The Importance of Drinking Milk for Pregnant Women and Tips for Choosing It
Did you know that the nutritional needs of pregnant women have increased? On this basis, usually pregnant women (pregnant women) are advised to drink special milk for pregnancy. However, do all women who are pregnant need to drink milk and what benefits does it offer? Let’s find out more complete information, let’s!
Should pregnant women drink milk?
Pregnant women are advised to increase their food intake to meet their nutritional needs during pregnancy.
Apart from food for pregnant women, intake of drinks such as milk is also needed to meet daily nutritional needs.
Milk can be said to be a complementary drink that contributes a lot of energy and nutrients during pregnancy.
Fulfilling nutritional intake from food and beverages, including milk, can also help you achieve an ideal and healthy body weight during pregnancy.
That is why, you may often hear suggestions to drink special milk for pregnancy during pregnancy.
Moreover, milk contains various nutrients which are not only important for the mother, but also for supporting the growth and development of the fetus in the womb.
Milk is rich in calcium, which is needed by the body during pregnancy, especially to optimize the development of fetal bones and teeth.
Not only calcium, other nutrients are also needed in pregnant women’s milk. Automatically, the need for various nutrients during pregnancy has increased compared to before pregnancy.
Not all pregnant women need to drink milk
However, whether or not to drink milk during pregnancy actually returns to the needs of each mother.
If you feel that your daily intake of food and drinks has met your nutritional needs, maybe daily consumption of milk during pregnancy is not a priority.
Conversely, if you feel that your food and drink consumption is still not sufficient to meet nutritional needs, drinking milk is one of the things that is recommended.
However, again, there is nothing wrong with ensuring that your daily nutritional needs are well fulfilled during pregnancy.
Know the needs of you and your fetus before deciding. Do not forget, always consult a doctor or midwife before making a decision not to drink pregnant milk.
It is better if you drink pregnant milk for how many months of your pregnancy?
Milk is not only a complement to meet the energy and nutritional needs of pregnant women, but also plays an important role in providing the nutrients needed by the fetus.
Take for example calcium, protein, phosphorus, potassium, AHA, DHA, folic acid, and vitamin D which are needed for the body of pregnant women and the fetus to support their growth and development.
This nutritional content makes milk one of the best drinks for pregnant women to consume.
When declared pregnant, you may wonder at what time of month should it be recommended to drink pregnant milk?
Considering that there are many good benefits provided by pregnant milk, it is recommended that you start drinking milk during the 1st trimester of pregnancy or are still young.
This is because during the 1st trimester of pregnancy, the fetus begins to grow and develop so that it needs adequate nutritional intake.
Milk intake for pregnant women does not only apply in young pregnancy or the first trimester.
Drinking milk is also needed when gestational age has entered the second trimester to the third trimester.
Based on the United States Department of Agriculture, pregnant women are recommended to drink 3 glasses of milk per day, one of which is at breakfast.
How do you know what milk is good for pregnant women?
Pregnancy-specific milk that is widely circulating in the market is basically ordinary cow’s milk.
But usually, ordinary cow’s milk has been fortified or added nutrients that are really needed by pregnant women.
It is true, ordinary cow’s milk actually also has good nutritional content.
It’s just that pregnancy milk that has been fortified with a variety of other nutrients is considered more suitable to meet the nutritional needs of pregnant women.
So, in order to get good milk for pregnant women, there are a number of things that you should pay attention to, namely:
1. Pay attention to the nutritional content
As previously mentioned, the nutrients in pregnancy milk include protein, potassium, phosphorus, calcium for pregnant women, AHA and DHA for pregnant women, and folic acid.
In fact, some special pregnancy milks are also supplemented with vitamin B6 or pyridoxine.
This food and drink source containing vitamin B6 or pyridoxine is usually recommended for mothers because it can help relieve nausea during pregnancy.
The more complete the nutritional content needed in it, the better the milk will be to drink during pregnancy.
This is the clear difference between milk for pregnant women and regular milk.
On this basis, pregnant women are also advised to drink special milk, not milk that is usually drunk when not pregnant.
2. Choose milk that has been pasteurized
Pregnant women are advised to drink pasteurized milk.
Pasteurization is the process of heating milk at high temperatures which aims to slow down the growth of bacteria.
That way, pasteurized milk is considered safe for consumption by you and the fetus in the womb.
Instead, drink unpasteurized milk, aka raw milk (raw milk) can jeopardize pregnancy.
Milk that has not been pasteurized still contains bacteria in it so that it is at risk of causing infectious diseases. One of them is listeriosis infection caused by microbes.
Therefore, pregnant women are advised not to drink this type of milk and also eat food products from milk that have not been pasteurized.
Apart from milk, fulfill the nutrition of pregnant women from daily food
Special milk for pregnancy is indeed a good alternative if you want to meet nutritional needs during pregnancy.
However, apart from using milk, pregnant women can also meet their nutritional needs by consuming other foods or drinks.
Pregnant women are also allowed to drink plain milk as long as nutritional needs are met through daily food.
Make sure you check the milk packaging before buying. This is because one brand of milk may have different nutritional fortifications.
By checking the packaging label, you can determine the milk with the most nutritional content that suits your needs.
Hello Health Group does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
