What should you do differently during your pregnancy? Here are five important prenatal tips for a healthy mother and baby.
1. Take Your Vitamins
Even if you generally avoid supplements, preferring to get your nutrition through food, you must take a prenatal vitamin while expecting. Your developing infant needs extra doses of critical nutrients like folic acid to decrease the risk of neural tube defects and congenital disabilities.
However, you should also pay attention to what you eat. Consuming plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables close to their natural form helps guarantee a sufficient intake of various micronutrients. It also hones your baby’s taste buds. If you eat nothing but processed junk foods, your child could develop similar tastes, setting them up for lifelong weight struggles.
2. Be Careful With Teas and Herbal Supplements
If you’re a fan of herbal tea, take heart. Most varieties are safe for your baby. However, some aren’t, so please check with your doctor. For example, many women drink fenugreek tea after giving birth to increase their milk supply, but taking it while pregnant can cause premature contractions and miscarriage.
Other teas become valuable later in pregnancy, including fenugreek if you go past your due date and need to induce. Another one to try toward the end of your third semester is raspberry leaf. The fragarine content in this tea strengthens your uterine wall, helping you during delivery.
3. Keep Moving in Most Cases
Doctors recommend most pregnant women exercise. If you worked out before testing positive, you can continue your routine with some caveats. Take it easy and listen to your body, as pregnancy takes more energy and nutrients and avoid contact sports where a blow to your belly could have disastrous consequences.
However, please don’t push it if your doctor recommends bed rest. Conditions such as preeclampsia and persistent second and third-trimester bleeding could make exercise dangerous.
4. Banish Morning Sickness Naturally
Morning sickness doesn’t occur with every pregnancy, and it often subsides by the beginning of your second trimester. However, there are exceptions to every rule — and even one bout leaves you begging for relief. Seek natural remedies.
For example, chewing on candied ginger can help settle an upset stomach. You can even gnaw on a piece of the raw root, although some people find it unpalatable.
Steer clear of overly greasy or spicy foods, which can worsen the condition. You shouldn’t take your prenatal vitamins on an empty stomach, so have breakfast first. It might help to keep some carbonated ginger tea and bland crackers on your night table to ease queasiness that strikes on awakening.
5. Make the Most of Your Pregnancy
Pregnancy is more than a physical event. It’s also mental and emotional — enjoy this magical time.
Why not memorialize your pregnancy by having a belly cast made if you have the means? If you have a bit more cash in the kitty, going on a babymoon offers you a chance for quiet time with your partner before 3 a.m. feedings become your new normal.
Even if you live on a shoestring, you can do simple things like creating a scrapbook. Writing in a journal is another way to memorialize your journal. Who knows? Perhaps someday, you’ll publish your memoir and use it to pay for your child’s college expenses.
Prenatal Tips for a Healthy Mother and Baby
Taking care of your baby starts well before you give birth. The choices you make now impact your health and that of your child.
Give your child the best start in life that you can. Heed the five prenatal tips above for a healthy mother and baby.
*Collaborative Post
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