Taking Prenatal DHA vs. Fish Oil Capsules

Factual Questions
1

So my wife and I are expecting (yah!) and after her first visit to the OBGYN they gave her prenatal DHA pills. She’s just about out now and we went looking for more. They have pills labeled “Prenatal DHA” for $7 for a month supply or for $9 we can get the same amount of DHA (plus more EPA) for the entire pregnancy (versus $7 times 7 more months for the ones specifically labeled “Prenatal DHA”) Does it matter if we get the fish oil ones? They specifically mentioned being filtered for mercury.

The same thing with the folic acid. They prescribed folic acid for her but you can pick it up cheaper OTC. Does this really make a difference? We can afford the stuff they prescribe for sure, but we don’t want to unnecessarily spend money on something that’s no better than what they prescribe. And obviously we want to do the best for our baby as well. Thanks for any information you can provide.

2

Ask your pharmacist.

3

Folic acid- generic is as good as presciption, but double check the dose.

Most pre-natal folic acid is a 400 microgram daily dose. High risk women should be on 5 milligrams (more than 10 times that).

Check if your wife is on the 400mcg or the 5mg tablets before you consider buying OTC.

Where I live the prescription 5mg folic acid was signficantly cheaper than the equivalent amount of OTC- once you took into account that you had to buy 12 times as much as the average gal!