Pregnancy is a beautiful yet sometimes challenging time with all the changes your body goes through, both physiologically and mentally. Common pregnancy discomforts have become the norm, and many risks/complications have been blamed on uncontrollable factors or blamed on genetics. However, this doesn’t have to be the case.

You already know that proper nutrition is a crucial foundation for a healthy pregnancy and a thriving baby. But finding a prenatal nutritionist who is well-versed in more than just the standard dietary guidelines can be challenging. Many healthcare providers adhere strictly to conventional advice, which may not always align with the latest research or the unique needs of each individual. Moreover, outdated advice may not necessarily help reduce your risk (or severity of) pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes or preeclampsia.

As someone who has devoted my career to prenatal nutrition (and nutrition across the childbearing years) and who has specifically spent years examining the origins of — and accuracy of — our nutrition guidelines for pregnancy, it’s been tough for me to find quality referrals to well-trained prenatal nutritionists.

This article aims to guide you in locating a prenatal nutritionist who embraces a real food and research-driven approach to pregnancy nutrition. We will explore the key qualities to look for in a nutritionist, where to find these specialized practitioners, and how they can make your pregnancy easier and more enjoyable.

Moreover, for healthcare professionals aspiring to specialize in prenatal nutrition or become a certified prenatal nutritionist, we will outline the essential steps to build your expertise in this field. 

Whether you’re a mom-to-be seeking the best nutritional guidance or a healthcare provider aiming to deepen your expertise, this article will explain what to look for in a prenatal nutritionist (and if you’re a healthcare provider looking to specialize in this area, what to look for in advanced training in prenatal nutrition).

Let’s first tackle how to find a quality prenatal nutritionist.

How to find a prenatal nutritionist who is well-trained

This is the million dollar question!

While my background is in nutrition and dietetics, most of my education in prenatal nutrition came after my formal training — and much of that was completed on my own time. And no, this article is NOT a pitch to work with me. I’m actually not accepting new clients at this time (outside of the support I provide to members of my online gestational diabetes course).

As with searching for any practitioner, you’ll want to start by checking what their educational background is and what their approach to nutrition is as a whole. The nutrition field is full of conflicting (and strong!) opinions, so you want someone who is aligned with your views on food.

I personally prefer to hire practitioners with a strong science background, but also years of real world clinical experience, as there’s a lot we can learn from our own clients. Scientists don’t always make great clinicians, but great clinicians also need to stay up-to-date on the latest science — you need a bit of both!

If you’re reading this article specifically because you’re looking for someone who takes a similar approach to myself, as outlined in my books (Real Food for Pregnancy, Real Food for Fertility, and Real Food for Gestational Diabetes), it’s a good idea to ask the practitioner you’re considering working with whether they’re familiar with my work and what their opinion is of it.

If you turn to someone who is simply repeating the standard prenatal nutrition guidelines (which is sadly the norm in our current healthcare system), there’s a good chance you’re not going to get accurate advice.

Here’s some shocking statistics on prenatal nutrition

It takes 17 years for new research to make it into clinical practice (and even longer for those changes to be reflected in policy).

• 47% of U.S. women of childbearing age are deficient in at least one micronutrient
• 67% of U.S. pregnant women are not consuming optimal amounts of protein
• New research has revealed that the RDA for a number of nutrients is an underestimate of the true requirement for pregnancy

In case you’re wondering what this ultimately means and why it matters –  if you simply go by the conventional guidelines, you are missing the mark on optimal prenatal nutrition. Better prenatal nutrition can influence not only a mother’s health, but her child’s lifelong risk of disease and metabolic dysfunction. This is why getting guidance from a prenatal nutritionist who is well-trained and up-to-speed on current research is so crucial.

So let’s jump in to what to look for in a prenatal nutritionist more specifically.

Top skills to look for in a prenatal nutritionist

Here’s a short list of the top skills I recommend looking for when screening a potential prenatal nutritionist. I cannot stress the importance of finding someone with specific training in assessing the nutrient needs of pregnancy and who has evidence-based knowledge of managing pregnancy complications. 

1. Advanced clinical skills in prenatal nutrition

A seasoned prenatal nutritionist has clinical skills related to various prenatal conditions and knowledge in preventing risks and managing pregnancy complications and discomforts (if you happen to experience these, you want someone who can help you get relief quickly!).

2. Deep understanding of lab tests

Knowledge of which lab tests to order (and when and why!) is a must-have in a prenatal nutrition professional. You often have to advocate for lab tests beyond the basics offered by a typical OBGYN because the current paradigm of prenatal care does not necessarily focus on prevention. For example, some lab tests can indicate whether additional nutrient supplementation is warranted (or contraindicated) to reduce the risk of developing pregnancy complications. They can also guide whether any dietary tweaks would be helpful. But lab tests can become a rabbit hole quickly. You don’t want to waste money on unnecessary tests or have an inexperienced provider applying incorrect reference ranges for your stage of pregnancy (this is shockingly common; I experienced this first hand in one of my pregnancies!). You really need a provider who understands what to order, when, why, how to interpret the results in context of all of your other labs, and who also has the skills to create an actionable plan based on those results. This is a rarer skillset than many people realize, as these skills are NOT taught in conventional dietetics or nutritionist training programs. Assessing nutritional status is very frequently done incorrectly by other medical providers too (such as assessing iron status, but that’s a rant for another day!).

3. Realistic approach to real food nutrition

If you’re a fan of my books, you probably want someone who also takes a real food approach, but you also want to see whether their approach with clients is kind and supportive or rigid and restrictive. There are ALL types of practitioners out there, from the extremes of “clean eating always, no exceptions!” to “all foods fit; everything in moderation.” My recommendation is to look for someone who is somewhere in the middle. Yes, we want to prioritize nutrient-density; however, it is just as essential that your prenatal nutritionist is supportive, realistic, and willing to work with the constraints of your lifestyle and budget.

4. Focus on optimization

A skilled prenatal nutritionist should be familiar with the limitations of the current dietary recommendations for pregnancy (including micronutrients and macronutrients), so when they’re guiding your food and supplement choices, they’re not just hitting baseline needs, but optimal levels. We want you to have the healthiest pregnancy possible (for you and baby), after all!

5. Supplementation expertise

With so many supplements options out there, a prenatal nutritionist should be able to provide clear guidance on when supplementation is necessary, and what forms are the best for your individual needs (not all supplements or prenatals are created equal). There are unfortunately a lot of vitamin brands (especially prenatals) that are all marketing and their label claims are not at all a reflection of what’s truly in the product. It’s a wild world out in the supplement industry! Be wary of any providers who only back a single supplement brand. That’s a pretty good sign that the company has bought their endorsement or they have an exclusive brand deal. Beware of social media influencers claiming to be prenatal nutritionists!

6. Understanding of pregnancy myths and misconceptions

There are plenty of myths and misconceptions out there, so you need someone you can trust to help sift through all the noise and share evidence-based truths as a part of their guidance (yes, there is plenty of evidence out there to bust many common myths). 

7. Individualized approach to prenatal nutrition 

No cookie cutter plans, please! Believe it or not, nutrition is not black and white, and prenatal nutrition recommendations should be individualized to meet the needs of your unique circumstances and goals, with the ability to adjust as you do throughout pregnancy. 

8. Professional prenatal nutrition mentorship or training 

Completing a prenatal nutrition certification training under a seasoned research-based professional in prenatal nutrition means they have learned from someone who not only keeps up with the research, but has also put it into practice — which often is where you learn the most. (No matter the title, you cannot assume the training someone has received; even RDs and MDs do not obtain sufficient prenatal education in the standard curriculum).

9. Evidence-based recommendations 

If a practitioner is not keeping up with the ever-changing research, there’s a good chance you may receive incorrect advice. Look for someone who critically examines the current standards vs new research (not simply repeating the same ol’ outdated pregnancy nutrition guidelines)

10. Practical application of research

You want someone who not only knows the research, but understands how to apply it in practice. No one wants to work with a robot! Nor someone whose skillset is purely informed by academic literature versus working with real life humans. It’s wonderful to find someone who has at least several years of clinical experience. It’s even better to have someone who has completed formal mentorship and worked through numerous case studies to better understand how to apply their high level knowledge to actual cases. 

By now you may be thinking… “Ok Lily, this all sounds great, but how do I find a unicorn like this?!”

And I hear you! So keep reading!

Where can I find a prenatal nutritionist?

Where can you find someone who “ticks all the boxes” I’ve just outlined above. Well, I have good news!

I’ve fielded the question of “Where can I find a prenatal nutritionist?” hundreds of times, even more frequently now that I’m taking a break from one-on-one client work.

For a while, I didn’t have a reliable place to confidently refer people to. As you can see from my list above, the criteria I explain for a well-trained prenatal nutritionist is fairly extensive and vetting other practitioners’ skillset is hard.

This need for advanced training in prenatal nutrition (and vetted referral sources!) is exactly where the idea for the Institute for Prenatal NutritionⓇ (IPN) mentorship program came from.

IPN is essentially the brainchild of all that I have learned about prenatal nutrition from my decades of consulting, research, client work, writing, teaching, and advising on prenatal public policy (and, of course, what I learned personally from my own two pregnancies).

Graduates of this program are my top referral source when I get emails/DMs asking to work with me or someone similar (we receive dozens every single week). I have confidence in their work because I personally mentored them, answered their questions, reviewed their assignments and case studies, and got to know them over many months of work together.

Practitioners who complete the IPN mentorship program earn the title of Specialist in Prenatal Nutrition (SPN) and these practitioners are skilled in assessing the nutrient needs of pregnancy and designing evidence-based, real-food protocols for reducing the risk or severity of various pregnancy-related complaints.

So if you are someone who is looking to work with a Specialist in Prenatal Nutrition for nutritional support before, throughout, or after your pregnancy, you can now find them on the Institute for Prenatal Nutrition^Ⓡ Graduate Directory.

You’ll see that some practitioners on the IPN Graduate Directory are “Alumni members” and these individuals have elected to continue long term mentorship with me and additional training beyond the core curriculum of IPN.

How can I become a certified prenatal nutritionist or a specialist in prenatal nutrition?

If you’re a practitioner interested in specializing in prenatal nutrition, I invite you to check out the Institute for Prenatal NutritionⓇ (IPN) mentorship program.

Before I created IPN, I struggled to help practitioners with questions like this: 

• How do I specialize in prenatal nutrition?
• Where did you get your training and learn everything you know about supporting health in pregnancy? 
• Is there a prenatal nutrition certification course you can recommend?

Part of the reason I was never able to give a good response to these Qs is that up until I released the Institute for Prenatal NutritionⓇ Mentorship, there was NO formal training to become a prenatal nutritionist that “checked all the boxes.” 

And by “boxes”, I mean these (at a minimum):

• A critical examination of the current standards vs. new research
• A focus on nutrient-density and real food sources of nutrients
• Information about nutrition for prevention/mitigation of pregnancy complications 
• A program developed by a professional who is both a well-seasoned clinician and obsessed with research

So after years of thinking about the best way to support practitioners, I created the Institute for Prenatal NutritionⓇ Mentorship to address all these needs. And as a side benefit, I now have a referral list of practitioners that I feel confident referring people to! 

Since Real Food for Pregnancy is the number one bestselling book on prenatal nutrition (and has maintained that status since its first year on the market), the volume of prospective clients who want someone specifically trained in my methods is staggering. We receive dozens of client inquiries each week and I have no interest in building out a multi-practitioner private practice, but I do love to teach! And I do love to mentor other practitioners and help them build their clinical skill set and their own thriving practices!

The Institute for Prenatal Nutrition^Ⓡ Mentorship is a comprehensive certification course in prenatal nutrition designed for health practitioners. It is, by far, the most rewarding professional endeavor I have worked on and I’m extremely proud of the graduates of the program. 

This is an application-only, high-level program intended for healthcare providers… and I only offer a small number of seats once a year. We personally review every single application to ensure each potential candidate has the requisite training to benefit from the program (this is NOT a nutrition 101 course and the content is far more in-depth and research-heavy than any of my other materials — yes, even my books!).

This mentorship is for professionals who already have a science and nutrition background, such as dietitians and nutritionists, doctors, midwives, physician assistants, acupuncturists, and other licensed professionals.

Join the waiting list to get notified when the next enrollment period begins (enrollment only opens once per year).

Until next time,

Lily

 

PS – TL;DR? Only someone with specific training in assessing the nutrient needs of pregnancy and experience in applying evidence-based real food protocols is best suited to support your health goals during pregnancy. This is exactly what a certified prenatal nutritionist does best. If you’re looking for a Specialist in Prenatal Nutrition to help you have the healthiest pregnancy possible, visit the Institute for Prenatal Nutrition^Ⓡ Graduate Directory. 

If you’re a practitioner looking for additional training in prenatal nutrition — because, let’s be honest, it’s NOT taught in any of our programs to anywhere near the level of detail we need! — get on the waitlist for the next round of the Institute for Prenatal Nutrition^Ⓡ Mentorship.