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Home › Articles › Multiples › Eating for Three (or More)

Eating for Three (or More)

The Special Nutritional Needs of Moms Carrying Multiples

By Lisamarie Sanders

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When I was pregnant, I often used the justification that I was "eating for two" after taking a second serving of mashed potatoes. The same excuse was used for the extra large piece of pie and my late-night forages in the freezer.

Christi Gillentine, a mother of twins from Tulsa, Okla., had an even better excuse. She was eating for three.

"There's a bigger nutritional drain on a mother when she's carrying more than one baby," says Dr. Barbara Luke, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Miami.

Most women pregnant with one child need 300 more calories each day; women pregnant with twins or other higher order multiples require significantly more calories to give their babies the nutrients they need.

"A typical diet prescription may be 3,500 calories per day for twins and 4,500 per day for triplets," says Doreen Chin Pratt, director of nutrition services at Women and Infants' Hospital of Rhode Island. Remember, however, that the majority of these calories should come from nutrient-rich foods, not French fries and candy bars.

Putting on the Pounds
Of course, eating more means gaining more weight. "I gained about 80 pounds when I was pregnant with my twins," says Gillentine, noting that this was twice as much as she had gained with her firstborn. "Many women are freaked out when they're told to gain 40 to 50 pounds or more. I thought it was more important that I didn't worry about my weight or size – I just wanted healthy babies."

Dr. Luke, the co-author of When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads: A Complete Resource (Harper Collins, 1999) and Program Your Baby's Health: The Pregnancy Diet for Your Child's Lifelong Well-Being

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