Your diet during pregnancy

During pregnancy and breastfeeding your body works hard and needs more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. In addition to fueling your own body and providing for the needs of your growing baby, the increased tissue of the uterus, placenta and blood requires more calories, vitamins, minerals and protein.

Consequently, as you move through your pregnancy, your appetite will probably increase to ensure that you eat enough for you and your baby. This doesn't mean you need to eat twice as much! Your energy requirements will only increase by approximately 15% (500 calories per day).

You need to make sure that everything you eat is good for the health and well-being of both you and your baby. If your diet is inadequate during pregnancy problems can arise, but you also need to make sure you don't gain too much weight!

Try not to eat take-away and convenience food. Firstly, it contains too much fat and sugar and not enough of the nutrients your baby does need. Secondly, the fat and sugar will probably become maternal fat - hard to lose when you finish breastfeeding, or if you are unable to breastfeed.

It's very important not to diet while you're pregnant or skip meals - your baby grows all day every day and will suffer if you diet or starve.

While you need to ensure that you eat well during pregnancy, you may not feel like following normal eating patterns! It's OK to spread your meals out a bit, so try eating smaller meals more often if it suits you better.

It is normal for a woman of average weight to gain somewhere between 10-15 kg during pregnancy. Approximately 3-4kg of this new weight will be the baby while the balance is tissue for the new baby support system (placenta, amniotic fluid, blood, fat stores and breast tissue).

Your fat stores will be converted to breast milk during breast feeding, so it's possible to lose a fair amount of fat by breastfeeding your baby. Bear in mind that some fat will remain, but if you are eating a healthy diet and taking regular exercise, the extra weight should come off naturally. Continued...