The Food Requirements during Pregnancy : Part 6

The Prospective Mother: A Handbook for Women During Pregnancy
by J. Morris Slemons

(Page 10 of 18)

From what we have learned about foods in general and their relation to pregnancy it is clear that the question so often asked by prospective mothers, "Are there any special directions regarding my diet?" may be briefly answered as follows: Under no circumstances is the need of food increased in the first half of pregnancy. During the last two or three months, while the most notable growth of the fetus is in progress, there is a perceptible increase in the amount of energy expended by the mother, and this may be readily supplied by a glass of milk or some equally simple nourishment between meals. Furthermore, throughout pregnancy, most women are made most comfortable by frequent small meals; they will almost certainly suffer discomfort if heavy meals are eaten three times a day.

The most nearly ideal diet consists of very little meat and a comparatively rich allowance of vegetables and fruit. The food should be chosen with regard to individual appetite and should be varied frequently. Thorough mastication always increases the efficiency of a diet. Thus the food will be most perfectly mixed with saliva and broken into fragments which can be readily attacked by the digestive juices of the stomach and the intestines.

Cravings. There is a well-known tradition that women who are pregnant are subject to longings for one article of diet or another, and that unless the desire be promptly gratified the child will be "marked." In the light of what has already been said regarding maternal impressions, this evidently is nonsense. A prospective mother, like anyone else, does frequently desire one article of food more than another. So long as the object of her wish is not obviously harmful, it should be granted; but if it is not granted no harm will come to the child.

Remarkable instances in which disgusting substances have been craved and eaten are often talked about and have even found their way into popular novels. The unfortunate victims of these unnatural cravings are not of sound mind. With reference to them a physician of unusually broad experience wrote fifty years ago, "I have never met with any example of this sort; which leads me to infer that these longings are more frequent in books than in the practice of our art." This conclusion is even more fully justified to-day than when originally expressed.

The Relation between the Mother's Diet and the Size of the Child. With the beginning of careful, scientific study of the nutritional problems of pregnancy, investigators were interested to learn the source of the material which was used to build up the child's body. Two possibilities suggested themselves: one that the material came from the mother's food and the other that it was derived from her own flesh. In order to determine which of these methods was the natural one, animal experimentation was resorted to and gave identical results in the hands of independent observers. It was found, as I have already stated, that the same diet which had previously kept an animal's weight constant was sufficient to meet her requirements during pregnancy and also to provide for the growth of her offspring.

The mother animal was actually found somewhat heavier at the termination of pregnancy than at the beginning. It seemed fair to conclude, therefore, that nutrition had proceeded along more economic lines, and that under these conditions the customary diet had furnished the material for the formation of the young. Still other observations indicated that, if the food is not sufficient for both mother and offspring, it is Nature's plan to protect the young and leave the mother's wants incompletely satisfied. On the other hand, when an unnecessarily large amount of nourishment is taken, the excess is stored partly in the young, and partly in the mother's body.

There can be no doubt that the results of such observations upon animals are applicable to human beings. Everyone familiar with the practice of obstetrics knows that women who gratify enormous appetites during pregnancy, especially if they also fail to take exercise, give birth to large children. On the other hand, it is said that children born during times of famine are frequently delivered prematurely, or, if mature, they are small and puny. A similar though much less marked contrast exists between the babies of the working classes and the well-to-do, and clearly indicates that the weight of the baby varies directly with the food of the mother.

The quantity of the food is more influential than its quality, though the latter is also a factor in determining the size of the child. An excessive amount of starch or sugar in the mother's diet is stored as fat in the child. On this account it is reasonable to eat sparingly of candy, cake, and other sweets; but further attempts to reduce the weight of the fetus by discrimination against different articles of food are not advisable.

The various theories that have been advanced with a view to reducing the size of the child are impracticable; some of them, rigidly carried out, would actually jeopardize the health of both beings. All of them are designed to make the infant's bones soft and to diminish the fat in its body. To this end, generally about two months before the expected date of birth, the mother's diet is arranged to consist chiefly of meat; and as far as possible she is denied candy, sweet desserts, soup, bread, cereals, vegetables, and water. Such a diet overlooks, among other things, the tremendous importance of liquids to the woman who is pregnant. Certainly its indiscriminate use would result in far more harm than good; and no one should adopt it without minute directions from a physician.

Attempts to make the infant's bones soft by limiting the mother to food containing extremely small amounts of lime and other minerals are also unnatural, for we have learned that whenever the mother's food fails to contain the material the fetus requires the mother's tissues are called upon to supply it. Under these conditions, therefore, her bones will give up their lime.

It is of the very first importance that the mother's nourishment be correct from the standpoint of her own requirements, and such treatment will also redound most beneficially to the child. She should never fall, however, into the error of over-eating, which will not benefit her and will cause unnecessary growth of the fetus. On the other hand, there can be no justification for measures that tend to weaken her. She may be careful, in other words, to avoid over- growth of the fetus, but should not adopt a diet so restricted as to interfere with normal development. So long as her health is successfully maintained, she may give herself no concern as to what the size of the child is likely to be. That is a detail which concerns her physician, and which will be observed by him several weeks before the expected date of birth.