Do you really need more carbs when pregnant?

[Stuntman]

I have been eating a low carb diet, sometimes very low carb with intermittent fasting, for a couple of years now. A few weeks ago I found out I was pregnant and the Internet consensus is that pregnant women need more carbs as ketones are bad for the baby's development.

So I tried to increase my carbs with sweet potato, butternut squash, white potato, white rice, carrots and milk. Unfortunately the extra carbs have set off serious carb cravings and soon enough I was finding excuses to eat cake, ice cream and chips with curry sauce not all at the same time, I may be pregnant but I'm not that bad (yet!) Four weeks later I have already gained 4 kg and I'm still hungry all the time. My IBS is coming back too which I had been free from for ages.

Now I'm wondering if I really need to be eating all these extra carbs or is it just a case of ketones might be bad for the baby? I don't want to do anything that would be bad for the baby but at the same time the way I am eating now seems to be very bad for me.

Hi
Hopefully my lil anecdote will help you decide :)

I stayed low carb throughout my pregnancy (had a brilliant one). I did though add a banana and an apple to my breakfast as I felt I needed a little more energy, with the occasional sweet potato and butternut squash with dinner. So I was prob around 80-ish gr of carb a day if that.

There are quite conflicting advice's out there and some just downright dangerous like the purple book food guidance :(
and like you say is it the case it "might be" there for we shall say IT is?

I did get alot of help and reassurance from 2 mw's and a dr. who all were very pro low-carb.
While I really had to battle with quite a number of other mw's who were certain I was doing the wrong thing, till I cited some research on the benefits of low carb diet. Don't know if they just couldn't be bothered to answer me properly especially when I was so rude to ask for proper research done on why we might need more carbs during pregnancy.

I figured I was eating very healthy so how on earth could that not be beneficial to me and my baby? I made sure I had a very varied diet and figured quite a few nations were low carb eaters back in the days and are still up and running so.. :)

I did find out I couldn't be low carb (40-50gr) and breastfeed, it just really cut my production, so I just stuck with healthy good carbs from fruits and veggies.

Thanks Jamie, it's great to know it can be done. I've cut down on carbs a bit since I posted (although still eating extra) and that's knocked the IBS on the head again. I clearly have no control when it comes to carbs, I just can't say no. There's also that pregnancy entitlement feeling that you should be able to eat whatever you want.

Almost forgot. Congrats on your pregnancy Stuntman:)
I'm a firm believer in the body tells us what we need (although I really really did ignore it when it said "you don't need that chocolate") and used that throughout my pregnancy, I did get an extreme craving for coke for about 2 weeks and figured I needed more "fast energy" at that point and upped my carb intake for that time.

And advise I got from my doc as well was make sure you stock your self up with good calcium rich food (I put cheese on EVERYTHING, c'mon dr.s orders :D)