Babies and children need higher levels of protein than do adults. So pregnant and lactating mothers need to increase their protein levels to about 80 grams a day. Have protein at each meal.

As fat is also important for the babies development, eat plenty of nuts, seeds, flaxseed and eggs. Make sure you eat a variety, rather than the same things. For example, don’t have eggs every morning for breakfast.

Dairy products are not a good food for humans. Cow’s milk is likely to cause hiccoughs in the foetus and apnoea in babies. Protein of cow’s milk is too high, while the fat is too low (0.9%, while a baby needs 2 - 5%).

Since the baby’s brain development is complete at three years old, the diet of the mother is crucial in her child’s overall life potential. Remember that a food can be rich in a required nutrient, but it must also be bio available.

For example, taking a calcium supplement made from a mineral source, although it will be very rich in calcium, it is not high in bio availability, so most will pass straight through the digestive system.  Eating plants that have been grown on a calcium rich soil will be relatively low in calcium, but the bio availability is very high, as it is easily absorbed.

A good diet is lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, much of which is raw (and preferably organic), nuts, seeds and other protein (limit chicken unless it’s organically produced because of the high content of antibiotics and hormones) and some fat (available in avocado, nuts, seeds, eggs, meat).

Spirulina is a rich source of bio available nutrients and Green Food Powder is spirulina with many other nutrious plants, which make for a very healthy baby.