This paper will review recent sow nutrition research and suggest feeding strategies for sows. Firstly, the requirement for amino acids must be greater in late gestation compared to early gestation. Overfeeding in early gestation results in a waste of feed and money, while underfeeding in late gestation leads to sows entering lactation in a severe catabolic state.  Secondly, the changes in amino acid requirement have important consequences. The magnitude of change in requirements makes it nearly impossible to satisfy the requirements using a single diet during gestation and the data show that the amino acid ratios change as pregnancy progresses and as sows age. Threonine and isoleucine requirements increased, relative to lysine, from early to late gestation while the tryptophan to lysine ratio showed little change. The threonine to lysine ratio was greater for both early and late gestation in the third vs. second parity. These changes in ideal amino acid ratios for sows are probably caused by the changing contributions of requirements for maintenance and maternal and fetal growth to total amino acid requirements. In terms of energy requirements, it can be expected that energy requirements increase as pregnancy progresses because of sow weight gain and because of the exponential growth of fetuses. The benefits of increasing feed allowance especially for young sows are not only the maintenance of sows’ body reserves before parturition, but also reduced backfat loss during lactation so that less feed may be needed in the next parity to enable the sows to regain body mass lost in lactation.