A well-planned vegan diet is safe and beneficial for all stages of life, including pregnancy. That being said, making sure that one is eating a balanced diet (just like a pregnant omnivore would) and paying attention to the intake of vitamin B12 (which is usually found in animal products) are advised. Iron (leafy greens and lots more), vitamin D (mushrooms), calcium (leafy greens and lots more), and iodine (kelp/seaweed/prunes/lima beans) are easier to come by than B12, but should also be payed attention to. All of these can be easily supplemented if necessary.

Sources:

• “The Effects of Vegetarian and Vegan Diet during Pregnancy on the Health of Mothers and Offspring” (2019) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30845641/

• “Vegetarian or vegan and pregnant” (2022) https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/vegetarian-or-vegan-and-pregnant/

• “The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Publishes Stance on Vegan and Vegetarian Diets” (2016) https://www.pcrm.org/news/health-nutrition/academy-nutrition-and-dietetics-publishes-stance-vegan-and-vegetarian-diets

• “Plant-based diets and their impact on health, sustainability and the environment” (2021) https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/349086/WHO-EURO-2021-4007-43766-61591-eng.pdf

Omnivore’s tend to be more nutrition deficient than Vegans. What do you mean by “breaking it for the child’s sake”?

Break it for the child’s sake? What do you mean by that? As long as you keep it safe for the child, there is no issue and therefore no reason to not be vegan during pregnancy

For me, the questions is rather “what supplements do you consider a ‘must take’ during pregnancy” :)

My wife went through 2 pregnancies being vegan and breastfed both kids until 9m or so. Two big and healthy kids that develop well.

She relied on a book by Keller/Gätjen to learn what to look out for. That was German though, no idea if that helps.

My wife kept being vegan (except one strong urge for a special kind of ice cream) and we have one healthy big boy.

She continued to take her supplements and added folic acid (not sure if that’s the right English name).

And I forced strongly encouraged her to eat enough protein and omega acids.

I wrote veganism, sorry idk how to edit it yet.

Generally speaking the folks here are right, you should be able to maintain veganism unless things go really sideways. I’d recommend getting in touch with a dietician though if you’re really worried (not a nutritionist, different beast) and having them go over your plans. Iron deficiency is a particular risk, one that can be easily surmounted as long as you’re aware of it… Way harder to keep iron up when pregnant even than usual, and it’s already tough as we all know.

I want to add onto my question if anyone knows about folic acid and how much one should have?

I have to admit that we broke with it in pregnancy.

But the reason was that we searched for the latest information about eating vegan during pregnancy and it was a bit confusing. Some sources said it’s save when you have some food supplements (which we had), but others said there is always a certain risk especially in regard to cholin. So that’s why my wife decided that she will eat eggs. She also had this inner desire for it during pregnancy that you typically get when you miss out on any nutrient (like when your body needs iron, you might get this inner desire for foods that are high in iron) and that was gone within a week after our child was born.

And I say “we broke” because it was our decision. I personally didn’t change anything. We found a local source for the eggs where the circumstances for the chicken could be described as the best circumstances you can have, although I don’t know where they get their chicken from (probably from the industry)

Btw, I always said that I wouldn’t change anything, not even in pregnancy if there is no latest evidence proving the vegan diet to be very risky, but when you are at that point, you wan’t it to be 100% safe. So that’s why we figured that we will do it that way