Appropriate Vitamin D dose in pregnancy

I am 3 months pregnant and my blood test (done a week ago) has shown that my Vitamin D3 level is 15. I am surprised by this as I have been taking 500 IU of Vitamin D daily for the past year as well as Omega 3 daily for the past 4 years! Please can you advise me on what would be the correct dosage for me in my pregnancy as I am severely stressed by all this uncertainty.

Comments for Appropriate Vitamin D dose in pregnancy

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Omega 3's don't have vitamin d
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

You do understand that Omega 3 vitamins do not have vitamin d? Therefore, whether you are taking Omega 3 fatty acids or not, which is a GREAT thing by the way, would have ZERO influence on your Vitamin D levels.

In addition, please see my page on Vitamin D Requirements to see that an average MAINTENANCE dose for a NORMAL, not pregnant, adult is between 3800 to 5000 IU's per day.

Also, please think about this. What dose of vitamin d is your doctor going to recommend that you give to your baby when it's born? They are going to recommend 400 IU's per day. Do you really think that someone who weighs 15 TIMES more than an infant would require only 100 IU's more? Who put you on 500 IU's a day anyway? That's even LESS than the (still insignificant) 800 IU's that are in most prenatal vitamins.

So, while I can't tell you how much a pregnant women 'needs' or how much you 'should' take, I can refer you to my page on Vitamin D Therapy where you can follow the step-by-step instructions to bring your vitamin d level up to the optimal range.

And be SURE to read my page on Vitamin D and Breastfeeding to see that unless you are taking 6400 IU's of vitamin d per day while breastfeeding, you won't even produce the 400 IU's a day in your breastmilk that is the minimum requirement for your baby.


Kerri Knox, RN
Vitamin D3 and Omega 3's
by:

Kerri,

You told this young lady that Omega 3's don't have vitamin D but if she is taking the ones from Jigsaw, it states on the box that the 3 Omega Fish Oil/day gives you 5,000 IU of Vitamin D3. If she is taking Jigsaw's Omega 3's then she is getting 5,000 IU of VD3 in those three gels - is this correct or did I miss something?

Thanks
Your Omega 3's are special
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

If YOUR bottle says that it contains Vitamin D, then I'm sure that's correct. I'm not saying that if your bottle says it contains vitamin d that it doesn't. What I'm saying is that the VAST VAST majority of Omega 3's do not contain vitamin d. Don't assume that all Omega 3's contain vitamin d, because most do not. In fact, I have two bottles of fish oil from two of the major brands and neither one of them has vitamin d.

In fact, I'm looking at Jigsaw's now and they say 'Fish Oil PLUS Vitamin D'. I suspect they add the vitamin d. Nothing wrong with that, I'm only trying to make the point that it seems that some people believe that fish oil capsules automatically have vitamin d in them, when actually most do not. She seemed to be shocked that her Vitamin D levels were low since she was taking fish oil. But it's unlikely that they HAD any, so she shouldn't be shocked.


Kerri Knox, RN

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