What does MyPlate recommend during pregnancy?
MyPlate's five food groups — fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy — stay the same during pregnancy and breastfeeding; what shifts is how much of a few nutrients your body needs. Under the USDA Dietary Guidelines and the Dietary Reference Intakes, several key nutrients rise — folate, iron, iodine, choline, and protein — while calorie needs climb only modestly, mostly in the second and third trimesters.
The takeaway is quality over quantity: a more nutrient-dense plate, not "eating for two." USDA retired its MyPlate.gov pregnancy-and-breastfeeding page in January 2026; this page carries that guidance forward from the same public data, and the free MyPlate Plan calculator personalizes it. It's educational, not medical advice — make any changes with your prenatal-care provider.
The short version
- Same five food groups — the plate doesn't change; a handful of nutrient targets do.
- Folate, iron, iodine, choline, and protein rise — the nutrients the DRIs flag for pregnancy and nursing.
- Modest extra calories, not double — the guidelines add energy only in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters and while breastfeeding.
Key nutrients during pregnancy & breastfeeding
Pregnancy and breastfeeding raise the targets for a specific handful of nutrients — not everything at once. Below are the Dietary Reference Intakes for a woman aged 19–30, comparing a non-pregnant adult with the pregnancy and breastfeeding values, from the same data behind our DRI calculator.
| Nutrient | Adult woman (19–30) | Pregnancy | Breastfeeding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Folate (opens in new tab)mcg · RDA — Jumps to 600 mcg in pregnancy — the guideline behind the folic-acid message for early development. | 400 | 600 | 500 |
| Iron (opens in new tab)mg · RDA — Rises to 27 mg in pregnancy to support expanded blood volume, then eases to 9 mg while nursing. | 18 | 27 | 9 |
| Iodine (opens in new tab)mcg · RDA — Climbs through pregnancy and is highest while breastfeeding (290 mcg), when it passes into breast milk. | 150 | 220 | 290 |
| Choline (opens in new tab)mg · AI — An adequate-intake target that rises across both stages, highest at 550 mg while nursing. | 425 | 450 | 550 |
| Protein (opens in new tab)g · RDA — Rises from 46 g to 71 g and holds there through breastfeeding. | 46 | 71 | 71 |
Dietary Reference Intakes (RDA or AI) from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (opens in new tab), shown for the 19–30 bracket. See the DRI calculator for the 14–18 and 31–50 pregnancy and lactation brackets.
Your base food-group pattern
You still build the same plate through pregnancy and nursing — the amounts just scale with your calorie level. The MyPlate Plan calculator finds your level, then the USDA Healthy US-Style Pattern below sets the daily cups and ounce-equivalents. Calorie needs rise across pregnancy and while breastfeeding, moving you up this table.
| Calorie level | Fruits (cups) | Vegetables (cups) | Grains (oz-eq) | Protein (oz-eq) | Dairy (cups) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,800 cal | 1.5 | 2.5 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| 2,000 cal | 2 | 2.5 | 6 | 5.5 | 3 |
| 2,200 cal | 2 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| 2,400 cal | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6.5 | 3 |
| 2,600 cal | 2 | 3.5 | 9 | 6.5 | 3 |
| 2,800 cal | 2.5 | 3.5 | 10 | 7 | 3 |
Daily amounts from the USDA Healthy US-Style Pattern (Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 (opens in new tab)). Vegetables and dairy in cups; grains and protein in ounce-equivalents.
How much energy the guidelines add
The extra energy is smaller than the "eating for two" myth suggests — and it arrives in stages:
- First trimester — no increase. Your base pattern holds.
- Second trimester — about 340 more calories a day.
- Third trimester — about 452 more a day.
- Breastfeeding — about 330 more a day for the first 6 months, 400 for months 7–12.
These are the increments the MyPlate Plan calculator applies on its default IOM 2005 equations; the NASEM 2023 setting uses that report's own pregnancy and lactation equations, which shift with your age, size and activity. Either way these are starting points to discuss with your provider, not targets to hit to the calorie.
Do I need to eat for two?
Not really — "eating for two" overstates it. Under the IOM energy equations behind our calculator, the extra energy is modest: nothing in the first trimester, and only a few hundred calories a day in the second and third (the exact figures are in the base-pattern section above). Breastfeeding adds a similar amount. The bigger change isn't volume — it's density: those extra calories should carry more folate, iron, iodine, choline, and protein, not just more food.
Starting points, not prescriptions
Do I need more of every nutrient?
No. Pregnancy and breastfeeding raise the targets for a specific set of nutrients while most others hold steady. Folate rises to 600 mcg, iron to 27 mg, and iodine to 220 mcg in pregnancy, and protein climbs from 46 to 71 grams and stays there through nursing — while calcium, for one, stays at 1,000 mg the whole time. The table above lists the DRIs side by side; the practical meaning is to eat more nutrient-dense food, not simply more of it.
What happened to USDA's pregnancy nutrition page?
MyPlate.gov carried a set of life-stage pages, and one applied the plate to pregnancy and breastfeeding — the same five food groups, framed for expecting and nursing parents. When USDA retired the MyPlate.gov website in January 2026 alongside the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines, that page went offline with the rest of the site; the science behind it did not.
The food-pattern tables and Dietary Reference Intakes that set those numbers are still published, and this page rebuilds the guidance from them — independently of USDA, which appears here only as the source of the data. For the fuller story, see our explainer on what happened to MyPlate, or the sibling life-stage guide, MyPlate for older adults.
Where do I get a personalized plan?
Two free tools here turn this guidance into your own numbers. The MyPlate Plan calculator takes your age, height, weight, activity, and pregnancy or breastfeeding status and returns a daily calorie target plus food-group amounts. The DRI calculator gives your full vitamin and mineral targets for the 14–18, 19–30, or 31–50 pregnancy and lactation brackets.
Bring the numbers to your provider
MyPlate for pregnancy & breastfeeding — frequently asked questions
Is MyPlate still used during pregnancy in 2026?
Which nutrients increase the most during pregnancy?
How many extra calories do I need during pregnancy?
Is this page medical advice?
Sources
Every figure on this page traces to a public federal source. MyPlate.food is independent and not affiliated with the USDA, HHS, the NIH, or the National Academies — they appear here only as source credits.
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 (opens in new tab) — USDA & HHS. The Healthy US-Style Pattern food-group amounts and the added-nutrient guidance behind this page.
- Dietary Reference Intakes — National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (opens in new tab) — The RDA/AI nutrient targets for pregnancy and lactation, including protein.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Folate (opens in new tab) — Neural-tube development; the RDA rises to 600 mcg in pregnancy.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Iron (opens in new tab) — Expanded blood volume; the RDA rises to 27 mg in pregnancy.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Iodine (opens in new tab) — Fetal brain development; needs are highest while breastfeeding.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements — Choline (opens in new tab) — Fetal brain and spinal-cord development across both stages.
- RealFood.gov — Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030 (opens in new tab) — Where federal nutrition guidance moved after MyPlate.gov was retired in January 2026.
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