Vegan moms often worry that they won’t get all the nutrition that their baby needs while sticking to their vegan diet. This isn’t true, though, and vegan moms can rest assured that as long as they eat smart, their baby can get everything they need to grow big and strong. Below we go over a few diet tips to help vegan moms-to-be grow happy and healthy babies.
How Your Diet Will Change
A pregnant mother needs higher levels of protein, vitamins and minerals than a woman who’s not pregnant, so it’s crucial to make the dietary changes needed to ensure that they’re getting all the nutrients their baby needs. This includes establishing a daily meal plan to ensure that they’re eating enough throughout the day and calculating the protein levels of their food to ensure they’re at least hitting the recommended 70-gram daily protein minimum. To do this on a vegan diet it’s important to get a variety of nuts, legumes, grains and other sources of plant protein. Plant protein can be rich in some amino acids but lack others, so this variety is important to guarantee pregnant moms are getting enough complete protein throughout the day.
Get Checked on Regularly
The life of expecting moms comes with many new routines, one of which needs to be going in for regular prenatal checkups. These are important to find out your due date, monitor your baby’s health and get guidance on pregnancy and childbirth from your doctor. Prenatal checkups are also necessary to help keep soon-to-be moms healthy as well, as pregnancy can cause certain health problems in women, such as preeclampsia, high blood pressure and gestational diabetes. Gestational diabetes can lead to fetal injuries or problems at birth, so keeping your appointments is crucial for both mom and baby.
Find the Right Supplements
Taking prenatal vitamins and supplements is a necessary part of pregnancy and all pregnant moms should be supplementing their diet with good prenatal vitamins. Vegan moms need to be especially vigilant about ensuring they’re getting enough Vitamin B12, Folic Acid, Iron, Calcium and Omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA and EPA. These nutrients are all present in high quantities in meats and dairy and less in plant food sources but are especially important for healthy fetal development. Vegan moms will have to spend a little extra on vegan supplements to meet their needs but will definitely need to find a good source as the health of their babies depends on it.
While there are some changes required to the diet and habits of pregnant vegan moms, the changes are really minimal. They don’t require much more than eating more of what they’re already eating to be healthy. At the end of the day, any small change will be worth having a healthy baby.
Have a sweet tooth? Check out these awesome vegan dessert recipes!
