CNM Certified Nurse Midwife

Answer: C - The most appropriate intervention is to initiate iron supplementation. The client is demonstrating pica, an abnormal craving for nonfood substances. Pica is a symptom that is often seen in pregnant women who are deficient in iron. Encouraging the client to stop eating laundry starch may not be effective because it is usually a habit that results from a physiologic need. The attitude that cravings are an indirect way of calling attention to a pregnancy is out of date; recent research shows that cravings are the result of physiological needs