Helping your partner to eat well during pregnancy
Your partner will need to increase their intake of vitamins and minerals during pregnancy to meet the nutritional needs of their changing body and your baby’s development. We share healthy eating advice and explore how you can help your partner enjoy a balanced diet to support a healthy pregnancy.
Find out more:
How can we eat healthily during pregnancy?
To help increase the chance of conception, it’s important to continue selecting ingredients packed with health-promoting vitamins and minerals as you did with your nutrient-rich pre-pregnancy diet.
Now your partner is pregnant, you can play an important part in ensuring they reach their recommended daily intake (RDI) of nutrients. Spend time together in the kitchen or suggest they put their feet up while you prepare meals featuring fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, wholegrains and unprocessed meat and fish.
This will help your partner to get essential pregnancy nutrients such as folic acid (folate), iron and iodine. By supplementing their diet with a multivitamin like Elevit Pre-conception & Pregnancy, they can ensure they reach their RDI targets throughout pregnancy.
Below are the RDIs for some key pregnancy nutrients. For more information, take a look at our Nutrition and pregnancy brochure.
| Folic acid (folate) | 600mcg/day |
| Iron | 27mcg/day |
| Iodine | 220 mcg/day |
Does my partner need to eat more during pregnancy?
Everyone has a different pregnancy experience, but if your partner suffers from morning sickness, they might not have much appetite. These symptoms usually subside from the second trimester onwards.
You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘eating for two’ but it’s important to focus on quality not quantity. Make healthy choices whenever possible, including lean meats, leafy green vegetables and calcium-rich dairy.
As your partner progresses through pregnancy, their appetite will likely increase. Having healthy snacks in the house – like carrot sticks, low-sugar muesli bars and fresh fruit – will sustain them far better than chocolate bars or biscuits.
A growing baby can mean your partner’s space to store food gets a little squashed. This may lead to heartburn and indigestion, which can be more uncomfortable than usual when pregnant. As a result, it’s better they eat smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day instead of fewer, large plates of food.
What ingredients should we avoid?
It’s recommended that your partner reduce their intake of high-fat food and caffeine and stop drinking alcohol while pregnant. In particular, alcohol during pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth and low birthweight, and can cause your baby to develop foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), which is a life-long condition.
Your pregnant partner should also avoid eating cured meat, pre-made salads and fish containing high levels of mercury.
Food safety during pregnancy is essential as certain strains of bacteria can be harmful, so it’s recommended you both take extra precautions, including:
- Washing your hands before preparing and eating food
- Wiping down kitchen surfaces with an antibacterial spray
- Making sure food is cooked properly
- Sealing and storing food safely to avoid contamination
- Checking use-by and expiry dates
Pregnancy
From what to eat, how to exercise and how to keep track of all those important milestones, you can find answers and support here.
