Congratulations! You’ve now reached pregnancy week 8. There are some amazing milestones when you’re 2 months pregnant. Let’s look at what foods you should be eating to give your developing baby the strength to make their first movements and the nutrients to help their brain development.

2 months pregnantCommon Pregnancy Symptoms When You’re 2 Months Pregnant

At pregnancy week 8, you might not be showing yet, but you will definitely be feeling your pregnancy.

You may begin to feel soreness in your breasts as well as fatigue. Your rising hormone levels will peak at around week 10, and this will lead to morning sickness1.

Morning sickness may make any weight gain during this time difficult, but it is normal. Eat small, frequent meals, or snack on crackers, to help you cope. You can expect the nausea to go away in 3 to 4 weeks1.

Aside from morning sickness, you may experience a variety of symptoms such as heartburn, frequent urination and difficulty sleeping1.

Pregnancy Week 8 Sees Your Developing Baby Moving 

Your developing baby might be only two inches (five centimeters) long, but they are undergoing some amazing changes during pregnancy week 8. Even though they’re only about the size of your little finger, they now have tiny hands, feet, arms and legs.

At around 9 weeks, your child has started to move in your womb, and can bring their hand up to their mouth. These first movements involve their whole body, but by next month, your little one will be able to move individual limbs.

2 Months Pregnant: How Do You Support Your Developing Baby?

Now is the time to help your baby achieve all those crucial milestones in their development. That means making well-balanced food choices, especially since your child is also eating what you consume!

A Balanced Diet

Having a balanced diet that contains the essential nutrients your unborn child needs, is the key to a healthy pregnancy. Try to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, lean meat or protein such as fish and eggs, and avoid fatty foods, alcohol and raw foods like sushi2.

Folic Acid

Doctors recommend taking a multivitamin with at least 400 mcg (0.4 mg) of folic acid per day throughout your pregnancy. In addition to helping protect against birth defects, folic acid promotes healthy cell division and nourishes your unborn child's developing nervous system3.

Bananas are a great natural food that are packed with B group vitamins and folate that your developing baby needs for spinal development. A medium banana can supply 23.6 mcg of folate, or around 6% of your daily requirements3.

Alternatively, you can support your developing baby’s development by supplementing your diet with Enfamama A+. Get your FREE SAMPLE of Enfamama A+, which contains DHA and essential nutrients like Folic acid, Iron, Zinc, Iodine and Vitamin B6 which are important for your developing baby.  

Iron

A daily multivitamin containing 16 to 20 mg of iron, essential for red blood cell production, will help you have a healthy pregnancy4. Do check with your doctor or dietitian that your multivitamin contains the right amount of iron for you. Be sure to include iron-rich foods in your daily diet like beef, eggs, dried beans and chickpeas, as well as almonds and cashews.

With your unborn child needing so many essential nutrients for his well-rounded development, it might just be time to start a daily menu planner to keep track of your developing baby’s growing nutritional needs.

Did You Know?

Although your unborn child’s sex was determined at the time of conception, their sex-differentiating hormones are released during the second month of life and they begin to develop sex organs.

Baby’s Mental and Physical Development During Pregnancy Week 8

Being 2 months pregnant is also a remarkable time for your unborn child’s cognitive and sensory growth. During this period, their brain, spinal cord, nervous system and backbone are all being created. Your baby’s heart and circulatory system are fast developing too.

In the first 16 to 18 weeks of your developing baby’s life, their brain will create around 100 billion neurons. These neurons are the brain’s basic building blocks. Your baby’s senses, their breathing and, eventually, their actions are all made possible because these neurons communicate with each other5.

Eating a well-balanced diet at pregnancy week 8 is one way you can help your baby successfully reach all those milestones they will need to meet in the coming months. That means your prenatal nutrition and supplements should include adequate amounts of Vitamin D, folic acid and DHA (an omega-3 fat that helps brain and eye development)4 6 7.

Your unborn child is also developing taste buds when you’re 2 months pregnant and will continue to do so in the third month of your pregnancy. To find out how you can help your child develop their taste for healthy food, read more about Pregnancy stages: Month 3.

Missed out on last month’s pregnancy milestones? You can track how far you and your developing baby have come in Pregnancy stages: Month 1.

Want to learn more about how your developing baby will develop over your pregnancy – plus, nutritional advice, online support and more? Sign up for Enfamama A+ Club to receive new articles, useful tips and rewards that can help you and your developing baby!

 

Expert Resource:
Dr. Raymond Choy Wai Mun
(MCR 18097A)
MBChB (UK), Aviation Medicine (Singapore)


REFERENCES:

  1. 8 Weeks Pregnant: Symptoms, Tips and More, https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/pregnancy-symptoms-week-8#symptoms, Accessed 16 November 2020
  2. Food Standards Agency UK. Eating while pregnant. Downloaded from https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/multimedia/pdfs/publication/eatingwhilepregnant1209.pdf, Accessed October 2015
  3. 15 Healthy Foods That Are High in Folate (Folic Acid), https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-folate-folic-acid#:~:text=A%20medium%20banana%20can%20supply,%2C%20and%20manganese%20(%2036%20).&text=Bananas%20contain%20a%20good%20amount,about%206%25%20of%20the%20DV, Accessed 16 November 2020
  4. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. FAQ001 Nutrition during pregnancy. Downloaded from https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/nutrition-during-pregnancy, Accessed October 2015
  5. What are neurons?, http://www.bristol.ac.uk/synaptic/basics/basics-1.html, Accessed October 2015
  6. Innis SM. Dietary (n-3) fatty acids and brain development. J Nutr 2007;137:855-859.
  7. Eyles DW, Feron F, Cui X, Kesby JP, Harms LH, Ko P, McGrath JJ, Burne TH. Developmental vitamin D deficiency causes abnormal brain development. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2009 Dec;34 Suppl 1:S247-57.