Tips for Pregnant Moms

Tips for Pregnant Moms

Making healthy food choices along with regular physical activity will help fuel your baby’s growth and keep you healthy during pregnancy.

Find Your Healthy Eating Style

Choose a variety of foods and beverages to build your own healthy eating style. Include foods from all food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and protein foods.

The amount and types of food you eat is an important part of a healthy eating style. Before you eat, think about what and how much food goes on your plate or in your cup, bowl, or glass.

Making Healthy Food Choices

  • Make half of your plate fruits and vegetables. Choose fresh, frozen, canned, dried, and 100% juice. Include dark-green, red, and orange vegetables; beans and peas; and starchy vegetables.
  • Make at least half your grains whole grains. Try oatmeal, popcorn, whole-grain bread, and brown rice.
  • Move to low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt, or cheese. Fortified soy beverages also count.
  • Vary your protein routine. Choose seafood, lean meats and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds.
  • Use the Nutrition Facts label and ingredients list to limit items higher in sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars. Drink water instead of sugary drinks. Choose vegetable oils instead of butter.
  • Enriched grains, beans, peas, oranges, spinach, or other dark-green leafy vegetables can help you get the folate-rich foods that you need.

Visit Your Doctor Regularly

Doctors Recommend:

  • Pregnant women and women who may be pregnant need to avoid alcohol and smoking. Ask for advice about caffeine, dietary supplements, and drug use.
  • In addition to eating a healthy diet, take a prenatal vitamin and mineral supplement containing folic acid.
  • Feed your baby only human milk (also known as breast milk) for the first 6 months.

How Much Weight Should I Gain?

  • The right weight gain depends on your weight when you became pregnant. If your weight was in the healthy range, you should gain between 25 and 35 pounds. If you were overweight or underweight before becoming pregnant, the advice is different.
  • Gain weight gradually. For most women, this means gaining a total of 1 to 4 pounds during the first 3 months. Gain 2 to 4 pounds each month from the 4th to 9th month.

Daily Food Checklist

The Checklist shows slightly more amounts of food during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters because you have changing nutritional needs. This is a general checklist. You may need more or less amounts of food.*

Food Group

 1st Trimester 2nd and 3rd Trimesters

What Counts as 1 cup or 1 ounce?

Eat this amount from each food group daily.*

Fruits

 2 cups 2 cups

1 cup fruit or 100% juice

1/2 cup dried fruit

Vegetables

 2 1/2 cups 3 cups

1 cup raw or cooked vegetables or 100% juice

2 cups raw leafy vegetables

Grains

 6 ounces 8 ounces

1 slice bread

1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal

1/2 cup cooked pasta, rice, or cereal

Protein Foods

 5 1/2 ounces 6 1/2 ounces

1 ounce lean meat, poultry, or seafood

1/4 cup cooked beans

1/2 ounce nuts or 1 Tbsp peanut butter

1 egg

Dairy

 3 cups 3 cups

1 cup milk

8 ounces yogurt

1 1/2 ounces natural cheese

2 ounces processed cheese

*If you are not gaining weight or gaining weight too slowly, you may need to eat a little more from each food group. If you are gaining weight too fast, you may need to cut back by decreasing the amount or change the types of food that you are eating. 

Get a Daily Food Checklist for Moms designed just for you.

Go to ChooseMyPlate.gov/checklist.

Seafood

Seafood is part of a healthy diet. Omega-3 fats in seafood can have important health benefits for you and your developing baby. Salmon, sardines, and trout are some choices higher in omega-3 fats and lower in contaminants such as mercury.

  • Eat at least 8 and up to 12 ounces of a variety of seafood each week from choices that are lower in mercury.
  • Eat all types of tuna, but limit white (albacore) tuna to 6 ounces each week.
  • Do not eat tilefish, shark, swordfish, and king mackerel since they are highest in mercury.

Being Physically Active

Unless your doctor advises you not to be physically active, include 2 1/2 hours each week of physical activity such as brisk walking, dancing, gardening, or swimming. The activity can be done for at least 10 minutes at a time, and preferably spread throughout the week. Avoid activities with a high risk of falling or injury.

Learn about other nutrition assistance programs: http://www.benefits.gov

Based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and http://fns.usda.gov/wic/guidance