Eating right during pregnancy is important for both mother and baby.
GOOD nutrition for you and your baby starts long before you are pregnant, or before your baby is born. A balanced and healthy diet is especially important in the few months before your pregnancy, as well as throughout the entire pregnancy, to ensure that your baby gets all the nutrients he requires. This is because your baby’s source of nutrition comes solely from you!
The best time to begin eating healthily is before you actually get pregnant. This ensures that you have all the nutrients needed for a healthy pregnancy and baby. When you and your spouse finally decide to expand your family of two into three or more, it is a good idea to pay a visit to your health professional.
Your doctor will ask you a few personal questions to learn more about your personal and family life, your work, your own lifestyle, as well as your diet. This will help your physician to determine and discuss with you on how to look after yourself before and during pregnancy.
Fundamental nutrients
Whether pregnant or otherwise, young or old, man or woman, all diets should consist of the following nutrients: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. These are essential nutrients, and should be consumed based on the recommended nutrient intake (RNI) for each individual. For pregnant women, the RNI values are usually higher for many of the nutrients.
Vitamin B12 maintains the health of the nervous system and is needed for red blood cell formation. Sources include liver, meat, fish, poultry, and milk. Carbohydrates provide energy to the body. Sources include grains, cereals, potatoes, bread, rice, and legumes.
Protein helps build red blood cells and antibodies, as well as repair and replace body tissue. Sources include eggs, milk, meat, bananas, dates, nuts, and beans.
Calcium helps build strong bones and teeth. Sources include milk, cheese, yoghurt, green leafy vegetables, and sardines.
Iron helps red blood cells deliver oxygen to your baby. Sources include liver, lean red meat, chicken, fish, egg yolk, and green leafy vegetables.
Vitamin A promotes healthy skin and eyesight. Sources include carrots, dark leafy greens, and sweet potatoes.
Vitamin C promotes healthy gums, teeth, and bones, and helps in iron absorption. Sources include guava, citrus fruit, broccoli, tomatoes, and green leafy vegetables.
Vitamin D helps build baby’s bones and teeth. Sources include sunlight exposure, fatty fish (salmon), and fortified milk.
Vitamin B6 helps form red blood cells, and helps the body use protein, fat and carbohydrates. Sources include beef, liver, whole-grain cereals, and bananas.
Vitamin B12 maintains the health of the nervous system and is needed for red blood cell formation. Sources include liver, meat, fish, poultry, and milk.
Folate is required for blood and protein production and helps the functioning of some enzymes. Sources include green leafy vegetables, liver, orange juice, legumes and nuts.
DHA (Omega-3 fatty acids) and AA (Omega-6 fatty acids) are involved in the formation of foetal plasma, grey matter and retinas. Sources include oily fish, walnuts, and eggs.
Additional nutrients
In general, pregnant women need more of all the nutrients listed above. However, iron and folic acid (folate) are two very important nutrients, and pregnant women require more of them.
Some women take a prenatal vitamin supplement to get these extra nutrients. These supplements have all the recommended daily vitamins and minerals needed during pregnancy, including vitamins A, C, and D; folic acid; as well as minerals such as zinc and copper.
Do discuss with your physician if you have been already taking vitamin supplements before taking a prenatal supplement. Excessive amounts of certain vitamins and minerals can be harmful to your baby.
Keeping your weight in check
Watching how much you eat is just as important as watching what you eat. Extra energy and nutrients are essential for healthy weight gain, and to further support the growth and development of your baby. However, opposed to the famous rumour, this does not mean you have to eat double of everything to gain those nutrients and energy!
If you were of normal weight before pregnancy, then most women only need an average of 300 extra calories daily to support baby’s growth and to keep healthy during pregnancy. During the first trimester, it will be slightly less than 300 calories, and during the third trimester, you will need slightly more than 300 calories.
Excessive weight gain during pregnancy can lead to health problems or other complications for you and your baby. Obesity during pregnancy has been found to be an independent risk factor for neural tube defects, foetal mortality, and pre-term delivery. Thus, women who are already overweight or obese before pregnancy should pay close attention to how much they eat during pregnancy to avoid gaining unnecessary weight.
Pregnant women should try to eat a well-balanced diet and adhere to the Malaysian Food Pyramid as a guide – balance, moderation and variety are the key points.
Daily challenges
Many women may find it a struggle to juggle between work, family, personal life, and looking after herself, to ensure that she stays healthy during this time.
Hence, maintaining good nutrition can be quite a challenge. Not only are some women too busy, causing them to skip meals or not eat nutritious and healthy food, morning sickness and food cravings may also cause them to avoid a certain type of food, or to eat more of a particular one. In such cases, taking additional nutritional supplements may be an option.
Milk has been said to be an almost complete meal, full of essential nutrients that benefit both mother and unborn child. There are many different types of milk for mothers-to-be available in the market today, which are fortified with additional amounts of essential nutrients to meet the demands of pregnancy.
Most importantly, these milk are fortified with DHA, folic acid, iron, as well as calcium, all vital nutrients that are needed to help support the growth and development of the baby. Pregnant women who are sometimes too busy too take a full and complete meal may drink a glass of milk to ensure that she still obtains the essential nutrients, until she can eat a proper meal. But remember, never substitute healthy and balanced meals with just milk!
A good diet, which is varied, balanced and in moderation, is very important for both mother and baby. However, the need for some nutrients, such as iron and folic acid, may not be achieved through diet alone. To ensure the proper growth and development of your baby, supplements that can meet these needs are therefore helpful.
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