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It is always important to
take whatever steps you can to be healthy, but while you are
pregnant it is even more important: not only do you need to take
good care of yourself, you are also profoundly affecting the
life of another person – your baby. Here's 7 tips to help you
along the way.
1.If you smoke, one of
the most important things you can do is to stop smoking: babies
born to mothers who smoke have a lower average birth weight, are
more likely to be born prematurely, and are at greater risk of
death from sudden infant death syndrome than babies of
non-smokers. Sometimes mothers feel having a low birth weight
baby could be an advantage as it will make the baby easy to
deliver. This is not necessarily the case, as it may lead to an
emergency delivery, which can result in all sorts of
complications. Even if you are already pregnant, stopping
smoking will benefit the baby for the rest of your pregnancy. It
is not only the baby who benefits. You are likely to suffer from
less morning sickness, experience fewer complications and have a
more contented baby after the birth.
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2. It is also important
to pay attention to your diet. Many women feel they should ‘eat
for two’, but research has shown that women only need an extra
200-300 calories a day while pregnant, and you may be eating
those extra calories anyway. What is important is to ensure that
you get the protein, vitamins and minerals necessary to build
another human being. Those extra 200-300 calories should not be
squandered on chocolate or crisps, but should be eaten as fruit,
vegetables, etc. It is also important to increase your water
intake, which will help avoid constipation.
3. It is generally a good
idea to take a good quality multivitamin and mineral supplement
too. There are now ones specially formulated for pregnant women.
Ideally these should be started before you become pregnant, so
that you are in the best shape possible for the pregnancy, and
then continued throughout your pregnancy. An adequate supply of
vitamins and minerals is important right from conception. For
example, a deficiency of one of the B vitamins, folic acid, in
the first month of pregnancy may lead to the baby being born
with a cleft lip, congenital heart disease or spina bifida.
Omega-3 fatty acids (obtained by eating oily fish, flaxseed oil,
walnuts, spinach and spirulina, or taken as a supplement) are
important for the development of the baby’s eyes and brain.
Omega-3 also reduces the risk of premature birth and post-natal
depression.
4. Nobody knows how much
alcohol it is safe to consume during pregnancy, so many health
experts feel it is better to avoid alcohol entirely for the sake
of the baby. This can seem hard on the pregnant woman when
everyone else is drinking, but it is important to remember that
alcohol is a poison for the growing baby, and no caring mother
willingly gives her baby poison.
5. Pregnancy is not a
time to sit still. Although adequate rest is vitally important,
most experts believe that healthy pregnant women should be
taking 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day.
6. It is also important
to minimise exposure to toxic chemicals while pregnant, so
spending a lot of time painting the house and laying new carpets
is not a good idea, especially in the early stages of pregnancy
when the baby is particularly vulnerable.
7. Many women find
pregnancy stressful, and this can be a particularly good time to
turn to safe, non-invasive options such as Bach flower remedies,
homeopathy, kinesiology and other therapies.
Making a new life is
something miraculous. Doing the best you can for that new life
starts long before you have the baby in your arms for the first
time.
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