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3 months of preconception work, for both the mother and father, is the golden rule.
So let's think of it like this. Imagine you have the biggest marathon ahead of you in a few months time. Would you rock up on the day, entirely unprepared and undertrained? Or would you do the work BEFORE the marathon, so that you arrive on the day entirely fit, healthy and prepared ready to rock it?
Think of pregnancy like a marathon, because your body is about to give like it hasn't given before.
We never want to walk into a pregnancy, with nutritional deficiencies. We have set buckets of our nutrients in our bodies, and pregnancy is like tipping that bucket over into someone else's bucket. A sure way to deplete yourself, and be unable to tip enough into the baby, is to arrive to pregnancy with your bucket half full.
ideally you will be getting a blood test around 3 months prior to trying to conceive, so that you can get a gauge on what specific nutrients are needing attention - like Vitamin B12, folate, Vitamin D, iron and so on.
Not to mention, half of your babe - is already developing three months prior to you concieving it! Amazing!
And here are a bunch of other *super* important points...
- Your eggs develop 90 days before they are released, and healthy eggs are key to a healthy pregnancy. It’s important that your body has quality nutrients to pull from during this phase.
- Your prenatal will fill the gaps in your diet. Because most of us can't eat perfectly, all of the time. A prenatal vitamin your fall-back guy in case you’re not reaching your optimal daily intake of pre-pregnancy nutrients.
- Taking prenatal vitamins before conception may reduce the risk of preterm birth. Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill found that taking vitamins prior to conception reduced the risk of preterm birth by about one half in a group of about 2,000 women.
- Methyl-Folate supports the earliest, most critical stages of fetal development. The baby’s neural tube (its brain and spine) develop within the first month of pregnancy, sometimes before you even know you’re pregnant. By the time you get that first positive test, you should already be regularly consuming folate. MTHR folate, which is what we use in EverNatal, is preferable to folic acid for its bioavailability.
- Taking prenatal vitamins before conception has been shown reduce the chance of irregularities such as neural tube defects, heart defects, limb deformities, and cleft palate, according to research published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada.
- A lot of us don’t get enough Vitamin D, especially during the winter season. You need Vitamin D to grow your baby’s bones and keep yours strong. Vitamin D is also linked to higher live birth rates among women undergoing fertility treatments and lower risk of a first trimester miscarriage.
