MVI and Calcium

I know we are not supposed to take MVI and calcium together if the MVI has iron in it.  My question is, can you take them together if you are taking an additional iron supplement at a later time, by itself. My understanding is that if you take iron and calcium together, the iron does not get absorbed so therefore if I take a separate iron supplement, which I would need to do anyhow because the MVI doesn't have enough iron in it, would this be ok to do this. I am trying to make it as easy as possible, at least until I finish my Centrum chewables and change to a MVI without iron and then it will not be an issue.

Yes, you can take them together if you do not need to absorb the iron in the multi.  That's actually what I do.  My multi has iron and it's just easier to take it with my calcium and then I take all my iron in one dose later.

Basically, if you take a multi with iron  = the best thing is to take it with your iron not your calcium - this way, you will absorb your iron - centrum doesnt have enough calcium in it to prevent your from absorbing your iron but you wont absorb the little bit of iron in the multi - it is the wrong type of iron and you wont absorb the  calcium in the multi which is also fine since it is calcium carbonate.  So, you want to get some carbonyl iron with vitamin C and take it with the multi - take multi 2 times per day and iron once.

then take your calcium citrate - 3-4 times per day.

when you get centrum silv er chewables - the ones with no iron - then you can choose to continue this way or change to taking it to the multi with calcium and then the iron at bedtime.