Lay summary
Expecting mothers need to increase food intake to meet the energy demands of the growing fetus, and to store energy as fat in preparation for lactation. The concept of “eating for two” is commonly accepted, but we have little understanding of what drives this increased appetite. It requires adaptive changes in the mother’s brain to overcome the normal regulatory systems that control appetite. In the current environment, such changes make women more susceptible to excessive weight gain during pregnancy, which can have long-term health risks for mother and baby. Neurons expressing AgRP in the hypothalamus region of the brain are recognised as the critical neurons driving food intake. Here we propose state-of-the-art techniques to monitor AgRP neuronal activity in conscious females throughout pregnancy and lactation. Our aim is to understand how this important appetite-regulating neuron population adapts to increase food intake during pregnancy.