Prenatal Nutrition Made Easy: Supporting You Every Step of the Way

If you’re pregnant, trying to conceive, or moving through the whirlwind of postpartum, you’ve probably already noticed that your body feels different—and your nutritional needs are different too. Each stage places its own unique demands on you. Long before a positive test, your body is already laying the groundwork for a healthy pregnancy. And once you are pregnant, the need for key nutrients only grows as your baby develops and your own physiology shifts in ways you can’t always see or feel. Those needs don’t magically disappear after birth either; postpartum recovery is its own marathon.

Even with a balanced diet, it can be challenging to get every nutrient you need in the right amounts. Modern life, food availability, and individual differences in absorption mean that relying on food alone may not always be enough to fully support you and your baby. On top of that, the guidance out there can feel overwhelming. There’s outdated advice, oversimplified messaging, and plenty of mixed information, which leaves many women unsure where to begin.

One of the questions I’m asked most often is: “What prenatal should I take?” My go‑to is the Needed Prenatal Multi. It provides methylated folate instead of folic acid, uses active nutrient forms your body can absorb, and includes well‑researched levels of essentials like vitamin D3 and choline. In my experience, it’s one of the most comprehensive options for supporting maternal nutrient status and healthy fetal development.

The Reality: Nutrient Gaps Are Very Common in Motherhood

So many women tell me they feel “off” during pregnancy or postpartum, with fatigue that doesn’t lift, brain fog, mood shifts, and hair changes. These symptoms are often brushed aside as just part of motherhood, but from a nutrition perspective, they can be signs that the body needs additional support.

Even though prenatal supplements are designed to help fill those gaps, the data tells a different story. Research suggests that up to 95% of women are still experiencing nutrient depletion, even while taking a prenatal. NHANES data shows that many women fall short in key nutrients like vitamins D, A, B6, K, and E, along with choline, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc, nutrients that are absolutely essential during pregnancy and postpartum.

These nutrients are involved in hormone function, fetal brain and cognitive development, maintaining healthy blood pressure within the normal range, and supporting maternal health. They play a valuable role in helping your body meet the demands of pregnancy.

Why Many Prenatal Supplements Fall Short

RDAs are intended to reduce the risk of nutrient deficiency at a population level and may not always capture optimal nutrient needs during pregnancy and postpartum, when demands are higher.

Many prenatals:

• Provide nutrient levels below standard RDAs

• Use forms that aren’t ideal for absorption

• Don’t account for the significantly higher nutrient needs across the motherhood journey

  
  

Why RDAs Don’t Tell the Full Story for Mothers

Here’s something that often surprises people: for many years, pregnant and nursing women weren’t well represented in nutrition research. Because of that, some of the Dietary Reference Intakes we still use today are based on limited or indirect data. They’re helpful for preventing deficiency, but they don’t always reflect what optimal nourishment might look like during the uniquely demanding seasons of pregnancy and postpartum.

This is why current standards often fall short of what women actually need across what Needed calls The Motherspan™. Their formulations focus on nutrient repletion rather than basic adequacy, which makes a meaningful difference.

How Needed Prenatal Multi Stands Out

Needed Prenatal Multi takes a thoughtful, more complete approach to prenatal nutrition. Rather than simply meeting minimum intake targets, the formula is guided by clinical insight into how nutrient needs increase during pregnancy. When comparing total daily nutrient intake, it:

• Provides 8× more nutrition than many leading prenatals*

• Provides 5× more nutrition compared to standard reference intake levels*

  
  

*Based on total daily dosage of nutrients compared to leading prenatals and reference intake values, per IRI sales data as of December 2025.

This thoughtful level of formulation is one reason more than 15,000 practitioners recommend Needed.

Key Nutrients That Are Commonly Undersupplied

Needed Prenatal Multi includes optimized amounts of nutrients that are often provided in smaller amounts or left out entirely in other prenatals.

• 12× more choline than leading prenatals

• 2× more vitamin A than leading prenatals

• 31× more vitamin B12 than leading prenatals

• 4× more vitamin D than leading prenatals

• 20× more vitamin B6 than leading prenatals

• 3× more zinc than leading prenatals

  
  

Additionally:

• Selenium is frequently excluded; Needed provides 3× standard reference intake levels

• Chromium is often overlooked; Needed provides 4× standard reference intake levels

  

Together, these nutrients support normal energy production, cognitive development, hormone balance, and healthy immune and metabolic function.

Why I Recommend Needed Prenatal Multi

From a clinical nutrition perspective, Needed Prenatal Multi is one of the few prenatals formulated to address nutrient depletion—not just meet minimum requirements. The dosing is informed by more than 630 research studies, and it includes nutrients many prenatals leave out or underdeliver on, like choline, vitamin A, vitamin B12, selenium, and vitamin D.

Practitioner‑Backed and Quality‑Focused

Needed’s commitment to quality is a big reason I trust the brand. Their products are:

• Recommended by 15,000+ practitioners

• Third‑party tested—every single batch

• Clean Label Project Purity Award recipients

• Certified Pesticide Free, Climate Neutral Certified, Certified B Corp, and 1% for the Planet partners

  
  

As a dietitian, these quality and transparency standards play a major role in how I choose and recommend supplements I truly trust. 

Smart, Personalized, and Thoughtful Formulation

Another thing I appreciate: Needed designs their prenatal to be personalized.

• Intended for use from preconception → pregnancy → postpartum → beyond

• No iron included (iron needs vary widely and should be based on labs)

• No omega‑3s included (helps keeps the formula more stable and allows for personalized dosing)

• Available in capsules or vanilla powder

  
  

This gives women flexibility to build a prenatal routine that actually fits their needs.

Because the formula is so comprehensive, many women find they don’t need to juggle multiple supplements. Needed Prenatal Multi can serve as the foundation of a simple, streamlined routine, saving both time and money, especially when paired with its subscription option.

What to Look for When Choosing a Prenatal

When I help women choose a prenatal, I always recommend prioritizing:

• Bioavailable nutrient forms in clinically informed amounts

• Third‑party testing for purity and quality

• A format that fits your lifestyle (capsules or powder)

• A formulation that allows personalization of iron and omega‑3s based on labs and practitioner guidance

  
  

If you’re looking for extra support to go beyond the bare minimum and help maintain normal nutritional status during motherhood, Needed Prenatal Multi is a prenatal I recommend. Learn more about it here: https://thisisneeded.com/products/prenatal-multi-essentials

Disclosures

This post is sponsored by Needed, a brand I genuinely recommend to my patients and use personally.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.