Normal and Therapeutic Nutrition

Normal and Therapeutic Nutrition 3(2+1)

Lesson 9:Maternal Nutrition

Impact of mother’s nutritional status on foetus

• A woman who has been well nourished before conception begins her pregnancy with reserves of several nutrients so that the needs of growing foetus can be met without affecting her health.
• Poor stores of nutrients in pre and early pregnancy leads to formation of a small placenta.
• Small placenta causes inability to draw maximum nutrients from mother.
• Better nutrient intake later-on will not alter the placental size. Therefore the new born will be small in size and weak.
• If the new born is a girl, she will be undernourished, unable to achieve her full potential growth and unable to achieve her full pre pregnancy nutritional status will have an impact on future generations to come. Therefore maternal nutrition directly contributes to the well being of mother and child, Mother should be of normal weight at the time of conception.
• Pregnancy starts from time of conception and lasts for 40 weeks.
• Upto 8th week of life it is the fertilized ovum is called as embryo. Upto 8 weeks after its conception, a human embryo develops from an ovum into a foetus. The next 30 weeks the incomplete foetus continues to develop. When its body is finally mature enough at about 38-40 weeks after conception, the infant is born. During pregnancy, the mother nourishes the foetus through placenta, an organ that forms in her uterus to accommodate the growth and development of the foetus.
• The placenta is the organ through which nourishment flows to the fetus (Figure).

1. First trimester
2. Second trimester
3. Third trimester