There was a news story the other night saying that there seems to be a link between increased folic acid intake and the possibility of multiple births when doing IVF. They were talking about women who are supplementing their regular multivitamins or prenatal vitamins with more folic acid. So, I guess if you would like to have twins or more, start beefing up on the folic acid!

I won't miss a day now for sure! That's great news and I hope they're right! :-)

Me too! We are two kids behind all of our friends. We need to catch up!

That's funny I just had IUI and my gynae told me to take 3 folic acid tabs a day instead of 1 because of the fact that there were definitely 2 eggs and possibly a 3rd so if there was twins or more then I would be supplementing enough!

lee70, how many mcg are you taking? I decided to up mine from 800mcg to 1200mcg. Hopefully, you can't overdose on folic acid!

Well I'm taking 3 tablets so 1200mg.....I was wondering about overdosing on Folic acid but I don't think he would have said to do that if there was any risk.

I called my doctor today and he has asked me to take Folic acid 5mg twice a day. Seems very high to me. I have to go for my ultrasound in two weeks and so I may just keep taking the tabs until I see him..
5/31 IUI

I take way more folic acid than all you ladies due to a genetic disorder and I was told you can't o.d. on the stuff, so don't worry. I've never heard about the twins thing but I'd sure like to know!

I stopped taking my extra folic acid supplement b/c I just switched taking my prenatal vitamins and metformin at different times...met depletes folic acid.

Perhaps I should start again just in case! LOL!

Paeta,

I did not know met depletes folic acid! If it does, make sure you don't stop your folic acid!! You do know that not enough folic acid can lead to neural tube defects and anacephaly, right? It is SO important to pregnancy for ALL women.

Oh...I should have added if taken at the same time it can cause the body to NOT absorb the folic acid. Sorry about that. I have folic acid in my prenatal vitamin and I take it at a different time than any of my Met pills.

Yeah...I know all about the neural tube defects, etc. Don't get me started....I have been bugging my moronic SIL to get on folic acid since last july when she went off the bcp just b/f getting married. She hasn't gotten PG yet (THANK GOD) but refuses to do ANYTHING to prepare her body for pregnancy. Ughhh...I could go on and on about this subject. LOL!

This is an interesting topic... I need to see how much folic acid is in my prenatal! We're transferring 2 embies later this month.

My MIL is insists that her daughters take folic acid when pg. Turns out that 40 years ago she delivered 2x with anacephalic babies. After being told she'd never have bio children, she delivered 7 more and adopted 2! I guess all the research is right!

Nancy

You should know that the part about folic acid causing twins/multiples is untrue. Also, whatever folic acid your body doesn't use gets excreted in your urine. It's a critical b vitamin during pregnancy, esp in the very early stage even before a woman normally knows she's pg.

Hello,

Until week 11, I was taking 5mg of folic twice a day( total 10mg). I was started on this dosage during my 6th week. Prior to the pregnancy and until 6 weeks I was taking 800mcg. I am expecting a single baby.

So although I am not sure about the twin part. I have come to understand , that there is no way one can OD on folic . As someone in the earlier posts had mentioned you just pee the excess.

...I just had to post. We did two rounds of IVF and I was taking a PreNat Vitamin w/ 1mg folic acid at least 6 months before the procedure. The first failed and second resulted in our twins. One was born with Spina Bifida and we believe that it was in part because I was not taking enough folic acid for mulitples. I am now on a PreNat w/1 mg folic and 4 tabs (1mg each) additional folic acid. We just saw our RE yesterday about another IVF cycle in January, and I was advised that I could double (up to 10 mg) what I was taking now, even if only to ease my mind. So, please keep taking your folic acid and if you are unsure how much you can safely take, please ask your doctor. Sorry, didn't mean to preach but this is a subject that hits close to home.

Take care and *~babydust~* to all.

Preach away! You have every right to. Women STILL don't realize how very important folic acid is. Not just to prevent spina bifida, but other things like pre-eclampsia, which can be life threatening. Prenatals just don't have enough folic acid in them and I don't understand why that's not changed! The same thing for selenium. I have yet to find a prenatal that has the necessary selenium to prevent birth defects. It's very disheartening. I am so glad you posted!

Hi ladies,

After reading/posting the other day, I went out and bought folic acid caps to add to my prenatal. The prenatal has 1 mg/tablet. The vitamins have 800mcg each. I think I"ll be taking 2 a day until I double check with the RE.

Thanks for the information!
Nancy

Sounds perfect. You can't o.d. on it. Make sure you take it with enough B6 and B12 as those vitamins work together for absorption!

Ruth

Okay, right now I'm taking 1200 mcg of Folic Acid and I also take extra B6 and B-complex in addition to my multivitamin. Is that sufficient, or should I increase?

apeacefulme, you don't sound preachy! I appreciate you sharing your experience with us. These are things we need to know! :)

I too, delievered twins last year and one was born with spina bifida whereas the other was not affected. I was on a sdtrong prenantal and 800mcg of folic acid for years prior to our IVF cycle that i got pregnant. take more than you need. i feel i had enough for one baby but maybe not enough for two so if transferring two embroys talk to your dr and tell them you want to be on the safe side since you have heard of people that have been affected with no family history.

Here is more you probably ever wanted to know about Vitamin B9. Makes for interesting reading.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsSupplements/VitaminB9FolicAcidcs.html

It also gives a list of dietary sources.

I talked to the RE today and he said I could take up to 4 mg of folic acid / day. It was like "you can't overdose on it". Just like some of you have written above!
Nancy

all in all... your folic acid!

I ran across this artice where Dr. Wu (chinese medicine) recommends 1600mg of folic acid/day. There are other rec. also.

http://commongroundmag.com/2006/10/fertility0610.html