MyPlate's five food groups during pregnancy and breastfeeding, plus the nutrients that rise — folate, iron, iodine, choline, and protein — with DRI targets for pregnancy vs breastfeeding vs a non-pregnant adult and daily food-group amounts by calorie level. Educational; plan changes with your provider.
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
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 (mcg, RDA) — Jumps to 600 mcg in pregnancy — the guideline behind the folic-acid message for early development. | 400 | 600 | 500 |
| Iron (mg, RDA) — Rises to 27 mg in pregnancy to support expanded blood volume, then eases to 9 mg while nursing. | 18 | 27 | 9 |
| Iodine (mcg, RDA) — Climbs through pregnancy and is highest while breastfeeding (290 mcg), when it passes into breast milk. | 150 | 220 | 290 |
| Choline (mg, AI) — An adequate-intake target that rises across both stages, highest at 550 mg while nursing. | 425 | 450 | 550 |
| Protein (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, shown for the 19–30 bracket. See the DRI calculator for the 14–18 and 31–50 pregnancy and lactation brackets.
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 — but by less than most people expect.
| 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). 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:
These are the increments the MyPlate Plan calculator applies, from the IOM energy equations — starting points to discuss with your provider, not targets to hit to the calorie.
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 — Your pre-pregnancy weight, activity, and how your pregnancy is progressing all shift the number. Use the free MyPlate Plan calculator for an estimate, then set your actual target with your prenatal-care provider.
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.
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.
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 — These tools are educational estimates from public federal data, not medical advice. Pregnancy and breastfeeding needs are individual — use the numbers as a starting point and confirm your plan with your OB, midwife, or a registered dietitian.
Yes. Although USDA retired the MyPlate.gov website — including its pregnancy-and-breastfeeding page — in January 2026, the five food groups and the food-pattern amounts behind them remain published and valid, as do the Dietary Reference Intakes for pregnancy and lactation. This page applies that guidance, and the free MyPlate Plan calculator personalizes it. It is educational and not a substitute for care from your provider.
Under the Dietary Reference Intakes, folate rises to 600 micrograms, iron to 27 milligrams, and iodine to 220 micrograms a day during pregnancy, and protein climbs from 46 to 71 grams. Choline (an adequate-intake target) rises too and is highest while breastfeeding. Many other nutrients, including calcium, stay the same. The key-nutrients table on this page lists the values side by side.
The IOM energy equations used by our calculator add no extra calories in the first trimester, about 340 a day in the second, and about 452 in the third. While breastfeeding, the increase is roughly 330 calories a day for the first six months and 400 after that. These are population averages — your provider can adjust them for your weight and how your pregnancy is progressing.
No. MyPlate.food is independent and not affiliated with the USDA; this page presents public USDA food-pattern data and National Academies Dietary Reference Intakes for educational use. Nutrition needs during pregnancy and breastfeeding are individual, and some conditions require specific guidance, so use this as a starting point and confirm any changes with your OB, midwife, or a registered dietitian.
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.