There are several stages for pregnant women to supplement calcium. What is the best time for pregnant women to supplement calcium every day?

Calcium supplementation is something many people do in our daily lives. Calcium is an important mineral needed by our human body. From the elderly to children, everyone needs calcium supplementation. Calcium deficiency can lead to many health problems.

There are several stages for pregnant women to supplement calcium

During pregnancy, the development of the baby's bones and teeth requires a large amount of calcium from the mother. In order to avoid osteoporosis during pregnancy caused by calcium loss and to ensure the nutritional needs of the fetus, doctors will require pregnant women to supplement calcium. Calcium supplementation for expectant mothers is divided into four stages:

1. Early pregnancy (0 to 12 weeks)

1. Generally, the daily calcium requirement in early pregnancy is 800 mg. If the expectant mother in this period can drink 1-2 bags of milk every day (a bag of milk (250 ml) contains about 260 mg of calcium), then an additional 300 mg of calcium supplement is enough. If you don’t like to drink milk, you need to supplement about 800 mg.

2. In the early stages of pregnancy (0-12 weeks), the amount of calcium provided by the mother to the fetus increases from 0 to 50 mg per day. Therefore, it is best for expectant mothers to start taking calcium supplements when they are preparing to become pregnant, especially those who do not like to eat dairy products and have weak constitutions.

2. Mid-pregnancy (13-26 weeks)

1. In order to better absorb calcium, pregnant mothers also need to do some auxiliary work with calcium supplementation, such as getting more sun exposure. Adequate ultraviolet radiation can promote the synthesis of vitamin D in the human body and increase the absorption rate of calcium. At the same time, pregnant women should move their bones and joints more and do muscle stretching exercises to improve the nutritional status of skeletal muscles and increase bone density.

2. Pregnant women should not take calcium supplements beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy at the latest, because this stage is the period of most active bone formation and development of the fetus. In the second trimester, the mother's calcium demand increases to 1,200 mg.

3. Late pregnancy (27 weeks to full term)

The third trimester is the period when the baby accumulates the most bone mass, and the mother needs to provide 150-450 mg of calcium every day, an average of about 350 mg per day. At this time, you should also insist on calcium supplementation to supplement the calcium needed for yourself and your baby in the last stage of pregnancy. The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends that mothers in the third trimester and during breastfeeding should consume 1,200 mg of calcium every day to ensure a "win-win" situation for the bones of mother and baby.

4. Postpartum period

1. Supplementing calcium after childbirth is not only beneficial to the mother's rapid recovery after childbirth, but also improves the quality of breast milk. Therefore, mothers who breastfeed their babies must take in enough calcium. Because only when the mother gets enough calcium can she provide high-calcium milk to the baby, otherwise the breastfed baby will also be calcium deficient.

2. After the baby is born, the mother should use breast milk to feed the newborn baby. For a healthy lactating mother, every 100ml of breast milk contains about 35mg of calcium. Therefore, every 1000ml of breast milk the mother feeds will cause the mother to lose 300-400mg of calcium. A mother who breastfeeds for 6 months will consume about 4-6% of the calcium in the bones. If calcium intake is insufficient, it will affect one's own bone health. It is very important to supplement calcium during pregnancy, so expectant mothers should follow the rules to lay a solid foundation for the healthy growth of the baby. Calcium absorption needs to be combined with vitamin D. Vitamin D can help the absorption of intestinal calcium, promote the deposition of calcium in bones and reduce the excretion of calcium in the kidneys. Vitamin D deficiency can reduce the calcium absorption rate to below 10%. If pregnant women have sufficient vitamin D, it is conducive to calcium absorption. Therefore, it is very important for calcium tablets to contain an appropriate amount of vitamin D for calcium absorption.

The best time for pregnant women to supplement calcium every day

The best time to supplement calcium in a day is before going to bed and between meals. It should be noted that there should be some time before going to bed, preferably half an hour after dinner. In three meals a day, the human body can take in 300 mg to 400 mg or even more calcium from food. When the body excretes calcium from urine through the calcium regulation mechanism, the blood can be supplemented from food at any time to maintain the blood calcium level. At night, the human body no longer eats, but urine is formed as usual. Part of the calcium in the blood continues to enter the urine. Therefore, in order to maintain a normal blood calcium level, the human body has to use the calcium store, that is, the calcium in the bones. Calcium supplementation before going to bed can provide a calcium source for this calcium regulation at night, blocking the use of bone calcium in the body. Moreover, calcium has a sedative effect and can help sleep. Therefore, the best time to supplement calcium should be before going to bed and between meals. There should be some time before going to bed, preferably half an hour after dinner, because the blood calcium concentration is the lowest in the second half of the night and the morning, which is the most suitable for calcium supplementation.

What are the symptoms of calcium deficiency in pregnant women?

In the forum, mothers often post questions about the cause of leg cramps at night. In fact, this is a typical symptom of calcium deficiency. At this time, the body has clearly sent a signal: you need to supplement calcium immediately! So what other manifestations are there for pregnant women with calcium deficiency? Joint and pelvic pain indicate that you are calcium deficient. This is because during pregnancy, in order to ensure that the calcium concentration in the blood is maintained within the normal range, under the action of hormones, a large amount of calcium in the bones of pregnant women will be released, causing joint and pelvic pain. Pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome indicates that you are calcium deficient. Calcium deficiency has a certain relationship with the occurrence of gestational hypertension. If you are troubled by gestational hypertension, maybe you should be alert. Loose teeth are a very obvious symptom of calcium deficiency, which is difficult for expectant mothers to ignore. Calcium is the main element that constitutes the hard tissues of human bones and teeth. Calcium deficiency can cause abnormal development of tooth enamel, reduced anti-caries ability, and loose hard tissue structure. If pregnant mothers feel loose teeth, they may be calcium deficient. Calf cramps when sleeping at night are also one of the most important signals of calcium deficiency. It usually occurs at 5 months of pregnancy and is often prone to occur at night. However, some pregnant women, although deficient in calcium, do not experience calf cramps and tend to neglect calcium supplementation.

When should pregnant women start taking calcium supplements?

Many expectant mothers tend to think that calcium supplementation is not necessary in the early stages of pregnancy. In fact, the appropriate calcium intake for pregnant women in the early stages of pregnancy is 800 mg per day, 1000 mg in the middle stages of pregnancy, and 1200 mg in the late stages of pregnancy. If the dietary structure of expectant mothers in the early stages of pregnancy cannot guarantee an intake of 800 mg, calcium supplementation is also needed. Because from the beginning of pregnancy, the embryo can already obtain about 50 mg of calcium from the mother every day. It's just that under normal circumstances, mothers can get enough calcium through a reasonable dietary balance without the need for additional calcium supplements. In general, doctors recommend that pregnant women start taking calcium supplements around 20 weeks of pregnancy. After 27 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, calcium supplementation is necessary as the fetus grows rapidly. If in the daily diet, expectant mothers do not like to eat meat and soy products, and do not have the habit of drinking milk every day, then calcium supplementation should be started earlier. Usually, the amount prescribed by doctors to pregnant women is only a few hundred milligrams per day, which will not be excessive. Calcium supplementation can be done throughout the day, because calcium is lost more at night, so calcium supplementation after dinner is more effective.