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Foods an expectant mother eats are the only source of nutrition for her maturing baby. Therefore, it is important to develop a balanced and healthy diet, even before pregnancy begins. When a woman decides to get pregnant and visits her health care provider for a full checkup, the doctor or nurse she sees will ask questions about her family life, her work, and her lifestyle, including her diet. In their discussion about pregnancy, a mother-to-be and her doctor will work together to develop a diet plan that includes important nutrients for the baby, such as folic acid.
Since more than half of all expecting mothers experience morning sickness in the early months of their pregnancies, a health care provider usually offers guidance to the mother about nutritious foods that will be easy on her stomach. Even if she craves certain foods or does not feel like eating in the early months, it is still important to try eating a variety of foods each day so she gets all her important nutrients.
Among the healthy foods that providers usually recommend for expecting mothers are grains such as bread, cereal or pasta, raw vegetables and fruits, small amounts of meats, beans, seeds and nuts, and dairy products such as milk, yogurt, or cheese. A diet with lots of small healthy snacks may be the best way to go, because large meals are hard to digest, and can worsen nausea and heartburn.
Some specific nutrients are also essential for a healthy pregnancy because they contribute to the strength of both baby and mother. Most of them can be found in ordinary foods.
- The calcium in milk, cheese, yogurt and sardines, for example, helps the baby develop strong teeth and bones. Some forms of salmon, spinach and fortified orange juice also contain calcium.
- Lean red meat (beef, pork and so on), as well as dried beans and peas, iron-fortified cereals, and prune juice, are all good sources of iron, which prevents fatigue and helps the body create red blood cells that deliver oxygen to the baby.
- Baby’s skin, eyes, and bones all need Vitamin A, which is available in carrots, sweet potatoes, and dark leafy greens. Other essential nutrients include
- Vitamin C, which can be found in strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, and citrus fruits, and strengthens the baby's gums, teeth and bones;
- Vitamin B-8, which the body uses to make blood cells and process fat, protein and carbohydrates, and is present in beef, pork, ham, liver, bananas, and whole-grain cereals
- Vitamin B12, a crucial element in the maintenance of the nervous system and the production of red blood cells, which is easily obtained from animal foods such as liver, meat, fish, poultry and milk
- Folate, an ingredient in green leafy vegetables, liver, orange juice, legumes and nuts that the body needs in order to produce blood, protein and fully functional enzymes.
For expecting mothers who do not eat some of the foods listed above, prenatal supplement pills are available that can provide them with the extra iron, folic acid, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D they need for a healthy pregnancy and birth. In the month preceding pregnancy, and the first 3 months of pregnancy, a regimen of 400 micrograms of folic acid every day can help prevent neural tube defects in the baby. Mothers whose first child was born with neural tube defects are especially likely to give birth to another baby with similar defects, so they in particular must take large doses of folic acid-- as much as 4 milligrams (ten times as much as those without a history of the disease) before and after the baby's birth.
The best sources of calcium are dairy products, but since many expecting mothers are lactose-intolerant, doctors sometimes prescribe calcium supplements.
There are also substances that pregnant women should avoid at all costs, because they could harm t he baby rather than help it grow. For example, it is important to avoid alcohol of any kind, as well as marijuana, tobacco, cocaine or any other drug that isn't prescribed by a doctor -- because these can all be extremely harmful to the baby. Fetal alcohol syndrome, a disease in which the mother's placenta has absorbed so much alcohol that it has prevented sufficient oxygen from reaching baby's brain, is responsible for one of the most common forms of mental retardation among American children. Caffeine may also be a problem. There is some evidence that pregnant women who drink more than two daily cups of coffee are more likely than non-coffee drinkers to have miscarriages. However, nobody knows if it is the coffee itself that causes the loss of the baby or if some other unidentified health condition drives some women both to drink lots of coffee and to lose their babies.
The planning of meals in advance has proven to be one successful method for incorporating all these do's and don'ts into the daily diet of the expecting mother, and many tools are available for this.
The USDA (US Department of Agriculture) publishes a food pyramid which can help mothers put together a personalized healthy diet. (www.mypyramid.gov) Revised in the last five years, the pyramid helps the mother calculate the appropriate number of servings in each food group; grains, vegetables, fruits, oils, milk, and meat and beans -- based on her age, gender, and level of daily exercise.
Another useful tool is the RDA—recommended daily allowance—on food labels, which show the levels of nutrients a mother needs every day. During pregnancy, the RDAs are higher for most nutrients. *This article is based on the information at http://www.acog.org, http://kidshealth.org,http://www.webmd.com and http://www.womenshealthchannel.com |
