You know the assignment. Nobody had to explain it to you. Blood pressure numbers you check with a knot in your stomach. A pill organizer you'd love to throw away. Iron levels a lab report keeps flagging. Here's why willpower was never the real problem, and what actually works instead.

You're tired. There's a baby on your hip and a toddler pulling at your skirt, and somewhere in between the two of them you're still supposed to figure out dinner. Almost every mother asks the same question: "Am I feeding my kid right?" Here's what the research actually says — about animal protein, iron, the liver-and-marrow trend, and what you need too, before and after birth.