omega-3 when pregnant

[SKay]

I have 2 children; my son, 6, is (undiagnosed) ADHD, but my daughter, 3, so far shows no signs of the disorder. Maybe this is just because she is a girl, and it doesn't always show up as well in girls. But I've wondered if it could be because of the supplements I took before she was born. When I was pregnant with DS, I took the regular supplements the dr gave, but when I was pregnant with DD, I was taking some high-quality supplements I got from a company I trust very much. Along with vitamins, I was taking omega-3 fatty acids which are supposed to help fetal brain development. What do you all think? Did you take omega-3 fatty acids while pregnant (or while wife was pregnant)?

[foley]

I took them with my last pregancy and DS will be 1 in March. Mostly so that I could get enough EFA's for myself, since the fetus takes all the mother's EFA's. Many people think that may be the cause of Post Partum Depression.

My ds with ADHD was born in '91 and I had no inkling of EFA's.

Personally I think that ADHD is genetic. My Ex-H is exactly like my target DS, and his Aunt and Ex-H's sister, is exactly the same. In fact she's taking the same supplements now as my DS and is wowed by the results.

HTH
Foley

[catatonic]

Absolutely, taking Omega-3 while pregnant can help protect your own brain from the stress pregnancy puts on it, as well as protecting your fetus's developing brain. During pregnancy, the mother's brain typically declines about 20% in volume, mainly due to the developing child's demand for essential fatty acids. (The loss is NOT permanent!) If you're deficient in EFA's, then your baby will have to draw on your store of Omega-6 instead and this does NOT serve the same function in the brain.

Some interesting research on rats indicates that a pregnant mother rat given essential fatty acid supplementation bears babies that are less vulnerable to neurological damage caused by excitotoxins (e.g. MSG, aspartame).
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12831859&dopt=Abstract

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in December 2003, published an article about a Norwegian study that concluded cod liver oil supplementation up to age of 1 year significantly lowered the risk of type 1 diabetes in children.

After birth, your Omega-3 is passed to the baby via breast milk. A study of infants conducted by the University of British Columbia concluded:
"The amount of DHA in human milk... is positively correlated with visual and language development in breast-fed infants."

For the mother, Omega3 deficiency is correlated with post-partum depression, a result noted in a Life Science article in November 2003:
"The abnormalities in fatty acid status previously observed in major depression are now also confirmed in postpartum depression."

A group of Italian scientists putblished results in Neuroscience Biobehavioral Review on their study examing the effect of fatty acid supplements given to pregnant rats on their offsprings' hyperactivity...and found a significant reduction. (If you can believe this, they breed a strain of rats specifically to be hyperactive for studies like this. They are called "Naples High Excitability Rats". If they can breed rats to be hyper, makes you wonder how strong the genetic component is in our hyper kids, doesn't it?)

I could go on about this topic for ever (I think I have). I have long suspected that this may play a role in my son's ADHD. Of course, ADHD has so many potential causes, including genetics, that none of us will probably ever know the answer to WHY? However, of one thing I'm absolutely certain...man, woman, child, Michael Jackson (sorry, don't know what category he belongs in):
TAKE YOUR OMEGA3!!!!
TAKE YOUR OMEGA3 EVERY DAY!!!!

[Kimmers]

OMG Cat!

The Michael Jackson comment cracked me up! ;D

I can't say for sure if this helps in answering the "Why" question I posted, but it sure does point out things that are worth investigating. (As for the woman's brain shrinking during pregnancy, that may be why we are so darn forgetful!)

I did not take Omega 3 during either one of my pregnancies and my daughter (19 mos.) does not show any signs of having it, at least not the same signs that my son showed already at 6 months old. I guess it will be a wait and see with her. Like Foley, I believe my husband has underlying ADD, so that is why I tend to believe that it all has to do with genetics somehow.

But taking the Omega 3's I believe would be very beneficial to take during pregnancy and I am glad somebody brought it up. I will be sure to remember that when we conceive our next one!

Kimmers