The single most important thing that you can do for your baby is to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. Research has shown that good nutrition during pregnancy decreases the risk of pregnancy related illnesses, low birth weight, pre-term babies, and other risk factors.
I am not saying that all of these things are completely preventable, but if we guide mothers to the proper authorities and help educate them… maybe there will be fewer problems for them and their babies. After all, we want to eat healthy and give these babies the best start possible. Right?
Now how many of you have ever been given this information by your OBGYN? I wasn't told a anything about eating 80 grams of protein a day. All I was told in the way of nutrition was not to gain weight. I was already considered overweight, so I was on a pretty strict diet. I was told to decrease my salt and watch my calorie intake. There were never specific numbers given to me, pamphlets, or information. Pregnant women need salt to help maintain the 40-50% increase in blood volume. When a mom is taken off salt, her blood volume shrinks and ultimately it is the placenta and baby that suffer. I developed pre-eclampsia and I was on bedrest for the last 8 weeks of my pregnancy. Was this preventable? I will never know, but I want to provide this information to you and hope to prevent someone else from making my mistakes!!
Dr. Thomas Brewer is a leading expert on pregnancy nutrition. His article If You Are Pregnant references his years of research and offers several tips for delivering a full-term baby with a healthy birth weight. He offers a daily nutrition checklist and a sample of a nutritious diet. He states, “If you are an expectant mother, you must eat a good, nutritious, balanced diet every day during your pregnancy. A good diet is the best insurance that your baby will be healthy and strong with a normal weight at birth!”[1]
The World Health Organization recommends that a pregnant woman eat a minimum of 75 grams of protein per day. Pregnant women need more protein and calories in general. While this may seem like a lot of food, it will supply the 2000 to 3000 calories needed per day to make a healthy baby. This means including:
- 2 to 3 servings of meat, fish, nuts or legumes, and tofu
- 2 to 3 servings of dairy (milk, eggs, yogurt, cheese)
- 2 servings of green vegetables; 1 serving of a yellow vegetable
- 3 servings of fruit
- 3 servings of whole grain breads, cereals, or other high-complex carbohydrates
- salt to taste
- 6 to 8 glasses of clean, filtered water each day. [2]
Premature rupture of membranes, also known as PROM, refers to when a pregnant women’s amniotic membrane, which surrounds the fetus, either bursts or suffers a hole to it. Research shows that women who get little vitamin C both before and during their pregnancies have an increased risk of suffering a ruptured membrane and subsequently delivering prematurely. The incidence of PROM was 14 per 57 pregnancies (24.5%) in the placebo group and 4 per 52 pregnancies (7.69%) in the supplemented group. Therefore, daily supplementation with 100 mg vitamin C after 20 wk of gestation effectively lessens the incidence of PROM.[3]
One more suggestion. There is a great book out there on pregnancy nutrition, What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know. The link is What-Every-Pregnant-Woman-Should/
Labor Doula and Child Birth Educator in Training
There is no time in your child's life that nutrition is as important as it is right now when it has not established its first breath. Good nutrition and good health is an important part of having a healthy pregnancy.
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