Paying future mothers to eat better

Filed in archive Pre/Post Natal on September 10, 2007

When I was pregnant I cut down on many things.
I am a coffee lover but I only had decaf and I didn´t drink any Coke nor did I eat sweets. Until in the end of my pregnancy when I started eating sweets again " I´m not gaining any weight so I´m sure it can´t be that bad". Yes I know, it was really silly of me.

The British Government doesn´t seem to think their future moms are eating very well so they are now giving £200 to pregnant women to spend on food. But only after 29 weeks of gestation. The project is called "Health in Pregnancy Grant" and will be a one off payment only.

Women on a poor diet during pregnancy are more likely to have low birthweight babies.
That increases their baby's risk of poor health during childhood and during their adult life.

Read the full article at BBC news.uk

Personally I´m not sure this will work. I think it would be better to offer additional health information. To teach pregnant women about healthy food and give them more advice and examples that they feel are useful and can apply to their lives.

Do you think this will help pregnant women to eat better?