What to Eat During Pregnancy: How Nutrition Shapes Your Baby’s Future (and Yours Too)

Why what you eat during pregnancy matters more than you think

It makes sense and is intuitive knowledge that what you eat during pregnancy (and before!) will have a significant influence on the growth and development of your baby.

But did you know that pregnancy nutrition (i.e., what you eat before and during pregnancy and how this impacts your overall nutrition status) can also influence: 

• Healthy implantation
• Normal placental growth and function
• Healthy pregnancy outcomes (including pregnancy duration)
• Your health during pregnancy (sleep quality, microbiome health, quality of life, mood, body composition and metabolic health) 
• Your healthy after pregnancy (recovery from birth, mood, bone health, future fertility)
• Breast milk supply and composition (and baby’s microbiome)
• Your child’s long-term health (brain function, mood, metabolic, bone health)
• The health of future generations. 

This is because food literally contains the building blocks needed to support: 

• The healthy function of all your body organs and systems to support the healthy growth of your baby 
• The development and function of your baby’s precious tissues and organs. 

Key windows in pregnancy when nutrition really counts

There are several key windows during each trimester where healthy levels, particular nutrients, are essential for your baby’s growth and development including (but not limited to): 

• Trimester 1: new blood vessel growth, initial foetal brain, skeletal and thyroid organ growth (while baby relies on maternal thyroid hormones) and healthy neural tube development 
• Trimester 2: expanded foetal organ growth (including brain and gastrointestinal systems), skeletal hardening  and foetal thyroid hormone synthesis 
• Trimester 3: baby acquires the majority of its iron stores from maternal supply, significant deposition of DHA (and key beneficial fat) in baby’s brain, immune changes to promote labour

Just like an orchestra, so many macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, fats) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients) all play their own important role in all this unfolding throughout your pregnancy. 

It really is a case of your body in all its wisdom knowing what it is doing during pregnancy to support your baby’s growth!

It’s not about perfection, it’s about nourishment

Perfection is not required for a healthy pregnancy – but there are particular nutritional considerations to best support you and your baby as you progress through your pregnancy. 

Want to go deeper? Access your pregnancy nutrition shortcut…

Want to learn more and dive deeper into learning about key pregnancy nutrition recommendations throughout each trimester? ‘Eat for Two (and Thrive)’ is an advanced nutrition course specifically designed to package all of this information into six online, on-demand modules, so you can watch these in your own time, and develop clarity and confidence around what you are eating, to support you and your baby.

This course offers experienced, qualified information, in short, easy to follow videos and resources, to support you in digesting and integrating the advice. Pregnancy is a wonderful blessing, but we also know it can feel overwhelming, especially when you are focussed on doing everything “properly”. So please, allow this course to comfort and empower you; taking away any of the guesswork, and fuelling you with confidence and direction.

Course details

With warmth & nourishment

Georgia Marrion

Senior Fertility, Pregnancy and Postpartum Naturopath & Nutritionist at Fertile Ground Health Group