What to eat during the 16th week of pregnancy

At each stage of pregnancy, the baby's nutritional needs for the mother are different. So what kind of diet should expectant mothers pay attention to in the sixteenth week of pregnancy? In fact, the sixteenth week of pregnancy is the time period when the baby develops most rapidly, so as an expectant mother, you must supplement more iron. Otherwise, not only will the baby's development be affected, but the expectant mother herself is also likely to lack iron.

At 16 weeks of pregnancy, the baby now looks like a pear, about 13 cm long and weighs about 170 grams. In the next 3 weeks, he will undergo a rapid growth process, and his weight and length will more than double. He got his first toy - the umbilical cord. He especially liked to pull or grab the umbilical cord with his hands. Sometimes he grabbed it so tightly that only a small amount of oxygen could be delivered. But don't worry, the fetus won't do anything too excessive and it knows how to protect itself from harm. Now the circulatory system and urethra are in full working order, the fetus's lungs are also starting to work, and he is able to continuously inhale and exhale amniotic fluid.

What’s even more surprising is that you will feel the fetal movements more obviously this week, and sometimes even a little tenderness. These are normal reactions and there is no need to worry. The most interesting time of pregnancy is about to begin. You must seize this time to communicate more with your baby. A good mother-child relationship must be established from now on.

The fetus develops very rapidly at this stage and will absorb the iron in your body without hesitation. At this time, your need for iron increases nearly 4 times. If you had anemia before pregnancy, you are very likely to develop iron deficiency anemia now. The consequence is that your blood cells' oxygen-carrying capacity will be reduced, which will cause fetal intrauterine hypoxia, resulting in intrauterine fetal death or premature birth. Anemia can also affect the development of fetal brain cells, leading to poor learning ability in the future. Therefore, you need to supplement 28 mg of iron daily, and you should eat more lean meat.

The dietary composition and food intake in the second trimester should be different from those in the early pregnancy: 350-500 grams of cereal staple foods, such as rice, noodles, corn, millet, etc.; 100-150 grams of animal food, such as beef, mutton, pork, chicken, fish, eggs, etc.; 50 grams of animal offal, at least 1-2 times a week; 100-200 grams of fruit; 500-750 grams of vegetables; 250-500 grams of milk and its products; 50 grams of beans and their products, such as tofu, soy milk, soy products, red beans, mung beans, soybeans, etc.; 25 grams of fats and oils, such as cooking oil. At the same time, pay attention to the combination of coarse and fine foods, and meat and vegetables. Refined rice and flour lack B vitamins, which can be made up by these whole grains. Meat dishes provide the protein, fat, etc. needed for the growth and development of the fetus, but lack the vitamins and dietary fiber found in vegetarian dishes. So the food should be well matched.

I believe that through the above introduction, expectant mothers will have a certain understanding of what diet they should pay attention to in the sixteenth week of pregnancy. Although expectant mothers may feel that they can’t eat during pregnancy, they must insist on eating more lean meat for themselves and the baby in their body, so as to ensure the normal development of the baby.