Chorevia

Day 89 of 280 · 12 weeks + 5 days

Appetite comes back

Last reviewed · 3 min read · 10 sources · Plain-text version

As the sickness eases, appetite often returns. Today you cook the meal you've missed most, eat it slowly, and learn what eating for two really means.

Size this week
about the size of a plum
Length this week
5.4 cm from head to bottom
A woman in a loose linen shirt at a stove, stirring a pan and smiling at the smell, a partner setting two plates on the table behind her, late-afternoon kitchen light, not visibly pregnant.

Twelve weeks and five days. For weeks food may have been something to get past. Around now, for many people, it starts to be something to look forward to again. Today you cook for that.

Your baby

A single dark plum on a plain pale wooden table, soft window light.

Around now your baby is 5.4cm long from head to bottom, about the size of a plum (NHS). The organs and muscles have grown, and a heartbeat can be seen on an ultrasound (NHS). At 12 weeks the baby can make a fist, and weighs almost 1 ounce (OWH). Everything they're built from comes through you, and still, this trimester, that takes no extra food at all.

Your body

With the placenta feeding the baby, hormone levels should begin to settle, and your appetite may return as the sickness eases (NHS). Morning sickness generally eases by the second trimester (OWH), and food cravings often fade after the first 3 months (MedlinePlus).

The numbers are smaller than the phrase "eating for two" suggests. The first trimester generally requires no extra calories; the second needs about 340 more a day, and the third about 450 (CDC). The NHS puts it at about 200 extra calories a day, later in pregnancy (NHS). Either way, that's a snack, not a second dinner.

Try today

  1. The first real meal

    Time: an hour, most of it cooking

    1. Name the meal you've missed most, the one you couldn't face three weeks ago.

    2. Check it against the food-safety lists you already have. If it leans on unheated deli meat, soft cheese made from unpasteurized milk, or raw sprouts, the CDC's Listeria page says what to heat and what to swap (CDC).

    3. Cook it, or hand the recipe to someone who will.

    4. Eat it slowly, in a smaller portion than you'd have served before; small meals are MedlinePlus's first tip for heartburn (MedlinePlus).

    5. Afterwards, write one line: did it stay down, and did you enjoy it?

    Make it work:

    If nausea is still here, you're inside the normal range: symptoms may continue until the 4th month, and some people have them the whole pregnancy (MedlinePlus). Save the recipe for the week it turns.

Watch for

  • Normal

    nausea that lingers past week 12 (NHS).

    Call your provider

    for severe nausea and throwing up: if you can't drink for more than 8 hours or eat for more than 24 hours, seek care (CDC).

  • Normal

    no weight gain yet; some people put on none at all (NHS).

    Call your provider

    if you lose more than 2 pounds (1 kilogram) in a week, or if vomiting doesn't improve with home remedies (MedlinePlus).

  • Normal

    feeling light-headed if you've skipped a meal.

    Call your provider

    for dizziness or fainting; it is on the CDC's list of urgent warning signs (CDC).

For you

"Eating for two does not mean eating twice as much food" (MedlinePlus). The CDC's advice is a balanced diet high in whole grains, vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy, and lean protein, with added sugars and solid fats limited (CDC). The other direction is just as plain: "This is no time for fad or low-calorie dieting" (AAP).

If you're the partner: cook it. You've watched her turn food away for weeks; tonight, the kindest thing you can do is make the thing she asked for and not comment on how much of it she eats.

Sources

This guide is general education that summarizes published research and guidance from groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC, and the WHO. It isn’t medical advice, and every child develops on their own timeline. Your pediatrician knows your child; if something feels wrong, call them. In an emergency, call 911.

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