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How should a pregnant woman change her diet or increase her calories as the baby grows?

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Host: How should a pregnant woman change her diet or increase her calories as the baby grows? Dr. John Schmitt: Yeah, so generally, in the second trimester as the baby starts to develop and grow, you need on average about 300 calories per day more. Again, that depends a little bit on what your starting weight is. If you start out significantly overweight you don't need a substantial increase in your calories and if you start out significantly underweight you may need more calories than that. So we individualize that. In general, I still think it's very important to spread your calories throughout the day and again, small frequent feeding such as a small breakfast, mid morning snack, a small lunch, mid afternoon snack and that makes you feel better and optimizes your blood sugar levels and decreases episodes of hypoglycemia or you may feel weak and dizzy and faint and it also gives a more steady state to your baby.