Being pregnant is exciting and scary. Being pregnant with twins is doubly
exciting... and scary. I'm sure that you've got so many questions. If you're
wondering what is the best pregnancy nutrition for twins, stay tuned!
So today we're very blessed to have the wonderful Nichole Maroney. Welcome Nicole.
Thank you. So Nicole can you tell us a little bit about you and how you got
into this area? Sure. I am passionate about women's health I love working with
couples who are trying to conceive and women who are already pregnant I found
when I was pregnant everybody had an opinion about my pregnancy. Even as a
dietitian? Absolutely. I wasn't specialising in pregnancy then so I wasn't sure what I should be eating
I found it quite difficult, there wasn't a lot of reliable information out there. So now I get to go
into work each day and help provide advice for women, give them the
confidence that they need to know that they're eating well they're doing the
best they can for their health and for the health of their baby not just now
but their future health as well. So it's great to know that I'm helping Mum's to be
but also having a bit of an impact on the future generation as well.
I have a private practice in the south- east suburbs of Melbourne.
I've had that for about 10 years. Oh wonderful. So Nicole,
talking about mums having twins. So can you tell us about some of the key
nutrients that are just really important for pregnancy full stop. Sure
Energy is important during pregnancy is about getting enough calories or kilojoules in
we want to make sure that mums trying to gain enough weight to support her baby's
needs also extra protein. So protein is important for baby's muscle and organ
growth and then there's also some key micronutrients or vitamins and minerals
so we're looking at folate, iron, iodine, calcium, vitamin D, B12 and omega-3 fatty
acids. So are these requirements then higher for
mums who are having twins? They are. There's not a lot of scientific evidence
out there specifically related for pregnancy with twins so we don't know
the precise amounts but we do know that because you're carrying two children you
have higher requirements. We recommend that you try to follow the healthiest
pregnancy diet you can. Three meals a day to
try and do the best you can. Yeah okay and then what about in terms
of nutritional supplements. So does a Mum who's having twins, should she have
different nutritional supplements compared to a mum who's having one baby?
So some people think that if you have one baby
you take one multivitamin and if you are having two you need to double
your multivitamin for pregnancy. It's actually not the case having too many
vitamin and mineral supplements could actually be harmful. Women who are
pregnant with twins are more likely two -to - four times more likely to have an iron
deficiency anemia. Right. So they usually would require extra iron supplements.
Iron deficiency anemia is linked to having preterm babies. So we want to make
sure they are getting enough iron. They're also higher risk for having
folate deficiency so sometimes we recommend an extra folic acid supplement
after around one milligram per day. You also look at extra calcium, vitamin D
possibly omega-3 fatty acids just based on her diet and what her blood tests are saying
So the key message there is really about coming back and looking at
the individual person as opposed to just doubling straightaway because although
you've got higher risk of some deficiencies it doesn't necessarily mean
that you need double the amount of everything. Absolutely.
So Nicole, what about weight gain for Mums of twins. What does the research tell us
there, is there any different than Mums who are just having one baby?
It is Melanie, so with pregnancy weight gain the Institute of Medicine has put out
guidelines that women try to keep within throughout their pregnancy so if you're
pregnant with one child and it's based on your pre-pregnancy BMI or your
pre-pregnancy weight. A woman who's in a healthy weight range before she gets
pregnant then the recommendations are that she gains between eleven and a half
and sixteen kilograms throughout the pregnancy. However if you pregnant with
twins then that amount goes up to about 17 to 25 kilograms. A lot more weight.
It's about an extra 7 kilograms. What about the rate of that weight gain? Yeah the
rate of weight gain is also been shown to be important so women who are
pregnant with twins they're 60% more likely to have those babies before
they're 37 weeks and the babies are more likely to be a low birth weight. So
we really want to make sure that women gain as much of that weight earlier on
in pregnancy... in that first two trimesters. There was a study of around
650 twin babies born and they looked at how much weight the woman had gained
throughout her pregnancy and found that the optimal outcomes for twin outcomes
which was having a baby around over two and a half kilos,
that happened with women who were gaining 11 kilograms by 24 weeks.
so much earlier then. Absolutely. Two and a half kilos is so much smaller
than then most babies most babies are born at about three and a
half kilos so you can see why it's so important for Mums to be gaining that
weight so much earlier on in their pregnancy. What about morning sickness
does that have much of an impact for mums like them in particular with trying
to gain that extra weight for mums who are having twins? It does... every pregnancy
is different so it's not guaranteed that a woman who's having twins will have
morning sickness. However women with twins they have more pregnancy hormones
going through their body so they're much more likely to get nausea and vomiting
and that nausea vomiting tends to be a bit worse than when you're carrying a
single child. So there's a few tips that I like to recommend we look at having
regular meals and snacks throughout the day and sipping on fluids through out the day.
Carbohydrate snack early in the morning tends to help people so a
crackers before you get out of bed can help.
Cooking smells tend to make it a bit worse so having cold food can help
or if you're lucky enough to have someone cook for you that's even better.
Lots of great tips and if you want more tips on dealing
morning sickness check out our other Nourished videos specifically around
around morning sickness. So thank you so much for joining us today Nicole, you're
a wealth of information particularly when it comes to Mums who are having
twins. So for you guys look I'd really encourage you first of all to
check out some of our other videos on Nourish and then secondly I would love
you to comment in the chat box below what's your biggest questions about
nutrition for having twins? Because we'd love to answer those for
you and help you out. So have a great day and I look forward to seeing you in
my next video.