I started my prenatals on Friday and I think they are killing me. I ordered the New Chapter Prenatals and took all three on Friday morning. Had breakfast at work and lunch, then around 3 o'clock I started with a stomach ache. Not bad but not fun. I had onion rings and I've been eating clean, so I blamed it on those.

Saturday morning I took all three in the morning again, went to breakfast and yoga, then had a shake for lunch. Around the same time I started with a stomach ache. This time it was horible! I layed on the couch and fell asleep, only to be woken by stomach pains. It almost felt crampy, though I know I wasn't cramping. 

I ran my first 5k on Sunday and I didn't want to risk stomach pains so I didn't take them. My stomach wasn't 100% but it felt better than the past 2 days. 

This morning I haven't taken them yet since I haven't really eaten yet. I had a shake for breakfast but I figure that is kind of light. So I'm taking them soon with a bran muffin.

I'm not sure if maybe I had a bug? Or, if it's my prenatals. Anyone else experience this?

Sorry!!  I've talked to others who are on those ones too, and we all marvel at how gentle they are on our stomach.  There are other natural options out there, if you decide these particular ones aren't for you.

Question: why are you taking all 3 together?  I don't have my bottle in front of me, but I thought you were supposed to stagger them throughout the day?  I thought it had to do with some nutritients not being stored, so you want to give them to your body throughout the day so the levels stay ... well, level.  Maybe I'm wrong?

I take mine morning, noon-ish, and with dinner.  I've taken them occasionally without food, and my stomach is fine, but usually they are consumed with food.  I add my B6 in at breakfast and my probiotic at dinner, and I don't have any stomach issues.  BUT when I was on synthetic prenatals those were brutal.  Funny world sometimes :-\

It doesn't say spread them out throughout the day.  However, if you're willing to still try them I would start staggering them throughout your day.  Good luck.

http://www.newchapter.com/multi-vitamins/perfect-prenatal#suggested-use

No need to be sorry at all! I've read that these are gentle, so I can only imagine if I wasn't taking these how I would feel.

Now that you mention it, maybe I am doing it wrong. I thought when I read the directions that it just says to take 3 daily. SO I assumed all three at once. DH and I talked about trying to stagger them throughout the day to see if it makes a difference. I'll check the bottle when I get home. I figured I would have a better chance of remembering all 3 if I took them in the morning since I used to take a mutli-vitamin and my BCP then anyway. I'll check out the bottle when I get home.

I just took all 3 with my muffin, so I'll see how I feel. Tomorrow I'll try 3 different times throughout the day.

I can't remember where I read it, but I think the 3/day had something to do with being spread out.  DH is on the New Chapter men's daily vitamin and it is only once a day, and I assumed the difference between his 1/day and my 3/day were because baby making bodies need better sustained levels of nutrients.  Or maybe I made it up ;-)

It does take some adjusting to the new habit!  When I first switched to New Chapter I was only taking 1-2/day, because I was forgetting and adjusting to a new routine.  Now I'm in the habit and take 3/day every day.  This is why I'm so glad I started all this "prepping" so early, because they'll be/are habits before baby is even on board. 

Thanks for checking, they block the weirdest things at work so I couldn't check!

I'm still willing to try. I know our bodies need to get used to new things too. Plus, I wasn't sure if it was a stomach bug. So far my stomach is fine today.

Ditto being happy about starting early. I'm still months away from TTC and I feel like I'm so behind!

Definitely stagger them if you take 3 pills...I only took one of my brand and I always took them before bed...never had any problems.

It's best to take them before bed I would say...I also have to take 3 small ones, but I take one in the morning and the other two before bed. I don't take the second one around noon because being at work and everything, I would easily forget to.

Another vote for taking them before bed :-) Mine used to give me trouble no matter when I took them, if I ate, etc. I ended up switching to just before bedtime and it has been perfect. If my stomach is too empty at bedtime, it can also cause some trouble for me, so if you eat dinner early, maybe try in between dinner and bedtime?

For those nights when I haven't eaten in the several hours before bedtime, I will sometimes take two Vitafusion gummies instead. They don't have calcium or iron, so I don't take them as my regular prenatal. But they also don't upset my stomach without all the iron! They are kind of like my emergency/back up every few weeks if I stay up late and still need to take my vitamin :-)

Thanks for the advice everyone. Question, did anyone have trouble sleeping when taking all those vatimins before bed?