Conditions we support › Pregnancy & Breastfeeding
Nourishing you and your baby, safely.
All at once, everything you eat feels like a decision. Let's make it simpler. Pregnancy and breastfeeding raise your needs for several nutrients, like protein, folate, iron, calcium, choline, and omega-3 DHA. At the same time, a handful of foods are best avoided for safety. The aim is steady, nourishing meals along with smart food-safety choices.
Start your Pregnancy & Breastfeeding plan →We put protein and the key nutrients first, eat regularly to keep your blood sugar steady (which matters even more if gestational diabetes is in the picture), and keep you well hydrated. And we follow standard food-safety guidance on what to steer clear of.
Anyone who's pregnant or breastfeeding and wants nourishing, safe meals built around their changing needs.
Pregnancy is the one time when specific nutrients, in the right window, genuinely shape how a baby develops, so this is less about a "diet" and more about covering a handful of things well. Folate is the clearest example. It sharply lowers the risk of neural tube defects, but the catch is timing: the baby's neural tube forms in the first few weeks, often before you even know you're pregnant, which is why folic acid is recommended before conception and in early pregnancy, not just once you're showing. Around 400 micrograms a day before pregnancy and 600 or more during is the usual guidance, and because it's hard to hit reliably from food alone, it's the one nutrient nearly every provider has you supplement.
A few others do heavy lifting. Iron needs roughly double, about 27 milligrams a day, to build the extra blood you and your baby are making, and running low is linked to premature birth. Calcium and vitamin D build the skeleton, your protein needs rise to support your baby's growth, and the omega-3 DHA plus choline support the developing brain and eyes, which is part of why a couple of servings of low-mercury fish a week earn their place. You don't need to "eat for two" in calories, though. Your needs go up surprisingly little that way. It's the quality and these specific nutrients that matter, which is exactly what a prenatal vitamin and a nutrient-dense plate are for.
The food-safety side isn't fussiness, it's real. Pregnancy softens your immune system, and a bug called listeria that a healthy adult would shrug off can cross the placenta and cause serious harm, which is why the usual advice is to skip unpasteurized soft cheeses and juices, cold deli meats unless they're steaming hot, and anything raw or undercooked. High-mercury fish (shark, swordfish, king mackerel, bigeye tuna) are out for a different reason: mercury reaches the developing brain, so you choose low-mercury fish like salmon and sardines instead and keep it to about two or three servings a week. Alcohol has no known safe amount in pregnancy, and caffeine is best kept under about 200 milligrams a day, roughly one to two cups of coffee. And because this stage is so individual, especially with something like gestational diabetes, twins, or a high-risk pregnancy, your OB or midwife and your prenatal supplements lead, and these meals support that.
This is a sensitive, high-stakes time, so please treat this as educational support. Your OB, midwife, or dietitian should guide the specifics, including your prenatal supplements (folic acid especially) and anything like gestational diabetes. We follow standard food-safety guidance, but we always defer to your provider.
Answer a few quick questions and we'll build four weeks of Pregnancy & Breastfeeding meals, with recipes customized to you and a smart grocery list.
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