ron is a key nutrient during pregnancy, and an important part of a balanced diet. It supports your baby’s developing brain and helps to maintain a healthy supply of oxygen in your blood1,2. It also helps support the development of your baby’s immune system and helps to maintain your own health and wellbeing too. With so many roles to play for both you and your baby, your body uses more iron during pregnancy than usual.
Learn more about the importance of iron during your pregnancy, how much iron you need when you’re pregnant, and which foods can help to boost your intake.
Why is iron so important during pregnancy?
Iron has essential roles to play in your baby’s development and your own health. Not only does it support your baby’s rapidly developing brain, as well as their growing muscles1, it’s also needed to make haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen around your body and to your baby2.
Keeping your iron levels topped up can also prevent iron deficiency anaemia. It’s a condition in which your blood doesn’t contain enough red blood cells, which can leave you feeling tired, breathless and even affect your immune system.
How much iron do you need when you’re pregnant?
The recommended daily intake for every woman, whether pregnant or not, is 14.8mg each day.
During pregnancy, your body uses more iron than usual. This is partly due to your increased blood supply, with more iron required to create and maintain a greater volume of blood cells.
Your baby’s demand for iron also rises as they grow. Added to this, your baby’s body starts accumulating iron stores in the third trimester of pregnancy, ready to support them during their first 6 months of life.
Surprisingly though, as long as you had good iron levels before conceiving, your recommended intake remains the same as if you weren’t pregnant. This is because without the loss of blood through monthly periods, you retain more of your body’s iron stores.
Your body also becomes more efficient at absorbing iron as pregnancy progresses – one of the amazing ways your body naturally adapts to the ever-changing demands of growing a new person1.
