MultiAbsorb Daily Essential and Immune Booster are two fabulous products (if I do say so myself!) that I formulated to:

1. NOT have to open 20 capsules per day to get what I needed for myself and my family

2. Get rid of all the fillers and flow agents contained in normal multivitamins

3. Have everything that I wanted at therapeutic levels – far beyond the paltry RDA

4. Easy to add to any liquid; juice, water, smoothie or shake, because liquids have the highest absorption rate

5. Easy to store and travel with! (no refrigeration required as with many bottled liquid multivitamins)

I know my readers are also loving these products, not just from the emails I receive, but because they often buy 2-3 jars at a time!

I’m using MultiAbsorb Immune Booster right now – I add a scoop to an Absorb Plus shake every day. Because I’m recovering from a flu I caught in Mexico and regaining the weight I lost. As we move into summer, I’ll likely switch to MultiAbsorb Daily Essential. Depending on my veggie garden (composted soil, rich in microorganisms, worms and minerals) I may only use it once or twice a week. I’ll see what my body says. 🙂

But getting to the pregnancy question, one of my lovely readers wrote in:

“I was beyond thrilled when you made this and it has been such a life saver!! I was getting so tired of taking so many supplements every day to the point of choking because I dreaded it so. I take the immune one because of a UC diagnosis but I absolutely love it. My daughter just got pregnant and she uses them now as her prenatals. Thank you for your continued contributions!”

Yay – oh emails like this make me SO happy! Because YES. Snap! Exactly why I created these products.

However, as I did not formulate MultiAbsorb for pregnant women, let’s see what’s missing…

According to the Mayo Clinic, pregnant women need 600-1000 mcg of folic acid (folate) per day and they need 27 mg of iron, 600 IU vitamin D3 and 1000 mg of calcium per day.

MultiAbsorb contains 1000 IU of vitamin D3, but only 100 mcg of folate, 15 mg calcium and no iron. So you would need to add iron, according to your tolerance. But if your iron tolerance is good, then Ferrasorb contains the iron you need (in a very well tolerated form) and 667 mcg of folate. You would also need to add a calcium supplement, like QuikPlus Bone Matrix. I don’t like regular, powdered calcium due it’s low absorption rate and studies suggesting it builds up in the arteries. So Ferrasorb and QuikPlus Bone Matrix would be all you need to add.

I’m surprised the Mayo Clinic doesn’t list vitamin A as an essential supplement for pregnant women, but I found this detailed article on vitamin A and it says that pregnant women need 770 mcg RAE (retinol activity equivalents) and breastfeeding women need 1300 mcg.

MultiAbsorb contains 750 mcg RAE of vitamin A. So you’re good there. Don’t forget, you’ll also be getting vitamin A from a lot of the foods you eat.

So YES, pregnant women can certainly use MultiAbsorb and I would definitely have used it during pregnancy and breastfeeding my 3 kids, if I’d had it! Just add Ferrasorb and Bone Matrix to get the missing iron, folate and calcium.

And of course, if you don’t need that much iron, or don’t tolerate it, then use QuikPlus atom-sized Iron as/when needed, and take a separate folic acid supplement. Also take a buffered vitamin C supplement, to whatever amount you can tolerate (you must have folate, B12 and vitamin C to be able to utilize iron).

Or here’s another fun option: add these prenatal gummies, which contain the required folate, some vitamin C, and no iron.

AND be sure to check out my podcast with Dr. Scott Tyler where he has a very different (important) iodine recommendation for pregnant women.

Lastly, be sure and get my Baby Fart Aerobics video! Especially helpful for new moms, or with colicky babies. I recommend watching this video before you birth, so you’ll have the tools you need before a problem arises. Here’s the trailer (look how young I look – and baby Zara in this video is now 20!):

p.s. My Sleeptime Stories also make a great gift for kids aged 9 months – 6 years. Teaching kids meditative breathing and how to connect/listen to their gut, through interesting stories and puzzle-solving – listen to a sample.