Vegan Pregnancy (+ Our Journey)
You are a vegan undergoing pregnancy, and is currently in first trimester.
Now you are overloaded with information on how to survive as a pregnant vegan mom to be.
No worries, you are in the right place!
I’m going to share what my wife and I went through during this sensitive first 3 months of her pregnancy.
How we got there in the first place
As a TCM physician who specialises in fertility, I focus a lot on charting basal body temperature(BBT). They are ABSOLUTELY essential in tracking your ovulation and menstrual health. One can tell a lot just by looking at your BBT charts. Therefore, if you are trying to conceive(TTC), you might want to chart your BBT chart. This is one of the major reasons why our TTC journey is so short.
My wife had longer-than-usual periods so tracking ovulation is a little tricky. However with TCM herbs, my wife conceived after a few cycles. My wife is slightly underweight, partly due to her active movement during work, and this is testament that a plant-based underweight lady can still get pregnant with the help of traditional chinese medicine. The key is knowing how to optimise your fertility given your current condition and staying true to your goals without procrastinating and giving excuses.
Is there a concern with vegan pregnancy?
I have written a exclusive guide on vegan pregnancy nutrition. You can view it here as i won’t be repeating in this post.
Vegetarian and vegan diets have increased worldwide in the last decades, according to the knowledge that they might prevent coronary heart disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Althought plant-based diets are at risk of nutritional deficiencies such as proteins, iron, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, omega-3, and vitamin B12, the available evidence shows that well planned vegetarian and vegan diets may be considered safe during pregnancy and lactation, but they require a strong awareness for a balanced intake of key nutrients.
Balanced maternal nutrition during pregnancy is imperative for the mother’s health status and, consequently, for offspring, and is crucial to maintain an adequate environment for optimal fetal development. According to the theory of “early life programming” environmental factors and lifestyle during pregnancy determine the risk of developing chronic diseases later in life and also influence lifelong health in offspring [1]. Pregnancy requires an increased intake of macro and micronutrients and balanced diet. For that, it offers a critical window of opportunity to acquire dietetic habits that are beneficial for fetal healthy [2].
The reasons for choosing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle are variable and range from evidence-based health consciousness to environmental concerns, socioeconomic considerations, ethical grounds, or spiritual/religious beliefs. Medical reasons also exist in some occasions; for instance, women of childbearing age affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) may be conditioned to the choice of low-protein vegetarian diet.
During First Trimester
The first trimester begins on the first day of your last period and lasts until the end of week 12. This means that by the time you know for sure you’re pregnant, you might already be five or six weeks pregnant!
A lot happens during these first three months. The fertilised egg rapidly divides into layers of cells and implants in the wall of your womb where it carries on growing. These layers of cells become an embryo, which is what the baby is called at this stage. During this trimester, your baby grows faster than at any other time.
Theoretically by six weeks, a heartbeat can usually be heard and by the end of week 12, your baby’s bones, muscles and all the organs of the body have formed. At this point, your baby looks like a tiny human being and is now called a fetus.
For us, we went to Dr’s checkup only twice during the first twelve months of her pregnancy. You might be alarmed, “this is your first kid, how can your checkups be so little!?“
My answer is – power of knowledge. If you track your BBT, you can actually tell you are 21 days past ovulation and still in high temperature range. More or less, confirmed.
In fact, in my practice, I always ask my patients to visit their obgyn doctor only at the 7th week, as that is a more accurate timing to check for fetus’ heartbeat(6th week is still a little early though). You can’t check that earlier and that might give you additional mental burden if you can’t hear the heartbeat and start worrying. This also allows you to save some money for baby in a few months time.
We went to check again at 12th week to discharge her from the first trimester.
We chose Dr Heng from Parkway East Hospital through a friend’s recommendation.
Total fees including GST:
#1 check (wk 7): $129 (79 consult + 50 ultrasound)
#2 check (wk 13): $417.30 (150 consult + 80 ultrasound + 160 blood test)
#3 check (wk 17): $1551.50 (1200 package + 250 FA Scan)
#4 check (wk 21): $9.60 (9 cardiprin)
#5 check (wk 29): $53.50 (50 glucose test)
#6 check (wk 35): $2204.20 (10 hb test, 50 vaginal swab, 2000 hospital admission)
#7 check (wk 37): $363.80 (for a bunch of medicine to be used after delivery)
Total: $4365.10
Symptoms during first trimester
Two words, fatigue and nausea.
My wife literally just keep falling asleep everywhere she go, and as a self-proclaimed responsible husband, I believe we should be more understanding to ladies and allow them to rest while we do some of the chores that she originally did before she was pregnant. She will have a tendency to be lazier and prefer help in little things.
HOWEVER, she does has the energy to walk a mile extra just for that cup of bubble tea or that tom yum paste. Well, cravings really gave her that bit of energy. Mind you, she was never a fan of bubble tea.
I prescribed her TCM medications during this time to treat her fatigue and nausea and it certainly reduced her symptoms naturally.
By the second trimester, she was happily walking around as thought she wasn’t pregnant.
However, there are a few symptoms that I usually caution my patients to take note of.
1.Bleeding
You might notice some very light bleeding, or ‘spotting’, known as implantation bleeding. This can be caused by your little seed burrowing into the lining of your womb. It often happens around the time your period would have been due and is relatively common.
You may also have some period-like cramping in these early weeks.
If you notice any bleeding at any stage of your pregnancy, though, it’s important to get it checked out by your doctor.
It’s a sad thing to think about, but up to one in five pregnancies will end in miscarriage in the first three months.
If you do have light bleeding, spotting or stomach pains, this doesn’t mean you are going to miscarry. However, you should always speak to your doctor and ask for advice.
2. Severe back and abdominal pain
If you have a sharp pain in both back and abdomen with bleeding, it is an EMERGENCY. Dull pain doesn’t count. What I mean is a SHARP and STABBING pain. Going into A&E might save your child so better not to wait.
Important nutrients during pregnancy
We took multivitamin and vegan DHA capsules given by our obgyn. I am not a big fan of supplements because we hope to gather as much nutrients in wholesome food as possible. However, owing to our job nature, and the fact that we acknowledge that we get very little DHA, we took those two supplements. Don’t ever overstress your liver by overtaking supplements. However, there are few vital nutrients that are very important in pregnancy and that you can take as supplements
1. Folate
Folate is naturally present in leafy vegetables, fruits and berries, beans and wholegrain products – but keep taking folic acid supplements too, until at least week 12 because you can’t get enough through food alone to build up the level of folic acid that your baby needs.
Folic acid helps in the formation of your baby’s nervous system and reduces the risk of spina bifida, which is where the baby’s spine doesn’t close up properly.
You should take:
- 400 micrograms of folic acid each day – you should take this from before you are pregnant until you are 12 weeks pregnant
2. Iron
3. Omega-3
You don’t need to eat fatty fish or take fish oil to have a healthy pregnancy, even though many health professionals will say so. In fact, fish contains not only mercury, PCBs and other contaminants, it’s not sustainable or ethical to eat fish for its omega fat content. The reason fish contain omega-3 fatty acids is because they eat marine microalgae. Microalgae contain the original source of EPA and DHA which are required by your brain. So why would you eat fish when you can go directly to the source: algae! If you are a healthy person who doesn’t eat any animal foods and eats plenty of omega 3 ALA-rich foods daily (flaxseeds, walnuts, chia seeds), your body will most likely be making DHA and EPA.
Vegan Society recommends including any one of the foods below in your diet every day in order to get enough of this fatty acid:
- 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed (note that it must be ground; otherwise you won’t absorb the ALA)
- 1 teaspoon of flaxseed oil
- 4 walnuts
- 1 tablespoon of walnut, hempseed, soy or canola oil
- 2 teaspoons of chia seeds
In addition to the above omega-3 sources, it may be wise to also take a daily vegan DHA capsule. Many experts recommend that pregnant women include DHA in their diets. Adequate DHA appears to reduce the risk of having a premature baby and may promote the baby’s brain development. Vegan women can get DHA from vegan supplements which contain DHA derived from algae. Choose a supplement that provides 200-300 milligrams of DHA per capsule.
Steps to a healthier pregnancy
Vegan society recommends these five steps to be well-positioned to maintain excellent nutritional status throughout pregnancy.
- Eat at least 5 servings a day of beans, tofu, tempeh, soy milk, veggie meats, peanuts or peanut butter.
- Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables including those providing vitamin C (such as oranges, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, and strawberries), green leafy vegetables, and dark orange fruits and vegetables (carrots, winter squash, peaches, cantaloupe, etc.)
- Choose whole grains often and select healthy fat sources like nuts, nut butters, seeds, olive oil, and avocados most or all of the time.
- Eat five to six servings of calcium-rich foods every day.
- Use supplements or fortified foods daily to meet vitamin B12 and folic acid needs; make sure you’re getting at least 150 mcg of iodine from a prenatal or other supplement. Vitamin D supplements are usually advisable, and iron supplements may be needed as well. Many vegan women also choose to use a vegan supplement providing DHA during pregnancy.
Edmund graduated with a First Class Hons in Biomedical Sciences and Traditional Chinese Medicine from Nanyang Technological University, before taking a Masters in Gynaecology(TCM) in Liaoning, China.
He has successfully treated patients with unexplained infertility, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome(PCOS) and endometriosis and made them conceive naturally with Traditional Chinese Medicine.