What you can do:
Take a multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid every day before pregnancy and during early pregnancy, as part of a healthy diet.
Eat a healthy diet that includes foods that contain folate, the natural form of the vitamin. Such foods include fortified breakfast cereals, beans, leafy green vegetables and orange juice.
If you have already had a pregnancy affected by a birth defect of the brain or spinal cord, take 4 milligrams (4,000 micrograms) of folic acid daily. Begin taking this amount one month before you start trying to get pregnant and continue through the first three months of pregnancy.
Take a multivitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid every day before pregnancy and during early pregnancy, as part of a healthy diet.
Eat a healthy diet that includes foods that contain folate, the natural form of the vitamin. Such foods include fortified breakfast cereals, beans, leafy green vegetables and orange juice.
If you have already had a pregnancy affected by a birth defect of the brain or spinal cord, take 4 milligrams (4,000 micrograms) of folic acid daily. Begin taking this amount one month before you start trying to get pregnant and continue through the first three months of pregnancy.