When you're trying for a baby, you should try to eat a healthy and varied diet.
This means trying to eat a variety of foods including:
Plenty of fruit and vegetables (fresh, frozen, tinned, dried or a glass of juice). Aim for at least five portions a day.
Plenty of starchy foods such as bread, pasta, rice and potatoes try to choose wholegrain options.
Protein such as lean meat and chicken, fish, eggs and pulses such as beans and lentils. These foods will also supply you with iron.
Try to eat fish at least twice a week including some oily fish. But don't have more than two portions of oily fish a week. This includes fresh tuna (not canned tuna, which does not count as oily fish), mackerel, sardines and trout .
Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yoghurt, which contain calcium.
Plenty of fibre. This helps prevent constipation and is found in wholegrain bread, pasta, rice, pulses and fruit and vegetables.
Healthier snacks you might want to choose include sandwiches or pitta bread filled with chicken, cottage cheese or lean ham; low-fat yoghurts; vegetable and bean soups or fruit including fresh, canned in juice or dried fruit such as raisins or apricots.
Pregnant women can become deficient in iron so make sure you have plenty of iron-rich foods to build up your iron stores. Have some food or drink containing vitamin C, such as fruit or vegetables, or a glass of fruit juice, with any iron-rich meals to help your body absorb the iron.
Good sources of iron:
Red meat
Pulses
Dried fruit
Bread
Green vegetables
Fortified cereals.
If the iron level in your blood becomes low, your doctor will advise you to take iron supplements.
Make sure you don't have too much vitamin A. This means you should avoid eating too much of liver and liver products such as p?t? and avoid taking supplements containing vitamin A or fish liver oils at the same time.
You should also avoid eating shark, swordfish and marlin and limit the amount of tuna you eat. Don't eat more than two tuna steaks a week ,weighing about 140g cooked or 170g raw or four medium-size cans of tuna a week with a drained weight of about 140g per can. This is because of the high levels of mercury in these fish which will harm an unborn baby's developing nervous system.
Your baby could be at higher risk of developing a peanut allergy if you, the baby's father,have a food allergy or other allergic conditions eg. hayfever, asthma, eczema. If you think that your baby may be in this higher-risk group, you may avoid eating peanuts and peanut products when you're trying to get pregnant and during pregnancy.
When you're trying to get pregnant you should take a daily 400 microgram (mcg) folic acid supplement. You should take these from 2 months before conception until the 12th week of pregnancy.This vitamin helps prevent spina bifida and anencephaly. If you would like to take your folic acid in a supplement that contains other vitamins, make sure it contains 400mcg folic acid and doesn't contain vitamin A or fish liver oils.You should also eat foods containing folate, the natural form of folic acid, such as green vegetables and brown rice as well as fortified bread and breakfast cereals.
If you have already had a pregnancy affected by a spina bifida or anencephaly ask your doctor for advice.
Avoiding alcohol is the best policy. If you must, then you should drink no more than 1 or 2 units of alcohol, once or twice a week.
A unit is
Half a pint of standard strength beer, lager or cider
A pub measure of spirit.
Half a glass of wine
You should limit the amount of caffeine you take each day, but you don't need to cut it out completely. Caffeine occurs naturally in a coffee, tea and chocolate, and it's also added to some soft drinks.It's important not to have more than 300mg a day. This is because high levels of caffeine can result in babies having a low birth weight, or even miscarriage.
Each of these contains roughly 300mg of caffeine:
3 mugs of instant coffee (100mg each)
4 cups of instant coffee (75mg each)
3 cups of brewed coffee (100mg each)
6 cups of tea (50mg each)
8 cans of cola (up to 40mg each)
8 (50g) bars of plain chocolate (up to 50mg each).
Caffeine in milk chocolate is about half that of plain chocolate
So if you eat a bar of plain chocolate and drink 3 cups of tea, a can of cola and a cup of instant coffee in a day, you'll have reached your 300mg limit.
Remember that caffeine is also found in certain cold and flu remedies, so always check with your doctor before taking any of these.
You should take supplements containing 10mcg of vitamin Deach day.
Vitamin D is found in a small number of foods but we get most of our vitamin D from summer sunlight if you?re out in the sun.
Avoid some types of cheese and all Pate
Avoid cheeses such as Camembert, Brie or ch?vre and also avoid blue cheeses. Avoid all types of pate, including vegetable.These cheeses are made with mould and they can contain listeria, a type of bacteria that could harm your unborn baby.Pate may contain listeria as well.
Avoid eating raw eggs and food containing raw or partially-cooked eggs. Only eat eggs cooked enough for both the white and yolk to be solid. This is to avoid the risk of salmonella, which causes a type of food poisoning.
Make sure you only eat meat that has been well cooked. This is especially important with poultry and products made from minced meat, such as sausages and burgers. Make sure these are cooked until they are piping hot all the way through and no pink meat is left. Always wash your hands after handling raw meat, and keep it separate from foods that are ready to eat. This is because raw meat contains bacteria that can cause food poisoning.
Avoid raw shellfish when you?re pregnant because raw shellfish can sometimes contain harmful bacteria and viruses that could cause food poisoning which can be particularly unpleasant when you?re pregnant.
Always wear gloves when you're gardening or changing cat litter, and wash your hands afterwards. This is to avoid toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by a parasite found in meat, cat faeces and soil. The infection can be harmful to unborn babies.
Foods you DON'T need to avoid
It can be confusing trying to work out which foods you can eat and which foods you should avoid. You might find it helpful to look at this list of some of the foods you don't need to avoid:
1) Shellfish, including prawns ? as long as they are part of a hot meal and have been properly cooked
2) Live or bio yoghurt
3) Probiotic drinks
4) Fromage frais
5) Soured cream
6) Spicy food
7) Honey is fine for pregnant women.
8) Many types of cheese including:
Hard cheese, such as Cheddar and Parmesan
Feta
Ricotta
Mascarpone
Cream cheese
Mozzarella
Cottage cheese
Processed cheese, such as cheese spreads
