The most crucial phase of a woman's life is pregnancy. For all the new moms it's a bit overwhelming yet a mystifying adventure.
Your body changes drastically when it prepares for a miracle baby and it's very important to take care of yourself and precious one.
So, if you're expecting a baby then follow these simple do's and don'ts rules to make your pregnancy a happier and healthier experience.
Steps to a healthy pregnancy
1. Eat a healthy and well-balanced diet:
Your body functions according to the food you eat and during pregnancy when all the hormone levels are fluctuating, it's crucial to maintain a healthy balanced diet and healthy habits.
You must have-
- Fruits and vegetables in at least five portions, fresh ones are highly recommended.
- A high portion of carbohydrates including bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes.
- Sufficient amount of dairy foods and protein containing foods like meat, fish, eggs, beans and pulses
- Fish should be consumed at least two times a week as it contains vitamin D and Omega-3 fatty acids, important for baby's development.
- Drink ample amount of pure water and other liquids, teas and skimmed milk.
2. Regular exercise
It's a big misconception that a pregnant woman should not exercise and tire her body. But the fact is that even science suggests is opting for a regular gentle exercise.
Exercising helps to maintain a healthy weight and balance blood pressure, preparing a body for a healthy delivery. It has magical powers to avoid Post-Partum Depression as well.
Along with exercise, you should rest properly and get lots of sleep too.
Here's a video demonstrating a gentle warm up exercise to boost your health during pregnancy. Must watch!
3. Intake of daily supplement
Apart from exercise and healthy diet, taking supplements like vitamin D, folic acid, calcium, and iron is another step to foster healthy development of a baby.
Folic acid reduces the birth defects like spina bifida whereas Vit. D is necessary for baby's skeleton and bone health.
4. See your doctor regularly
When it's your first child, getting proper insight from the professionals is the best help you can get. Make an appointment with your doctor weekly if possible and talk about the changes and problems you are facing.
Take the proper tests and ultrasound scans to keep the track of your baby. You can also register for pregnancy classes and training.
What to avoid during pregnancy?
Despite following all the major steps, sometimes, some of us might go off the track and do things that are a potential harm to the baby as well as the mother.
That's why it's important to know the things to avoid during pregnancy.
1. Avoid Smoking and alcohol consumption
Let's face it guys, drinking and smoking cause nothing but harm to our health and during pregnancy, it's a strict no-no.
Women who smoke and drink during pregnancy have a higher chance of having an unhealthy baby with low weight and disabilities.
Not only this, upon alcohol consumption, babies are likely to develop Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) characterized by low birth weight, behavior problems, learning disabilities and so on.
2. Don't eat fast food and raw foods
Fast food like hot dogs, sausages, cured meat, canned foods has a higher risk of causing food-borne infections like listeriosis.
Listeriosis can even lead to miscarriage and serious health problems of a baby after birth. Avoid eating raw meats, unpasteurized milk, and cheese.
3. Avoid eating for two
During pregnancy our body utilizes more energy and hence absorb more nutrients from the food we eat. But consuming everything twice as normal doesn't enhance baby's healthy, but instead can cause excessive weight gain rising complications.
It's okay to gain 25 to 35 pounds during pregnancy but overweight can result problems like gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and preeclampsia( a pregnancy disorder causing proteinuria and high blood pressure.)
4. Avoid electromagnetic radiation
EM(Electromagnetic) radiations are emitted from X-Ray machines and therapy machines at hospitals and health care centres.
While visiting your doctor, you must avoid going these places as they can result in miscarriage. Not only this, computers, mobile phones microwave, powerlines and wireless networks at home, too emit EM radiation so, excessive use of these should be avoided.
Learn more about common women health problems and health tips right here in MarriedWiki.