Why Liver Matters (And Why Your Midwife Might Bring It Up)
If you've ever had a midwife casually mention liver in an antenatal appointment, you're not imagining it — it comes up more than you'd think.
Iron is one of the most common things we check and manage across pregnancy and postpartum. It's a standard part of antenatal bloodwork, a standard part of postnatal recovery conversations, and one of the most common reasons women feel flat, foggy, or wiped out when everything else checks out fine. Australian dietary guidelines already flag iron as one of the nutrients women often fall short on during pregnancy — so it's not exactly a fringe topic.
So when the usual iron tablets aren't sitting well — and for a lot of women, they genuinely don't — food becomes part of the conversation. And liver, gram for gram, is one of the most concentrated sources of iron and B12 you can eat. Grass-fed Aussie beef and lamb liver (the stuff sitting quietly at the back of most local butchers) is about as nutrient-dense as food gets.
Why supplements aren't always the answer
Oral iron is notorious for causing constipation, nausea, and general GI upset — right when you've already got enough going on. It's one of the most common complaints we hear, and it's a real reason women stop taking their iron altogether, which isn't the outcome anyone wants.
Food-based iron isn't a replacement for what your GP or midwife has recommended, but it's a genuinely useful thing to have in your back pocket when tablets are hard to tolerate.
The quieter nutrients: choline and folate
Folate gets a lot of airtime in preconception planning, and for good reason. Choline gets talked about far less, but it belongs in the same conversation — it's one of those nutrients that matters early on and that a lot of diets fall short on. Liver happens to be one of the richest natural sources of both.
Postpartum and breastfeeding
Recovering after birth and feeding a baby both draw heavily on your iron stores and overall nutrient reserves. This is exactly the territory midwives and lactation consultants sit in day to day — energy, recovery, "why do I feel like this," what to eat when you have zero brainpower left for meal planning. Liver fits naturally into that conversation as one option among many, not a rule to follow.
If cooking liver from scratch feels like a big ask in the newborn haze, there are good Aussie-made liver pâtés and liver-based baby food purées on the shelf these days too — an easy way to get the benefits without standing over a pan.
How much, and how often
A little goes a long way here — liver is nutrient-dense, so it doesn't need to be a daily habit to make a difference. Treating it as an occasional addition rather than an everyday food is the simple version of "how much," and it's worth chatting to your midwife, GP, or dietitian if you want it tailored to you specifically.
You don't need to overhaul your diet or add liver to your weekly shop to be doing well. But if you're someone who struggles with iron, tablets don't agree with you, or you're just after genuinely nutrient-dense options in the newborn haze — it's worth knowing it's there.
Harriet Blannin-Ferguson is a Registered Child and Family Health Midwife and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC)
