Taking folic acid whilst TTC ***Please make this sticky*****

[hayley352]

ok so ive been trying to concieve now for nearly a year and a half, I have been taking folic acid once a day since then.do you think i should stop for a while? Surely my body doesnt need it after all this time.

what do u think?

 

[ariel]

If you are still trying to get pregnant, you should continue to take folic acid. My specialist suggested I take a prenatal multivitamin even before I got pregnant. He said it helps prevent certain issues (don't recall which ones) in the developing baby. Something to consider but I would talk to your doctor to see what he/she things.

 

[Millnsy]

Personally, I gave up with the folic acid about a year ago - just couldn't be arsed seeing as bugger all is happening after 27 months! I figure that we are being so closely monitored that we will know the day we fall pregnant so plenty of time to stuff in the folic acid then...

As far as I know it doesn't help you get pregnant its just for the sake of the foetus.

Feeling cyncial today so I might not be the most balanced of people to take advice from!

 

[Tegans Mama]

Noooooooo

Take the folic acid ladies. I have a LO with Spina bifida, and no matter how many times I come in here and tell the ladies to take the folic acid, you WON'T have time to make a difference after your baby is conceived. All neural tube defects are fully formed and irreparable by day 26 (two days before you have even missed your period) - and your baby will live with that for the rest of its life. This is one thing that really, really gets my back up because taking one little pill can save your child a life time of disability (or you may even abort it if you decide you can't cope).

So... just take the folic acid, seriously how much work is one pill a day? And if you're not willing to do that, frankly you shouldn't be trying for a child, because the consequences of not taking it can be much more severe.. Pop into the special needs forum where there are three+ babies with SB and you will see how hard your life could be if you skipped it.

 

[Emmea12uk]

Put it this way, I didnt take folic acid and now my son has a drain in his head which can block and kill him at anytime, he has spinabifida so may never walk, can't even poo or pee himself...if i could have prevented that by a puny little pill, then i would have. That pill cuts the chances of spina bifida by 70% - is it worth the risk?

 

[Vestirse]

It's like Nike.

Just do it!

 

[vineyard]

Research shows that its beneficial to be on a prenatal up to a year prior to conception. So, keep taking it. It won't hurt.

 

[caline]

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I, too, have become failry irratic about taking the folic acid after20 months of ttc, but this has brought it home to me how important this is. Infact I am going to go and take one right now.

 

[CareBear]

Taking folic acid can apparently help with conception as well

 

[hayley352]

thank you for sharing your stories, i will definately continue to take it xx

 

[smokey]

definatly continue it, I have Spina bifida and was told that it doesnt protect unless in your system for a few months before falling pregnant and after is too late to safely protect. luckely im a low category so if carfull I shouldnt pass it on.
That is why it is being introduced into commen foods such as bread because too many woman dont know about the risks of spina bifida and can even somtimes have it at a low catagory themselves and never even know it but pass it on worse.
Why take the risk when its just a case of 2 seconds to swallow a pill

 

[Omi]

Im not even allowed to ttc at the moment as im awaiting more tests and then i need to be on medication to keep a pregnancy- and ive been told both by my GP after my mc's and now my specialist to stay on the folic acid.

No offence but i am a bit surprised that with all the info out there folic acid would come across as a pregnancy optional. Its an essential!!

 

[Tegans Mama]

No offence but i am a bit surprised that with all the info out there folic acid would come across as a pregnancy optional. Its an essential!!

Thats why it annoys me so much when people say they don't think they need it. Having a baby with a neural tube defect can happy to absolutely anyone, people just don't seem to realise just how important it is. I have been in here more than a dozen times, answering threads just like this one.

 

[hayley352]

No offence but i am a bit surprised that with all the info out there folic acid would come across as a pregnancy optional. Its an essential!!

Thats why it annoys me so much when people say they don't think they need it. Having a baby with a neural tube defect can happy to absolutely anyone, people just don't seem to realise just how important it is. I have been in here more than a dozen times, answering threads just like this one.

i was purely asking for advice, not to offend anyone

 

[Millnsy]

Noooooooo


So... just take the folic acid, seriously how much work is one pill a day? And if you're not willing to do that, frankly you shouldn't be trying for a child,

Just want to say thank you so much for sharing your experiences. However I think that your comment that we shouldn't even be trying for a child if we are not "willing" to take folic acid is a little bit harsh. The information out there obviously isn't as obvious as you might think. If you've been trying for as long as some of us have it can begin to get you down and you start to forget why you are doing the things you are doing. Sometimes you just want to pretend that you aren't trying for a baby and it isn't the only thing that you are focusing on ...

 

[WW1]

There are some really powerful comments here - they really do help to hammer home the need to take folic acid. It is easy to become complacent when you've taken it for such a long time, seemingly for no purpose. As Millnsy said, it is easy to forget the big picture and the reasons why we do what we do so threads like this are a powerful reminder.

ATEOTD it's unlikely people would be on this forum if they didn't really want children and it's hard to think we'd spend so much time planning, trying and hoping for a baby if we weren't then going to do everything possible to keep them healthy. A reminder from time to time is a very good thing - thanks for this thread xx

 

[Emmea12uk]

From the perspective of a mother who suffers through perhaps her own fault at not taking folic acid - I know where LR.HR is coming from. It may sound harsh, but i think it is true - BUT, there is no where near enough information available to people to highlight the importance of folic acid. when I found out I was pregnant, I simply thought "oh I better go get some folic acid" but it took me a further two weeks as i further thought "it can't be that important otherwise i'd have been made aware of it". It was something i had just heard people talking about in passing. I knew the food I ate was naturally rich in folic acid.

Spina Bifida, as well as a condition which renders a child severelly disabled at birth is also responsible for a large amount of miscarrages - ones you will never know will be due to spina bifida. So it makes sense that if you want a child, you will do everything you can to get pregnant and stay pregnant.

 

[Emmea12uk]

Why doesnt the creator of this thread change the title to highlight it to wobbles to make it sticky?

 

[hayley352]

Why doesnt the creator of this thread change the title to highlight it to wobbles to make it sticky?

how do i do this? thanks

 

[CurlySue]

To anyone thinking of stopping - of course your body still needs it. They recommend that when you become pregnant you have been taking Folic Acid for three months. What point would stopping do? It's just one side-effect free tablet per day. It doesn't hurt after all. It's not like you have to inject yourself or the tablets make you feel sick. Hardly the biggest sacrifice to make to have a healthy baby, is it?