Pregnant women can find it incredibly confusing to get a good grasp of what they can and cannot eat or drink when pregnant. Balanced nutrition is essential in pregnancy, but knowing how to meet your daily nutrition requirements can be frustrating.

You may have thought of drinking Ensure to meet your dietary requirements. But the question remains: Can you drink Ensure while pregnant? 

If morning sickness makes it challenging for you to gain weight appropriately during pregnancy, you may benefit immensely from drinking Ensure. 

A healthy diet for complete and balanced nutrition is the best way to ensure that your baby thrives from the foods you eat. However, some pregnant women feel better with a supplement to know that complete nutrition is being met.

Drinking Ensure is one of the best nutritional supplements besides your prenatal vitamin. It can boost your regular healthy diet for optimal nutrition.

What is Ensure?

Ensure drinks are owned by parent company Abbott Nutrition, which strives to help consumers meet optimal nutrition needs. In business for over 100 years, Abbott Nutrition has become a trusted brand of nutritional products that claim to help people stay healthy and provide the nutrients that may be lacking in their regular diet.

How do you drink Ensure?

Abbott Nutrition offers two different ways to get the essential nutrients in your system. 

Ready-to-drink shakes

These are great for people on the go. They come in very convenient single-serving sizes. The ready-to-drink option comes in two variations. One contains dairy, while the other is a dairy-free version for people who suffer from lactose intolerance.

Powder form

Ensure is also offered in powder form. You can mix the nutrition shake yourself to meet your dietary needs.

How does Ensure taste?

Aside from having a stronger sense of smell, some pregnant moms also have more sensitive palates. It makes it even harder to choose which food to eat. 

Pregnant moms must also be very conscious about the nutritional value of everything they drink or eat. Your high-quality, healthy shake doesn’t have to taste bland and unsavory. It should be enjoyable to savor when hunger strikes.

Abbott Nutrition has done everything to cater to its target consumers’ flavor palates. There are a variety of options available.

Ensure is offered in seven tasty flavors for people who seek to supplement with it or use it as a meal replacement. They are:

• Vanilla
• Chocolate
• Dark Chocolate
• Banana Nut
• Strawberry
• Coffee Latte
• Butter Pecan

Can you drink Ensure while pregnant?

Pregnant women should always seek professional medical advice before using any supplement. 

However, by and large, drinking Ensure while pregnant has been accepted by most mothers-to-be and their doctors as a way to maintain proper nutrition and boost their immune systems.

Why drink Ensure?

If you’re already taking a prenatal vitamin, why drink Ensure? 

Well, there are many reasons. If you are wondering how drinking Ensure may benefit you and meet your specific needs during pregnancy, consider the following reasons why many pregnant women drink Ensure.

1. Extreme morning sickness

Some pregnant women take apple cider vinegar to combat morning sickness, but the taste can be off-putting. You will be happy to learn that drinking Ensure can help prevent nausea in pregnant women. 

You may have issues with vomiting in your early pregnancy (though some experience this during the entirety of their pregnancy) and can’t seem to keep food down. If so, even the highest quality prenatal vitamin may not be able to meet your nutritional needs.

If you take your vitamin and then vomit soon after, there’s a good chance you aren’t retaining all the nutrients that vitamin is supposed to offer you. 

If you drink Ensure, you can take in a supplement to help you retain your health and guarantee that your baby isn’t missing out on any of the vitamins and minerals they need for proper development and health.

2. Issues with proper weight gain

Maintaining proper weight is a requirement in pregnancy. It’s suggested that you consume around 340-450 extra calories during your second and third trimesters of pregnancy. The exact number depends upon your health and weight before pregnancy.

Contrary to that old wives’ tale, you aren’t really “eating for two.” Drinking Ensure can help you feel fuller longer while meeting most of your nutritional needs if you are having trouble with too much weight gain during pregnancy.

On the other side of the coin, if you are having trouble gaining enough weight for a healthy pregnancy, drinking Ensure can help in giving you a much-needed nutritional boost to gain the weight you need.

3. Nutritional gaps

Prenatal vitamins help to meet the nutritional demands of a healthy pregnancy. However, some women find that dietary supplements help when added to their daily regimen. 

Some moms-to-be are deficient in a specific nutritional area or have a sensitivity or intolerance to certain foods. Iron and calcium are the two of the critical vitamins and minerals recommended during pregnancy. Drinking Ensure during pregnancy can help supplement your body with these two essential minerals to maintain overall health for yourself and your baby. 

Nutrition shakes such as Ensure can help fill in any nutrition gaps that pregnant women may find themselves in need of filling.

If you can relate, it may be time to ask your obstetrician or health care providers if they support your decision to add it to your daily diet regimen.

While you will most likely be encouraged to take this nutritional drink, your doctor will want to ensure that you don’t have an underlying medical concern that will prevent you from benefiting from this healthy drink. Pregnant women must be careful with what they ingest, especially in the first trimester. A doctor’s approval is even necessary for over-the-counter cold remedies.

The benefits of drinking Ensure while pregnant

We’ve answered the question: Can a pregnant woman drink Ensure? The answer is a resounding yes. We’ve also discussed why some women choose to drink Ensure during pregnancy.

But what are the exact benefits of drinking Ensure during pregnancy?

1. Immune system support

Drinking Ensure can support immune system health because it has 32 nutrients. This fact alone means that Ensure drinks are great for your immune system.

In particular, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, protein, and Vitamin A and Vitamin D help boost your immune system to prevent illness and have a healthy baby.

When you’re ill and pregnant, you’ll find out quickly that you can’t take much in the way of over-the-counter medications. So it’s best to build the most robust immune system you can.

2. Great for breastfeeding women

A baby’s growth after birth depends on proper nutrition. Breastfeeding women should consume more vitamins and minerals than bottle-feeding mothers to continue producing breast milk to feed their babies.

With nutrition scientifically designed to give you the best shot at optimal nutrition, lactating women who have one or two servings of Ensure each day can maintain their health while breastfeeding their little ones. You may even add fruits to your Ensure to make healthy smoothies.

Ensure can also be used as a healthy meal replacement to help lose weight postpartum. Just be sure that you are continuing to consume enough calories during the day to lose weight healthily.

3. High-quality protein

Protein is vital, especially for most pregnant women. It helps with immune support, proper weight management, and general health. 

Low protein foods like snack cakes and foods packed with preservatives don’t provide the nutritional value pregnant mothers need.

Each serving of Ensure has protein that can help a pregnant woman meet her nutritional needs and support the baby’s healthy development. In just one serving of Ensure, you will find whey protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, and milk protein isolate.

A variety of protein options

There are a few different types of Ensure that you can purchase if meeting protein requirements is your concern. 

Aside from the regular Ensure drink, you have the options of Ensure Max Protein, Ensure Complete, and Ensure Plus.

Each of these options has grams of protein to maintain excellent health, but they come in different concentrations:

• Ensure: 9 grams
• Ensure Plus: 16 grams
• Ensure Complete: 30 grams
• Ensure Max: 30 grams

There are also Ensure protein bars that contain various amounts of grams of protein. Be sure to read the labels carefully to make the best decision to meet your individual needs. 

The number of grams of protein in your diet can also help you stave off the frequent cravings often associated with pregnancy.

Can you drink protein shakes while pregnant?

Pregnancy is when many women worry about what they are putting in their bodies, and rightly so. While protein shakes are generally considered safe to consume while pregnant, you should always ask your doctor first.

Solid foods, in combination with a vitamin supplement, either prescribed or recommended by your doctor, are most likely all you need in most cases.

However, if you need or want more of a boost for your nutrition or protein level, then protein shakes are usually considered okay to consume.

Pay attention to caffeine

Protein shakes often contain caffeine, a substance you need to limit when pregnant. Most doctors recommend that you abstain from consuming more than one cup of coffee or caffeinated drink each day. 

Be sure to check the label of any drink you consume to stay under or at the suggested caffeine limit as advised by your doctor.

Conclusion

A pregnant woman can drink Ensure once she has checked with her doctor first. This sort of drink is a great option for an expecting mother who is underweight, has issues with nausea and vomiting while pregnant, or has special nutritional needs.

Caffeine intake is something that you should limit during pregnancy. Most shakes and drinks that have protein in them also contain caffeine. 

Always check labels and be aware of how much caffeine you have consumed per day. Too much caffeine can pose a risk to both your health and the health and development of your baby.

If you wish to include Ensure in your pregnancy diet, after giving birth, or while breastfeeding, consult your physician. Read the labels carefully when you select the specific variety for you. 

Ensure is considered safe to consume during pregnancy, in moderation. As with all things in life, moderation is key.