Eating for the stage you are in

Pregnant, feeding a small child, or just given birth — each stage needs different things, and steers clear of different things.

Pregnancy

Dishes that carry the nutrients a pregnancy needs, with what is advised against left out.

Iron-rich Building blood Iron-deficiency anaemia is the commonest thing that goes wrong in a pregnancy. Dishes that also carry vitamin C come first, because vitamin C multiplies how much plant iron the body takes up. Folate-rich First trimester The neural tube closes in the first month, usually before anyone knows there is a pregnancy. Leafy greens, pulses and eggs. Calcium-rich Bones for two The baby takes its calcium whether there is enough to spare or not. Dairy, cheese, small fish eaten bones and all, tofu, sesame. DHA, low mercury Fish you can trust Fish is the best source of the fat a baby's brain is built from, and a few species carry mercury. These use the ones FDA and EPA put on the eat-more list, cooked through. Choline & iodine For the baby's brain The two micronutrients a pregnancy diet most often misses, and both of them build nervous tissue. Eggs, seafood, seaweed.

Children by age

From the first spoonful to a teenager's dinner.

Smooth, no salt Baby 6–8 months — first spoonfuls Recipes written for this stage and nothing else: no salt, no fish sauce, no sugar, no honey, puréed or sieved smooth. None of them are adult dishes made softer. Coarser, still no salt Baby 9–11 months — learning to chew Still no salt and no honey, but thicker, with soft pieces to chew and to pick up. Iron & zinc Toddlers 1–3 — growing fast The fastest growth after the first year, and the fussiest eating. Nothing spicy, and the choking hazards are out. Calcium-rich Kids 4–8 — building bone Bone banks most of its calcium before puberty. What goes in now is saved for life. Protein, iron, calcium School age & teens Filling food for the fastest growing years there are. Girls who have started their periods need more iron on top.

After birth & breastfeeding

Getting your strength back, replacing what was spent, eating for two without cooking twice.

Iron & protein Getting your strength back Replacing the blood that was lost, and feeding a scar or stitches closed. Calcium-rich Keeping your own bones Breast milk takes its calcium out of your skeleton first and your dinner second. Eating enough is how it goes back. DHA-rich Fish & DHA The DHA in breast milk comes straight off your plate. It is one of the few things where what you eat is what the baby gets. High fibre Easy on the gut Constipation after birth happens to almost everyone and gets mentioned by almost no one. Wholegrains, pulses, vegetables.

These suggestions follow published nutrition guidance from the WHO, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, the NHS, the FDA/EPA and ACOG. They are not medical advice and do not replace a doctor or a dietitian. With an existing condition, a food allergy or a high-risk pregnancy, ask a doctor before changing how you eat.