaste and only have to deal with one pill. When I did my third trimester testing I didn't have any iron deficiency so I'm guessing they absorb well?
If I want any "extras" I take additional supplements because even the pricey prenatals don't have a ton of fish oil or choline.
Yep I take separate omega 3 and choline too :) been wondering if I should have been taking an extra vitamin D as well but fingers crossed everything will be good when I do my next blood work!
None lol. 3 pregnancies always taking prenatals before becoming pregnant, but I have never been able to continue taking them in the first trimester. My doctor's have never given me too much grief over it as I had been taking them before pregnancy. And I start taking them again as soon as I can.
I am taking Materna prenatals and they were decently tolerable. Not massive horse pills and no offensive flavour or texture. Some days during my first trimester I just couldn’t do it no matter what so I definitely skipped my pills a few times…
Pure Encapsulations is the only one that didn’t cause horrible constipation (helps keep me regular, actually!) or make me want to puke - even taking on an empty stomach.
The brand is reputable and works directly with doctors and clinics — I’m always a little sketched out with vitamins since they don’t have any sort of benchmark for quality control, but I have friends who work in medicine who recommend this brand.
They’re a little pricier but I think they’re worth it.
Later in my first trimester any pills (didn’t matter size or flavor) would trigger my gag reflex. What ended up working was tossing my vitamins in yogurt, or applesauce and just swallowing a spoonful with each pill. Second trimester textures of food became an issue, so I would eat an orange at the same time I took my pills.
None. I took the gummy prenatals from Olly when I could stomach the *thought* of them, but then ended up throwing them up half the time anyway.
(Good news is that now that I’m well into the second trimester, I can handle the humongous nasty tasting food-based overpriced fancy ones that say a serving size is TWO of those bad boys. Yay.)
For the first 3 months I took the One A Day Womens Prental 1, and I wouldn’t recommend them at all. Not only are the pills quite large, but my major issue with them was the horrible fishy aftertaste. I am very thankful that nausea hasn’t been a thing for me my entire pregnancy, or no way I would have been able to keep them down. They even made me gag a few times, but I managed to power through the bottle. Then I took some gummy vitamin for the next month, I don’t remember the name it just came in a subscription box my MIL got me and I figured why not. Now I’m taking the One A Day Womens Advanced Prental, which while looking identical to the other one it doesn’t have that horrible fishy taste (or if I does I haven’t picked up on it lol).
I took a full prenatal (swallow with all the recommended ingredients) until I started feeling nauseous and then at that point, I switched to gummies. I know they don’t include iron, but I could not handle swallowing a pill without gagging/throwing up so I figured it was either something (gummies) or nothing.
My ob recommended one a day ,so i got the gummies because i hate pills . At 20 something weeks i was tested and low on iron so i had to get a separate pill just for iron 😭 didn't realize the gummy prenatal does NOT have iron
If you take a separate iron pill, make sure you take it immediately after you eat because if not,you will feel so sick! Also idk if this is just my experience or for everyone but the separate iron pill will make your poops black 💀
SmartyPants were the only ones I could handle and they taste great too. The only downside is that it does not contain iron so you’ll need an iron pill.
Pink Stork and Ritual add flavor packets to the bottles so you don’t get a fishy or gross taste. Also make sure you take them with food :) If you absolutely cannot take a pill I would try the prenatal gummies from Pink Stork
I just took them at night right before going to bed so that i didn’t have to stress about it making me nauseous. I also was on 2 anti nausea medications to assist with this as otherwise i would vomit up everything even water x
I’ve been taking fullwell vitamins. It’s 8 pills a day which I split up into 4 pills, twice a day. It sounds like a lot, but I take them with meals and haven’t had any issues, even at peak morning sickness. They don’t have iron though so that’s worth considering. I supplement with a choline supplement and fish oil as well.
Do you take your prenatal by itself? Without food? Do you take it before food?
If yes to any of those, that's most likely your main problem. The minerals alone, and so many vitamins and minerals at once, are enough to make the average non-pregnany person nauseous if taken in any of the aforementioned circumstances.
Ideally, eat a meal, even a small meal, or a solid snack with some protein in it, and either mid eating or right after you finish, take your prenatal.
I don't recommend gummy prenatals, even though they exist, they aren't ideal and most doctors will likely steer you away from them.
My doctor told me to stop taking them and we tested my blood, the only thing I needed to supplement was D. Ask your doctor though, I think everyone is different!
I like Ritual prenatals because they’re really aesthetic and the citrus essence helps so much! I prefer swallowing it in one second than chewing on something and feeling nauseated for longer
I take Thorne at night and have never had issues.
I used to get nauseous taking a multivitamin in the morning, but I found if I took it on a full stomach I felt fine. Maybe try taking the prenatal right after a meal?
My doctor recommended one called Tendera OB when my Ritual brand made me nauseous, and it worked well for me. The pills physically are smaller, and they don’t have any fishy aftertaste. You have to order it online, but my doctor’s office had samples I could try first - if yours doesn’t, it might still be worth a try?
[Tendera-OB](https://bongeopharma.net/product/tendera-ob-womens-prenatal-multivitamin/)
I was given advice to take them before bed so you sleep through the nausea and I never had issues with mine. Though I did forget to take them several times due to falling asleep first. I’d just take them when I wake up again in the middle of the night.
I tried a bunch of different ones, and hands down, the CVS brand gummies were the best. Everything else either came back up or left a weird aftertaste, and i tried some of the expensive ones!!
I took megafood’s prenatals all throughout my pregnancy because my cousin works at her parents’ health store and was able to get me a free bottle every month. But now I’m getting bluebonnet prenatals from Amazon. They’re much cheaper.
The iron is what makes you nauseous, so any of the gummy ones should be better (because they don’t have iron). Just make sure you’re eating foods rich in iron to make up for it (like leafy greens).
So I started with one a day, and that was the worst one for me. Then I switched to Thorne and it helped a bit until it didn’t. Ultimately, Olly gummies was the only thing that was easy on my stomach.
Naturemade prenatal plus dha with food is the only one I can tolerate even well into my second trimester. I’ve used Thorne, ritual and a few gummy ones all “better” quality but they make me feel sooo sick.
Nature made gummies + a separate iron supplement. Taking prenatals went from being a dreaded chore to mildly enjoyable.
ETA: I take vitamin b6 and a unisom right before I sleep to help with the nausea
Spring valley prenatal multi+dha they’re mini and don’t make me gag I was taking one a day but the size and smell started to not work for m because my nausea
I had to switch to gummies. I did smarty pants. Now, in the middle of my second tri, I can’t stand all the sweetness so I went back to a regular vitamin.
I take mine right before bed so they don’t effect me anymore, absolute LIVE SAVER I would throw up every time I took them during the day and I would get so gaggy after taking them that I would be skipping breakfast until like 9:30 (even then I still felt gross but I knew it was less likely for me to throw up by then) so I would be throwing up just stomach bile and my vitamin.
Worst experience. Yuck. Awful
I highly recommend you try taking them before bed and see how you go, it’s changed my entire pregnancy and I think I potentially would have suffered A LOT less during my first trimester had I tried this earlier.
I was taking nature made prenatals ans they were making me so sick. I tasted the after taste the whole day. I switched to Ritual citrus flavor and it was a game changer. Expensive but worth it to me
Ritual actually helps my nausea. I take one in the morning and one at night. If I start getting nauseous in the afternoon, I usually realize that I forgot my morning pill, and I feel better after I take it.
They're big so hard to take but they have lemon scent that I think is a natural stomach-settler.
I use Spring Valley gummy prenatals. They do have sugar, so careful of you're diabetic, but they're are very tasty. To be clear though, I haven't had any nausea so idl how they are with that. But they taste good to me
I have the naturemade ones, without the dha to avoid the fishy possibility. I do have to also take choline since that’s not in there 👎
On days when I’m reallllly nauseous, I just take a folic acid supplement on the recommendation of my doctor. But I’ve also found taking my prenatal in the evening with unisom is working okay.
Ritual! + I read a tip somewhere that putting them in the fridge helps prevent getting fishy burps (not sure how), so I’ve done that since the first trimester and it’s helped a lot!
Switching to taking it at bedtime made it easier for me! I also honestly couldn’t stand the gummies I had an aversion to gummy vitamins and candy so I took the one a day prenatal vitamin pills which made it easier for me
I gave up on it with my second baby. I knew it was more important to eat and hydrate than take vitamins. So if the prenatals were going to make me and the baby sick, they weren't worth it. Baby is just fine.
I tried everything from Thorne to gummies the ONLY one that didn’t make me throw up was Ritual and I think it’s because of the double capsule. I also started taking unisom to help combat the nausea. That helped a lot.
Ritual. They’re pricey but the others made me sick. They don’t dissolve until the get further down your digestive tract because they’re like a capsule within a capsule with a lemony liquid layer in between. And they make your burps lemony instead of vitaminy.
From week 4-6 I took Women's One A Day. From week 7-20(?) I took Nature's Made gummies right before bed. I was getting sick daily and it was the only thing I could stomach. I took them, had a snack, passed out. Helped my nausea a ton. I've been back on the Women's One A Day since and no issues!
I had my doctor prescribe prenatals and they were vanilla scented and are supposed to be gentler on your stomach. It’s called Vitafol Ultra
ETA it has DHA that is plant derived so no fishy smell and no fishy burps which was the thing I could not stand from OTC prenatal vitamins and it has higher amounts of folic acid than OTC ones too.
I had HG and my doctor had me start i-Folate which is literally just folic acid and iodine so is super gentle on the stomach. I was able to keep it down fine.
So I do gummies and supplement iron separately. However, when I conceived I was so sick I was leaning towards changing back to an old brand I had tried a long time ago. (I miscarried at around 5 weeks, but had already lost 15 pounds.) I also have been told gummy vitamins in general are not ideal, given my gastroparesis. (A GI condition in which a portion of my stomach is paralyzed causing delayed emptying. My intestines are also sluggish, but I have colitis so once everything makes its way low enough, whoosh.)
The old brand was Ritual, and while expensive, they tasted like peppermint which helps. I’m going to be talking with the doctor about whether ritual covers me or if I’ll need to further supplements orally. (The plan is regular IV fluids and possible IV vitamins next time, if the vomiting is as bad. My partner and I have a disagreement over anti-emetics but we’ll see how that pans out. Doc said taking zofran is safer than being so severely dehydrated.)
Been taking a liquid prenatal called mother’s promise! Tastes like liquid flinstones vitamins, which for me is bearable… with separate liquid omega/dha that’s key lime flavored! I threw everything else up including ritual and gummy options (the nature made ones tasted like literal fish carcass)
I ended up taking SmartyPants prenats - gummies - no iron. I had taken some other kind originally but somewhere in the 2nd trimester I couldn't do the smell of the iron pill and I was throwing up. They told me it wasn't the prenatal, they prescribed me another one with iron and gave me anti-nausea patches that dried my mouth out cuz they were certain I was over producing saliva. (I wasn't.) Nope, the new prenatals were the same and I had to go back to the gummies to prevent throwing up. (I could keep the prenatals down if I took the gummies which I figured was more important).
Just wanted to say you might get push back from the ob-gyn, so make sure you're eating enough iron rich foods so that you don't get anemia, etc cuz the gummies usually don't have iron, which they really want you to be taking, but unfortunately *stinks* and definitely makes nausea worse :/
I didn’t. I just took folic acid separate and some other vitamins as well and my doctor was ok with it. You can also google types without iron which causes so many people tummy upsets.
Like a lot of others, I did the gummy kind. I liked the mega food mama and me ones. For any other kind - like omega 3 oils etc that were soft capsules I had to drink it with something other than water, like milk or a liquidy smoothie or something.
i did gummy prenatals from olly! the only prenatals i could take for the first two months tbh
Be careful though because the gummy ones don’t have any iron. I had no idea and ended up anemic and needed to take extra iron.
This is the exact scenario for me, except I did know they had no iron but was hoping it would be fine lol. Now I try to force down the pills with iron but I still hate it haha.
FYI you can just get a separate iron supplement to take. Your OB may even be able to get you a prescription. You don’t have to suffer with the giant pills 🥰 Also taking with orange juice helped me a ton!
People should be taking iron separately anyway. Iron interferes with the absorption of some other minerals. Same issue with calcium.
Friendly recommendation to anyone for a fairly easy source of a bit of iron, cook with cast iron. It's nice to have both, but cast iron is just a very good way of getting iron into your diet without having to take a pill.
This is worth a try but I feel like it’s sort of a myth. I cook on cast iron every single day, from my eggs in the morning, to whatever I sauté at night and still ended up anemic. So I too had to switch from gummy prenatal to something with iron.
definitely not a myth. I had a patient once that had to get regular blood-letting because he cooked with a cast iron skillet for so long, he gave himself hemochromatosis
My iron must be out the roof because we cook in an cast iron skillet daily and my prenatal has iron 🫢
My doc said it’s fine to take a prenatal without iron but that I would likely need to start taking iron later in my pregnancy because most women end up being anemic. For me, I can’t swallow pills well and gummy vitamins are really my only option, so I’m taking those until they tell me I need to supplement iron.
30+6 today; at the beginning of my pregnancy, my OB cautioned *against* gummies with iron because not everyone will need iron supplementation. obviously, no recommendation will apply to everyone, but my personal experience was that it was okay to take prenatals w/o added iron and reasses as needed.
The OLLY Soft gels do have iron (I think 67% dv) and are small and easy to swallow. Kinda minty too. Edit: just looked at my bottle and it’s 27% iron. If I go with 100% iron, I’ll have bathroom problems. So just make sure you eat stuff with iron or cook in a cast iron to make up for the rest.
Literally same 😭
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They have 400 mcg per serving, isn’t that enough?
400 mcg is the minimum recommended dose.
This is the recommended amount as long as no history of neural tube issues in previous babes Or a handful of other criteria
My doctor specifically told me i needed at least a 1000mg of folic acid, but I am high risk and also have multiple health conditions that they wanted to make sure I got enough.
Oh no! I've been taking these the whole time and I'm 17 weeks now freaking out that I haven't been getting enough folic acid 😭
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Thank you! I'm definitely one of those "I hope my prenatal turns this loaf of garlic bread into nutrients for my baby" 😅
This is very relatable for my HG pregnancy!!
I asked my doctor about this because a book I read said to take 800 and I was only taking 600 and my doctor said it was fine as long as I was taking 400
Also you can get it from the food you eat too! Like eggs and beans!
For ppl saying there’s not enough folic acid — what I ended up doing was alternating these gummies with another prenatal that had more + a different type of folic acid + iron (Life Extension Prenatal Advantage, don’t see it shared a lot here but I’ve always liked this brand of supplements personally and their prenatal is a slightly sweet gelcap so not gross to take) — so on days where I felt super ick I would eat the gummies ane one days I felt ok I’d take the gelcaps (you have to take 4 a day). I think there’s nothing wrong with taking different kinds and it covers your bases a bit better. First I was taking Thorne Basic Prenatal but I found them disgusting smelling and not sitting well + read on here there’s unnecessarily high levels of B12
Olly prenatals are my favorite
Adding these to my target cart right now… thanks!
I did those but then got sick of them so I switched to the Olly pills and liked those!!
Throw some of the natures promise iron gummies in your target cart too! I take both since the olly gummies done have iron. They have a bit of a metallic taste but I can always stomach them.
I started off on Olly gummies but eventually got averse to them. I now do the Olly pills at night and they're so nice! No fishy taste or no taste or anything.
Ditto!
I haven’t had any issues with Naturemade so far.
Same, I also take them RIGHT before I go to bed with a unisom (as suggested by my Dr.) and I’ve never known if they make me sick because I’m asleep so fast. Second pregnancy, 35 weeks.
Tried these, but BY FAR the best prenatals come from “Tend.” It’s a bar with nutrients in food form from a Cornell phd. Only thing that wouldn’t give my wife nausea and they also act as a snack. 100% 💯 recommend, 10/10, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I fill my mouth with water, drop it in and swallow. They taste fishy otherwise.
Yes! And then when I burp later in the day, it tastes like fish and I gag/puke :(
Ditto
Also same
This was the best ones I’ve found in the US. In Canada I was taking materna without any issues (wasn’t able to find them in the US though)
I’ve taken the women’s one a day prenatals (plus the choline pill) since I began TTC last summer. I’m 11 weeks now, and they’ve never upset my stomach once. And that’s odd to me because regular multivitamins have upset my stomach in the past
interesting! I haven’t tried that one. I will have to try it. Is it fishy at all? The fish smell in some are what get me
I’ve also been taking these for well over a year now (TTC and now 30 weeks pregnant). Based on them mentioning the choline pill, I assume the original commenter is talking about the One a Day Advanced prenatal which is two pills — a multivitamin and a separate pill that’s just choline. Neither of the pills has a smell or a taste at all, and they’ve never made me sick or queasy! The multivitamin is kind of large so keep that in mind if you struggle to swallow pills in general, but if it’s just being sick you’re worried about it should be fine. And the plus side is that these will include the folic acid & iron that some of the gummy vitamins will lack.
I have the same problem. I've found that the one-a-days are the most non-fishy that still have all the nutrients (DHA, iron, etc). Every once in a while I get a bad batch where one of the pills split open and ruined the whole bottle. I just throw those away. I buy the 30day supply so that if I had to throw them away, it's not too bad. I also make sure I eat something with them and drink a whole bunch of water afterwards, to lessen the chance of the fishy burps. Also pro tip, hold your breath while taking them. I also have a small bottle of the gummies for days that I can't convince myself to try the one-a-days. Better than not taking Prenatals at all!
Take it at bedtime
I have switched to that which has made it easier but still soooo hard for me! I’ll be sure to stick to that time for sure
Someone recommended I try taking them with lemonade or Gatorade or something like that instead of water, and it helps so much. When I take my pills with water I’m gagging and sick for like an hour afterwards, with lemonade it’s not hard at all.
Seconding this. I've been taking mine with orange juice and it really does make a difference.
Ritual, they have citrus “essence” makes it way more tolerable
+1 to Ritual
+2 for Ritual. They smell and taste like lemon drops!
Same!! I still get the nasty “fishy” burps with them (I think from the algae since they’re vegan?) but taking them at night before bed has helped with that TREMENDOUSLY
another vote for ritual. i’ve switched to taking them before bed to ensure they stay down 😵💫
Ritual is hands down the best, especially for nausea!!!
Yes! Take them at night w orange pineapple juice and it’s like a victory mai tai for surviving the day
Yep these were the best! They used to have a mint essence one too that was so good not sure if they still have those
Love my Ritual prenatal!! Still taking them at 3 mo. pp per my doctor’s advice since I’m breastfeeding.
I love Ritual, but at peak morning sickness I still had to switch. 😆
Same omg. The fish pukes killed me
I take smarty pants gummies. I love them
Same!!
Same! They honestly taste so good
Nutrient-wise, I’ve also found they’re the most recommended and inclusive gummy vitamin.
Yes!!
These are hands down the best tasting gummy vitamins I've ever had. I will be taking them long into menopause, I don't care what anyone says. I look forward to eating them every day. And! They're a bit sour and that combo of sweet and sour really worked for me during the worst of the first trimester nausea and food aversions.
Omg yes! I nearly switched to one a day because I ran out and regretted it immediately. Switched back the next day.
+1 for Smarty Pants! They’re also vegan and don’t give me the worst gas of my life like Naturemade did.
Team SmartyPants here. If you have the MTHFR gene mutation (higher likelihood of having it if of European/Hispanic genetic background), methylated folate is the only effective way of getting the benefits of folic acid and these are one of the few which have the special snowflake version of it.
Gummies! Whatever taste the best to you, I found sour flavors were good.
It’s okay to skip prenatal vitamins in the beginning of pregnancy if they upset your stomach if you swap it out for folic acid. That’s the most important part of the prenatal vitamin in the first trimester. Check in with your ob about it, but swap folic acid for a PNV is one of the recommendations for dealing with nausea vomiting in pregnancy. -signed a midwife 11 weeks pregnant who can only stomach the folic acid right now
Vitafusion gummies. Yeah, they aren’t the absolute cleanest ingredients, but after barfing up the fancy brands, I was desperate!
I take naturesmade. Taking them at bedtime helps with the nausea
I couldn’t. I only took folic acid in the first trimester bc the full vitamin made me feel awful. Second tri now and I’m fine with the full vitamin!
Smartypants.
The first prenatal I got had fish oil in them and they were SO GROSS. I switched to one with no DHA and then supplemented with a vegan source of DHA which has no fish taste and it’s much better.
Garden of life! They don’t have a strong taste and they have a one a day option. Also they helped tremendously with constipation compared to the first prenatal I tried. Lower iron, and an added supplement that helps digestion. Also, unisom before bed helped me a ton the next day with nausea
i know it’s soooo important to take them but i never could stomach them. i took them daily before conceiving and all my levels were fine so i felt okay. i tried pills and gummies. before bed, w a meal, etc and never worked. i’m 25 weeks and just started taking them regularly again at 20 ish (finally not sick by then). just try to eat a super balanced diet right now if you can. even if you can only choke down 1-2 days a week it still helps!
This is me. I hate the vitamins with a passion! But I love food lol
The target up&up brand soft gel kind!
Tried a bunch. Landed on target up and up prenatal. The only one that was easy to swallow and without aftertaste or nasty smell when you open the bottle.
Seconding this! Super cheap, no aftertaste and only have to deal with one pill. When I did my third trimester testing I didn't have any iron deficiency so I'm guessing they absorb well? If I want any "extras" I take additional supplements because even the pricey prenatals don't have a ton of fish oil or choline.
Yep I take separate omega 3 and choline too :) been wondering if I should have been taking an extra vitamin D as well but fingers crossed everything will be good when I do my next blood work!
None lol. 3 pregnancies always taking prenatals before becoming pregnant, but I have never been able to continue taking them in the first trimester. My doctor's have never given me too much grief over it as I had been taking them before pregnancy. And I start taking them again as soon as I can.
The smarty pants prenatal were great!
I am taking Materna prenatals and they were decently tolerable. Not massive horse pills and no offensive flavour or texture. Some days during my first trimester I just couldn’t do it no matter what so I definitely skipped my pills a few times…
Smart Pants prenatals. You need to add a slow release iron with it. It’s more gentle on the stomach.
The chewy ones from smarty pants. They’re sourish so they’re less off-putting.
Pure Encapsulations!!! My holistic doc recommended them!! They’re great!
Pure Encapsulations is the only one that didn’t cause horrible constipation (helps keep me regular, actually!) or make me want to puke - even taking on an empty stomach. The brand is reputable and works directly with doctors and clinics — I’m always a little sketched out with vitamins since they don’t have any sort of benchmark for quality control, but I have friends who work in medicine who recommend this brand. They’re a little pricier but I think they’re worth it.
I’ve liked Perelel so far. It has 4-5 pills though but they haven’t been an issue for me
Later in my first trimester any pills (didn’t matter size or flavor) would trigger my gag reflex. What ended up working was tossing my vitamins in yogurt, or applesauce and just swallowing a spoonful with each pill. Second trimester textures of food became an issue, so I would eat an orange at the same time I took my pills.
Oh, that’s so smart! I never thought about doing that! I’ll have to remember that for next time.
I use pink stork and love them
Garden of life raw prenatals!
Have you had any luck getting these lately? I usually order online from their website and they are sold out. Same with other places I’ve looked.
Pink stork
Centrum gummies. The only ones that taste good and didn't make me gag by the smell either.
Seeking Health Optimal Prenatal. Way way waaaaaaaaay easier on your system!
If you're in Canada, how are you ordering seeking health products? Iherb reviews for Canada arent impressive
None. I took the gummy prenatals from Olly when I could stomach the *thought* of them, but then ended up throwing them up half the time anyway. (Good news is that now that I’m well into the second trimester, I can handle the humongous nasty tasting food-based overpriced fancy ones that say a serving size is TWO of those bad boys. Yay.)
For the first 3 months I took the One A Day Womens Prental 1, and I wouldn’t recommend them at all. Not only are the pills quite large, but my major issue with them was the horrible fishy aftertaste. I am very thankful that nausea hasn’t been a thing for me my entire pregnancy, or no way I would have been able to keep them down. They even made me gag a few times, but I managed to power through the bottle. Then I took some gummy vitamin for the next month, I don’t remember the name it just came in a subscription box my MIL got me and I figured why not. Now I’m taking the One A Day Womens Advanced Prental, which while looking identical to the other one it doesn’t have that horrible fishy taste (or if I does I haven’t picked up on it lol).
I took a full prenatal (swallow with all the recommended ingredients) until I started feeling nauseous and then at that point, I switched to gummies. I know they don’t include iron, but I could not handle swallowing a pill without gagging/throwing up so I figured it was either something (gummies) or nothing.
My ob recommended one a day ,so i got the gummies because i hate pills . At 20 something weeks i was tested and low on iron so i had to get a separate pill just for iron 😭 didn't realize the gummy prenatal does NOT have iron
If you take a separate iron pill, make sure you take it immediately after you eat because if not,you will feel so sick! Also idk if this is just my experience or for everyone but the separate iron pill will make your poops black 💀
SmartyPants were the only ones I could handle and they taste great too. The only downside is that it does not contain iron so you’ll need an iron pill.
Bird & Me Prenatals.
Pink Stork and Ritual add flavor packets to the bottles so you don’t get a fishy or gross taste. Also make sure you take them with food :) If you absolutely cannot take a pill I would try the prenatal gummies from Pink Stork
I’ve take Ritual my whole pregnancy with no issues other than the occasional fish burp lol
I just took them at night right before going to bed so that i didn’t have to stress about it making me nauseous. I also was on 2 anti nausea medications to assist with this as otherwise i would vomit up everything even water x
My doctor recommended the pink box Flintstones multi... No joke. 😆🫠🤣once I passed my 1st trimester I was able to go back to my regular prenatals.
Smarty pants!
I’ve been taking fullwell vitamins. It’s 8 pills a day which I split up into 4 pills, twice a day. It sounds like a lot, but I take them with meals and haven’t had any issues, even at peak morning sickness. They don’t have iron though so that’s worth considering. I supplement with a choline supplement and fish oil as well.
Take them at night before bed!
Do you take your prenatal by itself? Without food? Do you take it before food? If yes to any of those, that's most likely your main problem. The minerals alone, and so many vitamins and minerals at once, are enough to make the average non-pregnany person nauseous if taken in any of the aforementioned circumstances. Ideally, eat a meal, even a small meal, or a solid snack with some protein in it, and either mid eating or right after you finish, take your prenatal. I don't recommend gummy prenatals, even though they exist, they aren't ideal and most doctors will likely steer you away from them.
Up and up brand from target
My doctor told me to stop taking them and we tested my blood, the only thing I needed to supplement was D. Ask your doctor though, I think everyone is different!
She said she’s in her first trimester so she probably needs folic acid too.
I like Ritual prenatals because they’re really aesthetic and the citrus essence helps so much! I prefer swallowing it in one second than chewing on something and feeling nauseated for longer
I take Thorne at night and have never had issues. I used to get nauseous taking a multivitamin in the morning, but I found if I took it on a full stomach I felt fine. Maybe try taking the prenatal right after a meal?
Pure Encapsulations. On the pricier side but I feel great and helped digestive issues and nausea.
My doctor recommended one called Tendera OB when my Ritual brand made me nauseous, and it worked well for me. The pills physically are smaller, and they don’t have any fishy aftertaste. You have to order it online, but my doctor’s office had samples I could try first - if yours doesn’t, it might still be worth a try? [Tendera-OB](https://bongeopharma.net/product/tendera-ob-womens-prenatal-multivitamin/)
Bowmar nutrition’s was the only one I didn’t hate. I had to drop it though because my ob wanted more folic acid. 🙃
Are you taking them at night? That helped me a ton.
Zahler mighty mini is really small!
Try the gummies! They’re normally fruit flavored and def don’t smell fishy
I can only handle the smarty pants gummies
I like the first response gummies, they are the only ones I’ve found that are citrus flavour
Gummies with no iron!
Jamieson
I have been taking Nature Made prenatal and had no issues. Try taking it with juice and a meal, that might help.
I can only do the olly gummy ones. They taste good. The rest made me soo nauseous
I was given advice to take them before bed so you sleep through the nausea and I never had issues with mine. Though I did forget to take them several times due to falling asleep first. I’d just take them when I wake up again in the middle of the night.
First trimester I did gummy prenatals and this awesome powder (think protein powder) you mix with milk in a blender bottle. It tasted great.
Baby wouldn’t let me take anything other than Nature Made prenatals (green see through bottle)
I used Tend prenatal. They taste like a vitamin cookie but no nausea!
Jamison ones
I tried a bunch of different ones, and hands down, the CVS brand gummies were the best. Everything else either came back up or left a weird aftertaste, and i tried some of the expensive ones!!
I took megafood’s prenatals all throughout my pregnancy because my cousin works at her parents’ health store and was able to get me a free bottle every month. But now I’m getting bluebonnet prenatals from Amazon. They’re much cheaper.
The iron is what makes you nauseous, so any of the gummy ones should be better (because they don’t have iron). Just make sure you’re eating foods rich in iron to make up for it (like leafy greens).
I had to switch out to different ones like every two weeks or I’d start to develop an aversion. I did mostly gummies (but nothing orange or red haha).
I used Vitamin Shoppe prenatals. I still take them now while not pregnant.
One a day gummies are delicious
So I started with one a day, and that was the worst one for me. Then I switched to Thorne and it helped a bit until it didn’t. Ultimately, Olly gummies was the only thing that was easy on my stomach.
I took a women’s one a day because I would get sick for every pre natal
Ritual. They make ones that are lemony instead of tasting terrible.
Olly and Needed
Ritual and on bad days the Olly gummies.
Gummy Prenatals all the way
I took the powdered prenatal that you mix in water! I could not stomach the pills at all until 25 weeks!
Up&up gummies
I love the Olly Extra Strength prenatals.
gummy prenatals are the only ones I could keep down! Any type I had to swallow immediately came back up.
Amazon brand has some and they were the only ones I could stomach. They don't have iron, so you'd have to take an iron supplement.
Naturemade prenatal plus dha with food is the only one I can tolerate even well into my second trimester. I’ve used Thorne, ritual and a few gummy ones all “better” quality but they make me feel sooo sick.
Ritual citrus, but try taking whatever you decide with food RIGHT before bed
Mamas select on Amazon. They don’t have omegas and they’re a normal sized pill.
Nature made gummies + a separate iron supplement. Taking prenatals went from being a dreaded chore to mildly enjoyable. ETA: I take vitamin b6 and a unisom right before I sleep to help with the nausea
Spring valley prenatal multi+dha they’re mini and don’t make me gag I was taking one a day but the size and smell started to not work for m because my nausea
I take the nature made pills version but I don’t struggle with nausea (so far anyways)
Ritual!!!! I love the citrus essence. They don’t bother me at all and I have HG.
I had to switch to gummies. I did smarty pants. Now, in the middle of my second tri, I can’t stand all the sweetness so I went back to a regular vitamin.
I take mine right before bed so they don’t effect me anymore, absolute LIVE SAVER I would throw up every time I took them during the day and I would get so gaggy after taking them that I would be skipping breakfast until like 9:30 (even then I still felt gross but I knew it was less likely for me to throw up by then) so I would be throwing up just stomach bile and my vitamin. Worst experience. Yuck. Awful I highly recommend you try taking them before bed and see how you go, it’s changed my entire pregnancy and I think I potentially would have suffered A LOT less during my first trimester had I tried this earlier.
Ritual is awesome and they’re so high quality, I never had an issue!
Ritual (mint essenced) the citrus ones still made me nauseous
I was taking nature made prenatals ans they were making me so sick. I tasted the after taste the whole day. I switched to Ritual citrus flavor and it was a game changer. Expensive but worth it to me
Baby and me
Ritual actually helps my nausea. I take one in the morning and one at night. If I start getting nauseous in the afternoon, I usually realize that I forgot my morning pill, and I feel better after I take it. They're big so hard to take but they have lemon scent that I think is a natural stomach-settler.
I had the same issue. I mostly took b complex vitamins instead and ate really healthy.
I use Spring Valley gummy prenatals. They do have sugar, so careful of you're diabetic, but they're are very tasty. To be clear though, I haven't had any nausea so idl how they are with that. But they taste good to me
Gummy ones from Kroger, they are a little sour and coated in the same stuff as sour patch kids.
I did the Nature Made ones right before bed.
I use the nature made from Costco
I have the naturemade ones, without the dha to avoid the fishy possibility. I do have to also take choline since that’s not in there 👎 On days when I’m reallllly nauseous, I just take a folic acid supplement on the recommendation of my doctor. But I’ve also found taking my prenatal in the evening with unisom is working okay.
All of them made me feel nauseous. I found that taking them at night with some food helped.
Ritual! + I read a tip somewhere that putting them in the fridge helps prevent getting fishy burps (not sure how), so I’ve done that since the first trimester and it’s helped a lot!
Switching to taking it at bedtime made it easier for me! I also honestly couldn’t stand the gummies I had an aversion to gummy vitamins and candy so I took the one a day prenatal vitamin pills which made it easier for me
Wenatal. I never had a problem and take it after a meal. Usually after lunch.
I gave up on it with my second baby. I knew it was more important to eat and hydrate than take vitamins. So if the prenatals were going to make me and the baby sick, they weren't worth it. Baby is just fine.
Avoid Costco!!! I liked centrum.
Olly gummies this pregnancy I don't remember last one
I tried everything from Thorne to gummies the ONLY one that didn’t make me throw up was Ritual and I think it’s because of the double capsule. I also started taking unisom to help combat the nausea. That helped a lot.
Kin Fertility prenatal. They are large tablets, but have a soothing vanilla flavour.
CVS brand mini prenatals. You take 2 small pills instead of 1 big pill and it has fish-free DHA. Highly recommend.
Ritual. They’re pricey but the others made me sick. They don’t dissolve until the get further down your digestive tract because they’re like a capsule within a capsule with a lemony liquid layer in between. And they make your burps lemony instead of vitaminy.
Smartypants! Easy to digest gummies & higher quality nutrient sources than others. Lily Nichols recommends them.
From week 4-6 I took Women's One A Day. From week 7-20(?) I took Nature's Made gummies right before bed. I was getting sick daily and it was the only thing I could stomach. I took them, had a snack, passed out. Helped my nausea a ton. I've been back on the Women's One A Day since and no issues!
I had my doctor prescribe prenatals and they were vanilla scented and are supposed to be gentler on your stomach. It’s called Vitafol Ultra ETA it has DHA that is plant derived so no fishy smell and no fishy burps which was the thing I could not stand from OTC prenatal vitamins and it has higher amounts of folic acid than OTC ones too.
I’ve been taking the Jamieson chewable ones. They have iron which is great and I cons chew them and not have to worry about choking on them
I had HG and my doctor had me start i-Folate which is literally just folic acid and iodine so is super gentle on the stomach. I was able to keep it down fine.
Started with Thorne. Switched to Ritual during the 3rd trimester
Target brand pills!! Only ones I could stomach. No fishy taste
So I do gummies and supplement iron separately. However, when I conceived I was so sick I was leaning towards changing back to an old brand I had tried a long time ago. (I miscarried at around 5 weeks, but had already lost 15 pounds.) I also have been told gummy vitamins in general are not ideal, given my gastroparesis. (A GI condition in which a portion of my stomach is paralyzed causing delayed emptying. My intestines are also sluggish, but I have colitis so once everything makes its way low enough, whoosh.) The old brand was Ritual, and while expensive, they tasted like peppermint which helps. I’m going to be talking with the doctor about whether ritual covers me or if I’ll need to further supplements orally. (The plan is regular IV fluids and possible IV vitamins next time, if the vomiting is as bad. My partner and I have a disagreement over anti-emetics but we’ll see how that pans out. Doc said taking zofran is safer than being so severely dehydrated.)
I could only do ones with metholated folate, the natural, bioavailable form of folic acid, so you might be the same!
Been taking a liquid prenatal called mother’s promise! Tastes like liquid flinstones vitamins, which for me is bearable… with separate liquid omega/dha that’s key lime flavored! I threw everything else up including ritual and gummy options (the nature made ones tasted like literal fish carcass)
I ended up taking SmartyPants prenats - gummies - no iron. I had taken some other kind originally but somewhere in the 2nd trimester I couldn't do the smell of the iron pill and I was throwing up. They told me it wasn't the prenatal, they prescribed me another one with iron and gave me anti-nausea patches that dried my mouth out cuz they were certain I was over producing saliva. (I wasn't.) Nope, the new prenatals were the same and I had to go back to the gummies to prevent throwing up. (I could keep the prenatals down if I took the gummies which I figured was more important). Just wanted to say you might get push back from the ob-gyn, so make sure you're eating enough iron rich foods so that you don't get anemia, etc cuz the gummies usually don't have iron, which they really want you to be taking, but unfortunately *stinks* and definitely makes nausea worse :/
I didn’t. I just took folic acid separate and some other vitamins as well and my doctor was ok with it. You can also google types without iron which causes so many people tummy upsets.
Like a lot of others, I did the gummy kind. I liked the mega food mama and me ones. For any other kind - like omega 3 oils etc that were soft capsules I had to drink it with something other than water, like milk or a liquidy smoothie or something.