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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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Zinc is useful for fighting infection, making pregnant women less likely to get sick. As an added benefit, it also reduces the likelihood of stretch marks.

Before taking any supplements, be sure to discuss the benefits and risks with your doctor.

Pumping Iron
Iron is critical for a healthy pregnancy, and this is especially true for moms carrying multiple fetuses. To help them get the amounts they need, many doctors prescribe iron supplements for their patients.

Although she agrees that pregnant women need more iron, Dr. Luke suggests making dietary changes instead of taking supplements. "Supplemental iron is non-heme iron," she explains, which means it does not come from blood products. This type of iron has only about a 10 percent absorption rate and is affected by everything a pregnant woman eats. "Cereals are a good example of this. Some claim to have 100 percent of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for iron, but once you add milk, the calcium binds the iron, and it goes through your system undigested."

To ingest the correct amounts of iron, Dr. Luke recommends eating more foods that contain heme iron, or blood iron, which the body is better able to absorb. Foods like fish, eggs, poultry and especially red meat are excellent sources of heme iron. "You need the B vitamins, proteins and everything else from the hem-iron-rich foods, too," she adds.

Got Milk?
In addition to extra iron, women carrying multiples require extra calcium. "When I was pregnant with my twins, I ate as much calcium as I could – for them and for myself," Gillentine says. She knew that if the babies didn't get enough calcium from her diet, they would take it from her bones.

If you are not a big milk drinker, consider other ources for calcium. Cheese, yogurt and calcium-fortified orange juice are alternate ways to get this important nutrient. However, if you find that you can't get the full amount of required calcium in your diet, talk with your doctor about adding a supplement. Dr. Luke recommends 3 grams of calcium per day, because in addition to creating strong bones and teeth in both Mom and the babies, "calcium is the only nutrient shown to reduce the risk of pre-eclampsia."


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