Table 4 Quotes 1–27 about determinants of eating behavior on the individual (psychological) level

(perceived) food safety

Quote 1 (pregnant woman 6): “I was not allowed to eat raw vegetables, but I ate them anyway”

Quote 2: (expecting father 1): “In the past, we occasionally went to eat somewhere, but during our pregnancy we didn’t, because we were not sure how the food was prepared.”

Food knowledge

Quote 3 (expecting father 6): “I typically cook at home, and I also do the groceries, nowadays I just walk with my phone through the supermarket searching on the internet: ‘Pregnancy and this kind of food, is it allowed?’, ‘Is this good?’, is that good?’ (…) This is for me the biggest challenge, constantly looking for ‘Can she eat this?’, let’s quickly try to find out, never mind, let’s make something different today.”

Quote 4 (first-time mother 16): “Because you know more or less if something is (un) healthy, but you have to be very conscious about it, and if you have little time, it takes a lot of time to consciously make a choice when taking food from the fridge. Yes, my partner thinks that it is easy, but I find it sometimes difficult, because I was startled about ‘so that is also unhealthy?’, while I thought that it was still okay.”

Habits

Quote 5 (pregnant women 13): “My portions became smaller, − half the amount - since I was pregnant, because I just could not eat more, otherwise I became very nauseous. Now, my portions are still the same.”

Quote 6 (pregnant women 11): “Before, I used to eat three meals a day, I’m not the kind of person that snacks a lot in between, unless occasionally a yoghurt or something in the evening, but not that often. Nowadays, I snack every day. I will have to lose that habit. (…) My partner also got used to snacking. If there are no snacks available, he remains hungry all the time.”

Quote 7 (first-time father 6): “These days it is easier to stop at a bakery for a pastry, while before I would just have baked a healthy apple cake myself, and I just have to get back into that habit, because in itself that is not a lot of work, but you have to just do it.”

Health consciousness and concerns

Quote 8 – Health consciousness (pregnant women 11): “I noticed that at first, I really tried hard since I thought, I’m pregnant so I have to make sure I eat healthily for my unborn child.”

Quote 9 – Health concerns (pregnant women 4): “I kept on drinking coffee (…), but around 7 to 8 months into my pregnancy I noticed that the baby became more active after only 2–3 sips. And then I noticed ‘probably this is not too healthy’ (…), So then I said to myself ‘I will not drink coffee or caffeinated soda anymore’. (…) But then, when I had an energy dip at work, I was like, ‘I’m going to drink a coffee anyway’, and that caused the baby to become restless again. But then I thought ‘Yes, yes, it will …; there will not be such a harm anyway’.”

Mood and emotions

Quote 10 (pregnant women 15): “I had a lot of mood swings. During the first three months it made me eat more chocolate and other snacks high in sugar.”

Quote 11 (expecting father 17): “Perhaps also in the beginning, with those hormones that where more intense, sometimes this was a very stress period, and as a result maybe we ate more often fast food.”

Worries and concerns

Quote 12 (pregnant women 6): “I didn’t want to eat anything, but truly nothing, I was really freaking out, because of fear for the ‘Glucose screening test’. Once the results came back negative, I was able to relax about it.”

Quote 13 (expecting couple):

Expecting father 4: “We were not planning to change our eating behavior, it is not that all of a sudden we would start eating meat because you are pregnant [to pregnant partner].”

Pregnant woman 6 (partner of expecting father 4): “Indeed, and that’s why for me, those first months, I was panicking because I felt that my taste preference was changing so much that I thought ‘oh no, I am not going to be able to control this’.”

Quote 14 (pregnant women 18): “That was a feeling for which I was really scared, to have these pregnancy cravings while sitting on the couch.”

Self-licensing

Quote 15 (pregnant women 20): “During pregnancy, you are not allowed to drink alcohol anymore, and working out did not go so well anymore. My thinking was that if I can’t enjoy those things anymore, I will enjoy my food anyway. During my first trimester, every now and then, I did not pay attention anymore. (…) If I had a craving for a hamburger, I would have it.”

Quote 16 (first-time father 5): “Also the fatigue, it makes that you really feel like eating unhealthy foods.”

Quote 17 (first-time father 6): “I know that it is not so disastrous because I work-out quite enough, so it is not so bad to eat unhealthy for a while.”

Self-regulation

Quote 18 - Anticipation (expecting father 5): “… we made sure we had a healthy spare meal somewhere.”

Quote 21 – Eating regulation (pregnant women 11): “I noticed that if I forced myself to eat healthy, but I would not eat enough. And then I thought ‘it might be better to eat unhealthy things, rather than not eating enough’.”

Quote 22 – Self-control (pregnant women 3): “I am eating more fruits, but sometimes I am more inclined to eating sweets, whereas before I could easily decline unhealthy food, now it is more difficult.”

Quote 24 – Self-control: (expecting father 7): “I am not going to say ‘no’ if my wife proposes to order fast food.”

Quote 25 – Weight control (pregnant women 4): “Yes, we ate healthier, (…), and also less sugar-rich food, so that weight gain was mainly due to the baby, and not because of paying less attention to your food.”

Quote 19 – Anticipation (first- time mother 7): “I have to pump breastmilk, so I am not able to join my colleagues for lunch, so I always have to make sure that I have healthy food with me.”

Quote 20 – Planning (first-time father 16): “We are planning a lot more our meals, from Sunday to Wednesday, and from Wednesday to Friday. (…) Before we used to call each other in the evening ‘Can you pick up groceries?’, while now we are actually combining these things to make shopping more efficient.”

Quote 23 – Self-control (first-time father 15): “All those birth visits during those first weeks, did not help much either: so many chips and the cookies, and I do know myself …”

Quote 26 – Weight control (first-time mother 5): “I didn’t want to become a mom who would gain 5 k with every pregnancy, and end up 20 k heavier, I really didn’t want that. So for me it was very important to return to my initial weight.”

Quote 27 – Weight control (first-time father 5): “The fact that I already had gained a lot during the pregnancy of my wife, it was so confronting, that it triggered something in me. I believe that I cook more now than before pregnancy.”