Folic acid

If you want to become pregnant, it is recommended to start taking folic acid. Folic acid (vitamin B11) reduces the chance of having a child with an open back, an open skull or a cleft lip. The advice is to use folic acid from four weeks before conception. It is therefore best to start taking it from the moment you want to become pregnant.

The advice is to take folic acid up to and including the 10th week, but it does not hurt to continue taking it for longer.

Folic acid is available in tablets of 0.4 or 0.5 mg. and can be purchased without a prescription at the drugstore or pharmacy. It is also present in sufficient quantity in multi vitamin preparations for pregnancy.