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As Rhonda Patrick is a doctor who’s spent decades learning about how nutrition affects our bodies, it’s no wonder that you may be curious about what kinds of supplements she took during her pregnancy and what products she recommends for toddlers like her own. Check out this discussion of Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s pregnancy and breastfeeding supplement suggestions to learn about what she advises and why. We also cover the supplements she gave her child when he was an infant and what she continues today.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Pregnancy Supplements
Before diving into Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s pregnancy supplements, it’s important to note that she eliminated everything that she was previously taking that was non-essential or not proven to be safe. This included acetaminophen painkillers (linked to ADHD) and broccoli sprouts (possible bacteria contamination), as well as most of the supplements she took on a regular basis.
Check out our Rhonda Patrick Supplements Overview to see a list of the various supplements Rhonda normally takes.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Pregnancy, First and Second Trimesters
During her first and second trimesters, Rhonda took:
- Multivitamin – Thorne Prenatal
- Fish Oil – Nordic Naturals
- Vitamin D – Thorne Research – D3 1,000IU – 3,000IU total (multi has 1,000IU, then 2,000IU additional)
Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Pregnancy, Third Trimester
During her third trimester, Rhonda continued her previous regime but added:
- Probiotic – Visbiome Probiotic sachets
- Iron – Thorne Research – Iron Bisgylcinate
- Wild Alaskan Salmon Roe
Take note that blood tests showed Rhonda had a low red blood cell count during her third trimester, and that’s why she chose to supplement. You may not need this in your own pregnancy, especially considering that the Thorne Prenatal already contains 45mg of iron bisglycinate.
You’ll also notice that she consumed wild Alaskan salmon roe during her third trimester. Can you eat roe when pregnant? Some would caution against it due to the possibility of parasites. However, Rhonda had no issue with it because she noted that freezing roe at -4°F for at least seven days is an effective way of killing any possible parasitic contamination.
The biggest reason she upped her intake of salmon roe during pregnancy was to support her baby’s brain development. Roe is a natural source of phospholipid DHA, a form that’s more easily absorbed.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Pregnancy Supplements – Breastfeeding
When Rhonda was breastfeeding, she talked about her pregnancy and breastfeeding supplements in an online Q&A session. You can see what she had to say starting at 1hr 38mins.
In that interview, she revealed she took the following while breastfeeding:
- Multivitamin – Thorne Prenatal
- Fish Oil – Nordic Naturals
- Probiotics – Visbiome Probiotic sachets
- Vitamin D – Thorne Research – D3 1,000iu
- Vitamin K2 – Life Extensions Mega Vitamin K2
Multivitamin – Thorne Basic Prenatal
Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s pregnancy routing was grounded in a daily vitamin from Thorne during and after pregnancy for several reasons. For starters, the basic prenatal helped fill the nutritional gaps in her diet.
In a tweet, she mentioned a study found that women who started a multivitamin during pregnancy gave birth to children with higher IQ levels.
She noted that several of the ingredients in her basic prenatal, such as vitamin C and vitamin K, had been linked to a reduction in morning sickness too.
When it came to the Thorne basic prenatal specifically, she also mentioned that she liked that it didn’t contain artificial colorants or preservatives unlike lots of other mainstream prenatal supplements.
Fish Oil – Nordic Naturals
This omega-3 supplement has been a staple in Rhonda’s medicine cabinet. She was taking it before she became pregnant, and she continued it throughout her pregnancy and while she was breastfeeding.
For her baby, she continued to take this supplement because it has been shown to improve brain development.
Probiotics – Visbiome Probiotic sachets
When Rhonda was breastfeeding, she wrote on Instagram that she was taking one sachet of Visbiome per day. She started taking this probiotic at the start of her last trimester and continued while nursing her son.
A study has found that mothers who supplemented with the probiotic Visbiome during late pregnancy, and while nursing, lowered inflammatory biomarkers in their breast milk and improved symptoms of colic in their newborns.
Visbiome is shipped in cold packs to preserve its live cultures, and it uses the same formula as the previous, well-studied VSL#3 probiotic (the probiotic’s inventor changed manufacturers, so Visbiome is now the real thing).
Vitamin D – Thorne Research
While she was breastfeeding, Rhonda increased her vitamin D3 intake to 6,000IU. She was already getting 1,000IU from her daily vitamin, so she supplemented 5,000IU more from vitamin D3 from Thorne.
Vitamin K2 – Life Extensions Mega Vitamin K2
Rhonda stopped taking her regular vitamin K2 supplement while she was pregnant, but she restarted it while breastfeeding. Rather than take it daily as she did before pregnancy, she limited herself to three times per week.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick Children’s Supplements
Rhonda has talked several times about the supplements she gave her son when he was an infant and what she gives now that he’s older.
Of course, she tries to meet his nutritional needs through diet, but she recognizes that even the best diet can have shortfalls. As such, she uses the following vitamin supplements for toddlers:
- Multivitamin – Pure Encapsulations PureNutrients Gummies
- Fish Oil – Pure Encapsulations PureNutrients EPA/DHA Gummies
- Vitamin C – Swanson’s Chewable Vitamin C
- Vitamin D – Carlson Baby’s Super Daily Vitamin D
Multivitamin – Pure Encapsulations PureNutrients Gummies
Rhonda has been giving her child a daily vitamin from Pure Encapsulations ever since he was old enough to chew. The gummy offers the daily recommended dose of vital nutrients in just one serving. If you’re giving this multivitamin for 2 year olds and up, you’ll give 2 gummies daily. For ages 4 and up, the serving size is 4 gummies per day.
One of the primary reasons Rhonda chose this vitamin is because it’s made with xylitol (shown to improve dental health) and contains only 2 grams of sugar from fruit juice.
Fish Oil – Pure Encapsulations PureNutrients EPA/DHA Gummies
When she can, Dr. Patrick gives her child the same omega 3 supplement that she takes herself. She says that she breaks open a capsule and mixes it with his food. There are times when her son won’t take the oil, though; when that happens, she supplements with gummies from Pure Encapsulations.
As with her child’s multivitamin, the EPA/DHA supplement is sugar-free and made with xylitol.
Vitamin C – Swanson’s Chewable Vitamin C
Because vitamin C has been linked with improved immune function in children and could prevent colds or shorten their duration, she gives her son a vitamin C supplement daily. She uses a chewable version from Swanson’s and breaks the tablet into four pieces so it’s easier for him to consume.
Vitamin D3 Supplement – Carlson Baby’s Super Daily Vitamin D3
When her son was a baby, Rhonda gave him 400IU of Carlson’s vitamin D each day. Even though she exclusively breastfed, she supplemented because her baby experienced limited sunlight exposure and generally mother’s milk contains insufficient amounts of vitamin D.
And since she herself was breastfeeding and also not getting much sun, she increased her daily intake of vitamin D to 6,000IU — about double her normal intake of 2,000 to 4,000IU per day.
Carlson’s D3 drops for babies contain 400IU per drop and is available in 90 and 365-drop sizes. There’s also a Carlson’s D3 version for kids, but they appear to be the same formula. Information about her D3 supplementation comes via her post on Instagram.
Now that her child’s older, Dr. Patrick has alluded to the fact that she know longer supplements with a separate vitamin D product. This is because she believes her son gets enough from his daily vitamin and exposure to sunlight.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick Product Recommendations for Babies
- Stem Cell Banking from LifeBank USA – Service for storing the placenta post-childbirth. The placenta is a rich source of pluripotent stem cells, which may be useful later in life.
- Owlet Smart Sock – Child’s sock that checks heart rate and oxygen levels and sets off an alarm if either of them dip below healthy levels.
- Nanit Smart Baby Monitor – Baby monitor camera that sends streaming video and push notifications to your phone about what the kid is up to.
- Hatch Baby Grow Smart Scale – Accurate scale that helps you track baby’s weight before and after feedings to determine the effectiveness of nursing.
Stem Cell Banking – via LifeBankUSA
LifeBankUSA provides a way to store and ship your newborn child’s umbilical cord and placenta to its facilities. At its lab, Stem Cell Banking extracts the cord blood (and depending which package you buy), also extract blood from the placenta.
The extracted blood is then chilled and preserved, in case it’s needed in the future.
The whole purpose is to collect and store stem cells + CD34 proteins, which could later be used to treat disease.
Diseases currently being treated with stem cells include leukemia, anemia, lymphoma, bone marrow cancer, brain tumors, and a range of inherited diseases. On top of these, there are lots of other diseases where stem cells may be useful, but they still need to carry out more clinical trials to confirm. See this LifeBankUSA PDF for more on present and future treatable diseases.
A key difference between LifeBankUSA and other cord blood banking options is that LifeBankUSA owns a patent on placenta blood extraction. The benefit of this extra extraction is a greater number of available stem cells than you would obtain through just cord blood.
Dr. Patrick discussed using LifeBank USA in an Instagram post. For more info on the key benefits of placenta banking (adjunctive to cord blood banking), see Rhonda’s interview with Dr. Frans Kuypers, where they discuss, amongst other things, how you can save between 5x and 7x more stem cells by using the placenta.
Heart Rate Monitoring – via Owlet Smart Sock
The Owlet Smart Sock is a hypoallergenic cotton sock that can measure heart rate and blood oxygen levels, and then communicate it to you via Bluetooth. Just install the Owlet app on your phone, and it will notify you if there is a problem with your baby — both via notifications on your phone and an alarm at the base station.
Owlet don’t advertise it as such, but this can provide peace of mind against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), sometimes known as cot death. Providing a potential window of opportunity if the child’s vitals dip during sleep.
Pros:
- The range is 100 feet. The sock communicates via Bluetooth to a base station, and that then connects to your WiFi network
- Works with both iPhone and Android
- It has a rechargeable battery life of 18 hours
- It comes with four booties, in two different sizes, and both open and closed-toe variations for each size
Cons:
- Potential false alarms — for example, users have had false alarms when burping their child, although this would appear to be a risk worth taking for extra peace of mind
- The Owlet’s price tag — perhaps overly expensive due to lack of similar competition in the market
Video and Sound Monitoring – Nanit Smart Monitor
This recommendation for the Nanit Smart Baby Monitor comes from a post from Rhonda’s Patreon. The Nanit is like your typical baby monitor, but on steroids. It offers:
- 5.5-foot floor stand with an HD camera attached to the top
- Night vision on the HD camera
- HD camera streams directly to phones (iOS and Android)
- Tracks video, sound, and motion
- Can set baby audio to play in the background while using the phone for other things
So essentially, once you have the camera set up by the baby’s crib, you can be in another room, yet see and hear exactly what’s going on via your phone.
Again, much like the smart sock above, the Nanint isn’t absolutely necessary; you’re paying a premium peace of mind, we think it’s worth it. The Nanit retails for $299.
Growth Scale – Hatch Baby Grow Smart Scale
This recommendation comes from one of Rhonda’s Patreon posts.
The idea behind the Hatch Smart Scale came from a mother who was breastfeeding and worried about whether her child was getting enough nutrition. Rather than having to keep going to the doctors to get her baby weighed, she wanted an easier solution. Along with her her husband, she came up with the idea for a weighing scale that lets you track milestones yourself.
Functionality includes:
- Software lets you track your baby’s weight, how often they’re feeding, and even how many diapers they’re going through
- The scale itself doubles as a smooth, clean baby-changing facility
- The scale has rubber feet to stop it from moving around and works for children up to 44lbs/20kg
The Hatch Smart Scale retails for $149.99.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick Vaccine Thoughts
Both mothers and babies are encouraged to take several vaccines during pregnancy and after birth. Dr. Patrick is pro-vaccine, but with some caveats.
Vaccines During Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Pregnancy
Towards the end of their pregnancies, women are advised to take the Tdap vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough. The idea is that once the woman is protected, she’ll pass immunity to her unborn child.
While Rhonda Patrick was all for the Tdap vaccine, she wasn’t comfortable taking it during pregnancy as she was concerned about the immune response that vaccines cause. She cited studies showing a link between a mother’s immune response after vaccination and a baby’s possible development of ADHD.
Rather than risk harm to her baby, Dr. Patrick elected to take the Tdap the day after she gave birth. She then reasoned that she could pass immunity to her baby through breastfeeding.
Vaccines for Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Baby
Immune response was again on her mind when it came time for Rhonda to make the decision about her baby’s vaccines. She was worried about how receiving multiple vaccines in a short time — the norm in the United States — might affect her child’s still developing immune system.
She did go ahead and vaccinate her child, but the vaccines were given one at a time. This gave her son plenty of time to respond to each vaccine and gave her a chance to monitor that response.
Wrapping Up
We hope that this overview of the supplements Dr. Patrick took while she was pregnant and breastfeeding, as well as what she gives her child, has been helpful. While it’s always ideal to get nutrients from the foods that you eat, it’s not always possible to fill all the gaps. That’s where supplements can make such a big difference.
Rhonda Patrick loves her supplements, but she doesn’t always turn to pills. See how she gets vital nutrients naturally by checking out our guide on Rhonda Patrick’s smoothie recipes.
Megan
Wednesday 25th of July 2018
Hello, can you tell me if dr Rhonda recommends time restricted eating during pregnancy?
Aimee
Saturday 28th of April 2018
I'm curious if Dr. Patrick has recommendations for vitamin supplements for children? I found this list very helpful while pregnant/nursing. I'd love to see young children recommendations if this exists.
mario
Tuesday 17th of April 2018
Please could someone clarify if taking probiotics during the 1st and 2nd trimester is dangerous, as in this article it is specifically clarified that it is only advised to be taken in the third. I cant think of any reason not to take them during the first and second trimester.
Dana
Tuesday 3rd of April 2018
I could not find the podcast where Dr.Rhonda Patrick talks about Norwegian Pure 3. She talked about the importance of NSF certification and Nordic Natural because it is NSF certified in Tim Ferris Podcast. Do you know which podcast did she talked about Norwegian Pure?
Derick
Thursday 1st of February 2018
How come only DHA during breastfeeding and not during pregnancy?