Pregant diet/ baby diet

paulc98

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this but I'm a junior cert home economics student who is researching the diet of pregnant women and the diet of children between 0-3. So I was just wondering if you could give me any information about this subject I am inquiring and before you ask no I'm trying to get you do the work for me I'm doing that myself I was just inquiring about the subject in question .

Rosy Posy

Are you enquiring about what pregnant women and young children actually eat or what they should be eating- I believe there's quite a difference!

I know that pregnant women are no longer advised to 'eat for two'. Back in the day if food was scarce women would often serve the man of the house the biggest and best portion, followed by the children, and if necessary go short herself. When she became pregnant she was advised to eat not just for herself but for the baby too to ensure she had adequate nutrition.

Today, there is a much more varied and exciting range of food to choose from but many women eat with care to avoid putting on excess weight. When they become pregnant it is suddenly socially acceptable to put on weight and many take this as a cue to eat as much of whatever they want whenever they want- I know this was my experience with my first baby and I put on far more weight than was necessary to grow and protect the baby.

I believe that pregnant women should consume roughly the same amount of calories as normal, slightly more in the third trimester, but that a greater proportion should come from proteins. Pregnant women also need to drink more water as they produce a lot of blood and fluids for the baby. Some foods, such as raw fish, shellfish, unpasturised dairy products and raw or rare meat should be avoided in pregnancy because of a risk of lysteria, a gastric bug that can harm the unborn baby. Tea, coffee and alcohol should also be restricted. Lactating women (breastfeeding) need supplementary calories and water to help produce milk to feed their babies.

Infants should have an exclusive diet of breastmilk from birth to around six months. This means that the best thing for the child is to have only breastmilk, no water, formula or solid food. If this is not possible formula can be introduced. Some people feed their babies water and baby rice but this is not ideal nutritionally.

From six months solid food can be started. This can typically consist of mashed fruit or vegetables which can be thinned with breastmilk. The consistency and amount of food is gradually increased until the baby is participating fully in family meals by the age of one. However you should google 'baby led weaning' as an easier alternative. Between one and two, with the development of the will, the child learns to say 'no' to food. As this is one of the few areas in their lives over which they have control children often become fussy in this phase. Its important to continue to offer a wide variety of healthy food from all the food groups, and for children to have four to six small meals a day.

Hope this helps!

paulc98

thanks for the help . i hope this isn't to intrusive but with your kids did you breastfeed or bottle feed and why. it's ok if you dont want to answer.

Rosy Posy

No problem. I breastfed all three of my children and am in the process of weaning my one-year old now. We never had bottles but went straight from breast to cup. The biggest reason that I chose to breastfeed was because it is the healthiest thing for the baby- your body made your baby and so it can tailor your milk to your baby's needs. Also its free and convenient- you don't have to be getting up to get a bottle in the night and no worries about sterilizing equipment and all that malarky. The biggest disadvantages to breastfeeding are that its all on the mother to do night feeds and its hard for her to get a break. But my husband works full time and I'm a stay at home mother so it worked out best for us.

bulmersgal

When I was pregnant at the start I had very bad morning sickness which meant I could only eat very plain bland food. Between the sickness and not eating junk I lost 2 stone bringing me down to 10. After the 3 months when most of morning sickness went I was still only able for bland food and a lot of fruit.

When my daughter was born I bottle fed her, at around 5 months we introduce rice and one vegetable at a time, my daughter was the average weight for her age. She came on to love her food and surprisingly loves fruit.

Now at 2 and a half she eats same food as me, just have smaller amounts more often. She has a amazing appetite and will often ask for more. She is addicted to berries any type she loves. Does like odd bit of chocolate/ crisps but would go for fruit first. At the moment she is underweight to average weight. She is tall though and spends most days running around