Building an entire little human from scratch is no small feat, and it’s a job that begins long before a successful conception. As you navigate the journey to parenthood, one thing should remain constant—the small yet significant ritual of taking your prenatal vitamin. That humble little capsule may seem like such a little thing, but it’s one of the most important ways you can support your fertility health and the health of your baby-to-be. This is no one-and-done thing—here’s why your prenatal vitamin needs to be a daily habit, plus how to make it happen.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Starting prenatal vitamins at least six months before you hope to conceive is the best way of building key nutrients reserves to support your fertility.
- During pregnancy, prenatal vitamins ensure a steady supply of important nutrients that mama and baby both need to thrive.
- In the postpartum stage, prenatal vitamins for women support the recovery process and directly benefit breast-fed babies. Men benefit from men’s prenatals to maintain stable testosterone levels, which often nosedive during the later stages of a partner’s pregnancy.
Building Nutrient Reserves in Anticipation of Conception
The minute you decide you’d like to have a baby, it’s time to start taking a prenatal vitamin. In fact, experts recommend starting prenatal vitamins a full six months before you hope to conceive, and it’s for a few very important reasons.
First and foremost, your body needs time to stock up on all the right nutrients. If having a baby is like building a house, consider starting your prenatal vitamin well before you plan (hope!) to conceive the foundation. In the first 30 days on a high-quality prenatal vitamin, you’re actively supporting your fertility with nutrients that support egg quality and hormone balance.
Men benefit in a similar fashion—a good men’s prenatal vitamin promotes sperm health. It’s no small thing, particularly when you understand that a man’s health before conception has a direct effect on his partner’s pregnancy (1), the health of their baby, and even the health of the next generation. Men produce millions of sperm daily, but every single one goes through an important maturation process, known as spermatogenesis, that lasts roughly three months. This is when sperm cells divide, mature and become mobile. During this timeframe, a nutrient shortage (2) is one of the biggest culprits behind sperm deficiencies. Kind of drives home the value of a prenatal vitamin, doesn’t it?
For women especially, taking that prenatal vitamin every day even before you’re pregnant plays another important role—it’s almost like a form of insurance. So many critical developments happen in the earliest days of pregnancy, often well before women even realize they’re going to become mothers. A daily prenatal vitamin ensures that your teeny tiny little one has a steady supply of folate and choline, both of which help ensure proper neural tube development to minimize the risk of birth defects.
The Right Nutrients in the Right Amounts During Pregnancy
Once you’ve seen those two pink lines and a pregnancy is really and truly underway, taking that prenatal vitamin each and every day is just as important. While a varied diet should be the main source of your nutrition, even the most nutrition-minded folks have gaps. Your prenatal vitamin is designed to shore up those gaps. And when you’re taking Beli for Women, you can be sure that you’re getting all the right vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in all the right amounts. We’ve included everything—and we mean everything—that you and your growing baby need to thrive. Our custom formulation is based on the latest fertility research to support you from preconception to postpartum, but it only works when you’re taking it!
Nutritional Support For Postpartum Recovery
Things get a little crazy once your brand new baby is here and in your arms. But that tried-and-true prenatal vitamin is still your best friend. Now, the same nutrients that nurtured your fertility and nourished your body and baby are working to protect you from postpartum depression, regulating appetite, promoting energy, fending off anemia and fatigue, and supporting healthy milk production. If you’re breastfeeding, research (3) confirms that continued prenatal vitamin supplementation also directly benefits your baby.
Men who continue with a high-quality men’s prenatal vitamin also benefit. Men can experience a sharp decline in testosterone (4) during the later stages of a partner’s pregnancy and following birth, which can be detrimental to mood and energy levels. The same men’s prenatal vitamin that supported his sperm health during the preconception stage can help stabilize testosterone levels just when it matters most.
Tips for Building a Prenatal Habit
We have an entire post with tips and tricks for remembering to take your prenatal vitamin every single day, but let’s hit the highlights:
- Use visual cues. Keep that prenatal bottle right next to the toothbrush, or better yet, your favorite collagen protein powder. Plus, a little protein in the morning can help stabilize your blood sugar to support fertility.
- Try a pill sorter. If you like a place for everything and everything in its place, get a pill sorter! You can fill it with your prenatal vitamins for the day or month and keep it tidily stashed on your bedside table, alongside a glass of water.
- Use an app. If you need reminders because that’s just how you operate, take advantage of technology. Set your smartphone or watch to ping you at a convenient prenatal vitamin-taking time.
Prioritizing that prenatal vitamin each and every day ensures a steady stream of all the right nutrients, so do what you need to do to make it a daily thing. During pregnancy especially, when you’re navigating that hormonal roller coaster and the downright stressful job of growing a baby, the idea of eating anything can be off-putting. Check out our tips for strategic pairings (collagen protein is a great option!) to help it go down a little easier.
The Bottom Line
On the path to parenthood itself, that daily prenatal vitamin for men and women alike is simply part of the journey. You may not feel it, but when you trust Beli, you can be certain that it’s doing its very important job of supporting fertility and nourishing you and baby. So much is happening behind the scenes, particularly during the preconception stage. Isn’t it reassuring to know that Beli is there for you every step of the way?
Resources
Preconception Health. (2018). https://www.thelancet.com/series/preconception-health
Skoracka, K et al. (2020). Diet and Nutritional Factors in Male (In)fertility—Underestimated Factors. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7291266/
Morse, N. (2012). Benefits of Docosahexaenoic Acid, Folic Acid, Vitamin D and Iodine on Foetal and Infant Brain Development and Function Following Maternal Supplementation during Pregnancy and Lactation. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/4/7/799/htm
Saxbe, D et al. (2017). Swings in dad’s testosterone affects the family—for better or worse—after baby arrives. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170905145535.htm
