The Demo Site

1. Vitamins

Encourage participants in your childbirth education class to take supplements prescribed by their health-care providers. They should not take any single vitamin or mineral supplements in higher-than-normal doses unless recommended by a health-care provider for a special condition. Also, inform class participants that higher-than-normal doses of the fat-soluble vitamins can be toxic. Fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D, E, and K. Large doses of retinol (vitamin A) are known to cause birth defects in animals. It is safest to urge expectant mothers to take only their prenatal vitamins and no other over-the-counter vitamin supplements. That way, they do not have to remember which ones can be toxic or risk an accidental overdose on a vitamin.

2. Herbs and Other Supplements

Advise your perinatal educator colleagues to strongly discourage all pregnant women from taking herbal products or any other supplements (except their prenatal vitamins). Why? “Unregulated” refers to more than the testing of effectiveness and side effects of an ingredient. Manufacturing plants and the practices surrounding the production and packaging of these products are not regulated by the industry or the government. That means the concentration or dosage of ingredients in different products, and what contaminants are in the product, are unknown. Additionally, known and unknown effects of herbal products can be dangerous to the pregnant woman and to her developing fetus. Studies of safety are not conducted on pregnant and lactating women. Therefore, without specific directions from their health-care provider, expectant parents are advised to avoid the use of herbal products during pregnancy and lactation.

3. Caffeine
Caffeine crosses the placenta and affects the fetus. Caffeine is also passed on to the breastfed infant through the mother's milk. Please encourage the pregnant women in your class to avoid (or at least minimize) their consumption of caffeine. Most mothers know that coffee, tea, energy drinks, and some soft drinks contain caffeine, but it is also a hidden ingredient in many products. Dietary supplement ingredients that contain caffeine include guarana, yerba mate, kola or kola nut, cocoa, tea, coffee or coffee beans, and citrus aurantium or bitter orange. (Some of this is new information that even most dietitians may not know.) These ingredients and the products containing them should be avoided during pregnancy. Again, rather than remembering this long, strange list, mothers really should avoid supplements other than prenatal vitamins during pregnancy and lactation.

4. Good Manufacturing Practices
Finally, when discussing the postpartum period and life changes after the child is born, advise your class participants that if they choose to use supplements after pregnancy and lactation, they should look for products that state they use Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for increased assurance of quality composition.