You need to get all the essential vitamins and mineral in order to get a healthy pregnancy and baby. This may cause you to take other supplements in addition to your prenatal vitamins. You should know that this can cause vitamin overdose if you take more than  the recommended daily dose. Vitamin overdose may be the result of taking more than one multivitamin or taking individual vitamins in addition to multivitamins.
 

 

Recommended daily intake of vitamins

 

	Pregnant Women	Breastfeeding Women	Upper limit (UL)§
Age (yr)	19-50	19-50
Folate (μg)	600	500	1000
Niacin (mg NE*)	18	17	35
Riboflavin (mg)	1.4	1.6	ND
Thiamin (mg)	1.4	1.4	ND
Vitamin A (μg)	770	1300	3000
Vitamin B6 (mg)	1.9	2.0	100
Vitamin B12 (μg)	2.6	2.8	ND
Vitamin C (mg)	85	120	2000
Vitamin D (IU)†	600	600	4000
Vitamin E (mg)	15	19	1000
Vitamin K (μg)	90	90	ND

 

Source : American Pregnancy Association

 

Know these terms

 

• Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) – the recommended vitamin dosage for 97-98% of healthy individuals
• Tolerable upper intake level (UL) – the highest amount of a vitamin that can be taken daily without risk of negative impact on your health
• Adequate intake (AI) –  when available data is  not sufficient to determine RDA, estimates are defined experimentally or through observation
• Vitamin Toxicity – occurs when taking megadoses of vitamin A, B₆, C, D, or niacin

 

TAKE NOTE

Adequate intakes (AIs) are shown in bold type, while recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) are shown in regular type.
 

What are the symptoms of vitamin overdose ?

 

Symptoms of vitamin overdose include some normal pregnancy symptoms. Some of the symptoms of vitamin overdose include the following :

• constipation
• nausea
• diarrhea
• cloudy urine
• stomach pain
• itchy skin
• headache
• fatigue
• rapid or irregular heartbeat
• yellow or orange tint to the skin
• mood changes
• sensitivity to skin
• cracking lips
• frequent urination
• muscle, joint or bone pain
• loss of apatite

 

If you think you have a vitamin overdose, contact your health care provider right away . Have the following  information ready before calling

• your age, weight and condition
• name of product
• time the product was taken
• how much of the product was taken

 

You can also National Poison Control Center’s 24-hour helpline at 1-800-222-1222  for any questions or concerns you may have about overdosing and poisoning. It does not have to be emergency to call.

 

NOTE

It is important to follow instructions on your vitamin bottle. You should note that too much of even a good thing can be bad.

 

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