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Mom-to-be Karen Holbrook was shocked to learn she was deficient in iron at the beginning of her third trimester.
“I’ve never been iron-deficient,” said Holbrook, genetic counselor at BWH, whose first child is due this month. “Because your blood volume increases during pregnancy, you need to consume more iron. Those are the kind of things you constantly have to think about.”
It’s not just iron; expectant mothers need to eat a balanced diet and gain a healthy amount of weight during pregnancy. To help them do so, a multidisciplinary panel of experts organized by BWH developed The Pregnancy Food Guide. It includes six pages of easy-to-follow advice with sample meals and snacks, serving sizes, exercise recommendations and a section on dining out.
“During pregnancy, women need to gain an appropriate amount of weight. After pregnancy, they need to lose it to ensure they’re healthy and their babies are healthy,” said Kathy McManus, RD, BWH’s director of Nutrition and a member of the panel that created the guide.
In addition to practical advice, the guide also dispels certain myths about pregnancy, including that a woman is “eating for two.” “Depending on the woman, she might not need to eat much extra,” McManus said.
By following the guide, women learn to make healthy choices to benefit them and their families for years to come. “We’re thinking not just about these nine months of pregnancy, but about developing healthy eating habits for you and your family to decrease your risk of diseases, like cancer, diabetes and heart disease, as you get older,” McManus said.
The guide was reviewed by a focus group of BWH patients from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds at all stages of pregnancy. “The response was overwhelmingly positive,” McManus said. “Many wished they had this three or six months ago to help them eat healthier.”
The guide will be given to BWH patients and distributed through organizations like the March of Dimes, the state Department of Public Health and the International Childbirth Education Association, which also was represented on the panel. The panel included BWH’s Robert Barbieri, MD, chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Miriam Erick, MS, RD, senior clinical dietician, and Julie Redfern, RD, manager of the Nutrition Consultation Service, in addition to experts from Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School, the University of Miami and other institutions.