Surprise pregnancy - Folic Acid

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Hello all,

My OH recently found she was pregnant, this was a bit of a surprise to us both! She was 7 weeks gone when she found out.

Because it wasn't planned she wasn't taking folic acid, and is now really worried as it seems from looking into it you need to take this before the 6 week mark?

Anyone out there can reassure us? Presumably this happens quite regularly in unplanned pregnancies.

jlm29

Dr.Winston O'Boogie wrote: »

Hello all,

My OH recently found she was pregnant, this was a bit of a surprise to us both! She was 7 weeks gone when she found out.

Because it wasn't planned she wasn't taking folic acid, and is now really worried as it seems from looking into it you need to take this before the 6 week mark?

Anyone out there can reassure us? Presumably this happens quite regularly in unplanned pregnancies.

It happens! TBH, while best practise is to take it prior to conception, there’s not much you can do now, except take it for the next few weeks.
A lot of foods are fortified now though, so unless her diet is really shocking, she has probably been having some folate in her diet anyhow.

starlady1

Congratulations!

You are supposed to be taking it before you start trying ideally but as you said not all pregnancies are planned!

Your partner should start taking folic acid immediately. Try not to worry. Remember we get folic acid in our everyday diet e.g. breakfast cereals so ir's not like she won't have any in her system. Mention it to her GP and see what they say.

Milly33

Congratulations to ye.. I would'nt worry too much, we were the same and I never took it before and the little miss turned out perfect.. Found out we are about the same 7-8mths recently and I was not taking it beforehand either, started when we found out.. so dont worry too much

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Cheers all as usual you find yourself fretting about these things, nothing that can be done now but it will be in the back of our minds for the whole pregnancy no doubt!

jlm29

Dr.Winston O'Boogie wrote: »

Cheers all as usual you find yourself fretting about these things, nothing that can be done now but it will be in the back of our minds for the whole pregnancy no doubt!

They’ll have a good check of the spine at your 20 week scan, so you should be able to put it out of your mind then!

Milly33

ah dont worry about it, at all.. ye will all be grand

Gatica

I'd taken folic acid before we planned a pregnancy because I was told "you never know" and it's best to always be prepared. However, I'd had a blood test for something else and one of the GPs looking at my results said I had too much folic acid in my system and if I was taking supplements, then I didn't need to.

My own GP then said it's recommended to take it just in case during pregnancy, and excess in your diet is not dangerous as it leaves your body naturally.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, chances are she's perfectly fine. If her diet is pretty normal, she's probably gets folic acid already anyway. Start taking it now that she knows she's pregnant, but it's highly unlikely that she's gonna have issues with the baby just because she didn't adhere to these relatively new recommendations. Chances are most of our parents didn't take it in pregnancy either... and most of us turned out fine.

Dr.Winston O'Boogie

Cheers, only thing re the diet was she was also on a swimming world plan, its not a drastic diet or anything but she's also a bit worried she wasn't eating enough meat etc.

Anyway hopefully its a non issue!

Gatica

Baby takes what he needs from a woman's body. It's a woman's body that would get depleted if she doesn't eat well... so on the up-side, baby will be fine.