How what you eat affects your baby

Protein
Protein is one of the most vital nutrients for you baby. The amino acids that make up protein are literally the building blocks of all the body's cells.

• Good sources include lean meat, chicken, fish, eggs and pulses such as beans and lentils.

Folic acid
Experts recommend that every woman who is trying to conceive or who is in their first 12 weeks of pregnancy takes a daily supplement of 400 micrograms folic acid. It is essential for foetal growth and reduces your baby's risk of developing neural tube birth defects such as spina bifida. You should also eat foods containing folate, the natural form of folic acid.

• Good sources include green vegetables, brown rice and fortified breakfast cereals.
  
  

Calcium
Your baby's bones begin to form between four and six weeks, so it is important to keep up your calcium intake during pregnancy. Calcium is also vital for strong teeth and your baby's muscle, heart and nerve development.

• Good sources include dairy products such as milk, cheese and yogurt.
  
  

Vitamin D
Pregnant women should take a supplement of 10 micrograms of vitamin D every day. It helps the body absorb calcium, so that your baby's bones will grow stronger later in life.

• The main source of vitamin D is sunlight but you should take particular care not to get sunburnt when you are pregnant. Vitamin D is also found in oily fish and eggs. Other food sources include fortified foods such as margarine and breakfast cereals.
  
  

Iron
Iron helps in the production of red blood cells which carry oxygen around your body and oxygen and nutrients to your baby via the placenta. Babies are born with a store of iron that lasts for the first six months of life.

• Good sources of iron include meat, beans, nuts, dried fruit and fortified breakfast cereals as well as most dark green leafy vegetables. Eating food that is high in vitamin C, such as oranges, at the same time helps the body absorb the iron in non-meat sources.
  
  

Did you know?
Your baby's familiarity with food tastes starts as early as in the womb. Flavours from the food you eat cross the placenta into your amniotic fluid, so your baby even gets a taste for your favourite meals. Research suggests that exposure to the odours of foods in your diet when you are pregnant can also influence your baby's responses to the same smells after the birth!¹

¹ Andrea Maier, Claire Chabanet, Benoist Schaal, Peter Leatherwood, Sylvie Issanchou. Food-related sensory experience from birth through weaning: Contrasted patterns in two nearby European regions. Appetite 49 (2007): 429-440.