Nutrition in
Health and Disease
Nutrition 405
Course
Outline
Unit 10
Life Cycle Nutrition I:
Pregnancy, Lactation, and Infancy
Overview
The readings for this unit discuss in some depth questions about the special challenges posed by nutrition during pregnancy and discuss the nutritional needs of infants and lactating women.
Objectives
After completing this unit, you should be able to
- identify the recommended weight gain and energy requirement during pregnancy for women with a healthy BMI.
- discuss the risks of overweight and obesity of mothers to maternal and infant health.
- discuss some of the nutritional challenges during pregnancy, specifically folic acid, iron, calcium, vitamin D, and essential fatty acids.
- explain the basis for zero tolerance for alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
- identify the energy requirement during lactation, and discuss how women can meet this increased need.
- discuss the benefits that breastfeeding has for mothers and infants.
- explain the basis for Health Canada’s recommendation to exclusively breastfeed infants for the first 6 months of life.
- discuss the nutritional needs of infants, including the need for vitamin D supplementation.
- discuss the timing for the introduction of solid foods and cow’s milk in the first year of life.
