Eating Well With Baby Belly

Eating Well With Baby Belly:

Healthy Eating While Pregnant

(Pregnancy Nutrition Guide)

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The optimal nutrition for a healthy development of the child in the womb and during the first months of life

Calorie requirement during pregnancy

Weight gain during pregnancy

Hydration during pregnancy

Increased protein requirement for pregnant women

Vitamins, trace elements and minerals that are particularly important for mother and child

Artificial or natural food supplements

Food that should be avoided during pregnancy

Coffee, alcohol and cigarettes during pregnancy

Gestational diabetes

Feeding during breastfeeding

Food that should be avoided during breastfeeding

Vegetarian and vegan nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding

The optimal nutrition for a healthy development of the child in the womb and during the first months of life

Everyone should by now be aware that a balanced and nutritious diet is important for a healthy body. In the case of pregnant women, a balanced, healthy and varied diet is even a prerequisite for an optimal pregnancy and the birth of a healthy child. According to studies, around 94 percent of children are born healthy in a healthy diet, and only eight percent in an unhealthy lifestyle.

However, care should also be taken after birth to ensure that the baby receives adequate care. It is important to have a sufficient supply of vitamins, trace elements and minerals. Folic acid, iron, iodine and vitamin D in particular are often not sufficiently ingested by the diet, and it may be advisable to take additional preparations to counteract pregnancy complications at an early stage.

The role of nutrition during breastfeeding is much more underestimated. The calorie intake should be higher than during pregnancy, the supply of nutrients should be ensured and a sufficient amount of drinking should be ensured. Even if many women want to lose weight again after pregnancy, a strict diet can lead to undesirable developments of the child. In fact, this seems logical, as the infant is cared for exclusively by the mother, even after birth.

In general, however, the guidelines for proper nutrition during pregnancy and breastfeeding are only slightly different from those for non-pregnant women. In principle, everyone should take care to be supplied with enough nutrients to provide their organism with the best conditions for a healthy life. So don't worry that you will have to change your diet completely if you are already eating relatively balanced. Only for high-risk groups such as very overweight or underweight, women with chronic illnesses, girls in puberty or those giving birth late can the conversion become more difficult and should be discussed with you in any case by a gynecologist, ideally in combination with a dietician or nutritionist.

The following guide is only a first orientation. First, the calorie requirement and weight gain during pregnancy are discussed. Thereupon, individual nutrients are presented which are particularly needed during pregnancy as well as foods which should usually be avoided due to a risk of infection. Here are some explanations on nutrition during breastfeeding. Here, too, the main focus is on the calorie and nutrient requirements before the disadvantages of heavy weight loss are highlighted. In addition, another chapter will highlight some aspects of a vegetarian or vegan diet during pregnancy. A vegetarian diet does not necessarily have to be harmful for mother and child, but can be successful with a certain planning and a well thought-out selection of products.

Calorie requirement during pregnancy

Contrary to popular belief, pregnant women should not "eat for two". This can even be counterproductive, especially in the first trimester of pregnancy, which means that an increase in the number of calories can be dispensed with completely within the first three months. However, you should not consume less, as otherwise the risk of miscarriage or developmental defects of the child increases significantly.

In the second and third trimester, however, calorie intake should be increased slightly. For an averagely heavy woman with a BMI in the normal range, an increase of about 250 calories from the third to the sixth month and an increase of about 500 calories from the sixth to the ninth month is recommended, which is between 2500 and 2700 calories daily. So they don't "eat for two", but for one and a fifth or quarter.