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Congratulations in advance if you’re thinking about getting pregnant or if you’re already pregnant. The chances are high that you have had some pregnancy management advice: avoid smoking or taking alcohol and get plenty of rest. Also, you must have been told what to eat and what to avoid. The truth is, expecting mothers would get several pieces of advice. Sometimes, this advice would even be overwhelming. Worst is, it can be confusing on which direction to follow.
But don’t worry, this article saves you from the hassle of the truth and eliminates your confusion. It discusses some of the best ways to help you live a healthy pregnancy life. Inside are safety concerns, nutritional needs, and some of the limitations.
Here are the tips to consider for a healthy pregnancy:
Ensure early prenatal care
Good prenatal care is key to you and your baby’s health. So, if you have just found out the news of your pregnancy, visit your doctor for screening. They can check if you have some conditions that may affect your baby or lead to severe complications.
Throughout your pregnancy, you must ensure you visit your doctor for check-ups regularly. During these periods, you can doctor would constantly check your baby’s development and your condition. Check your weight and blood pressure. They may even conduct prenatal tests involving blood and cervical tests or urinalysis tests for unwanted bacteria which may lead to unnecessary vaginal discharge.
Watch your Diet and Nutrition
It’s no secret that your body needs different nutrients for you and your baby’s healthy growth. Besides, your baby needs to grow strong. So, you must ensure you take healthy foods that would help provide you with energy and protect you and your baby from infections.
So, what are some of the healthy foods you need to consider?
Dairy products– taking a lot of protein and calcium would help grow your baby. So, you can take in cheese and yoghurt as they contain high-quality protein. At the same time, they are a source of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc- all responsible for reducing intrauterine growth retardation and reducing your frequency of pregnancy-induced hypertension.
Fruits and vegetables– are rich in different nutrients like fibers, vitamins, and mineral salts that both of you need. They will help prevent constipation, prevention against infections and improve your baby’s brain development and fetal immune system.
Take plenty of fruits and vegetables like mangoes, oranges, avocadoes, bananas, berries, and apples.
Also, during your prenatal visits to the hospital, your doctor would prescribe and advise you to take prenatal vitamins- calcium, folic acid, and iron, among others. Calcium would help in your child-borne strengthening.
Similarly, your body needs iron to help make haemoglobin – an oxygen-rich component of the blood cells. Your body needs iron for enough red blood cells and proper body functioning.
In short, you must ensure you take a well-balanced diet. This diet includes protein, vitamins, calcium, fruits and vegetables, good fats, iron-rich nutrients, and folic or choline nutrients.
Stay Hydrated
Most studies show that your body requires more water when you’re pregnant than before. And why’s that? Your body needs water to help form more amniotic fluid, carry nutrients to the baby, create new tissues, and produce additional blood. Most importantly, you need water to help your body to remove wastes or toxins.
Further, taking more fluids to help soften your skin, reduce your body swelling, keeps you cool, and help reduce urinary tract complications, among other benefits of staying hydrated.
Therefore, take a lot of fluids to help maintain your blood volume and help prevent complications like constipation and dehydration.
Exercise Regularly
Staying active is helpful for your physical health and very essential for a healthy pregnancy and your general body well-being. The United States Department of Health recommends a pregnant mother engage in 30 minutes of moderate exercise. This is to help them manage some common pregnancy discomforts like back pain or backache, and fatigue.
Exercising also helps your posture, improves your moods, thus reduces stress and anxiety- factors that can be disastrous to your pregnancy. Even better, exercising would help you build stamina, thus increasing your chances of vaginal delivery. Additionally, there is evidence that doing moderate exercise can help prevent diabetes that may develop during your pregnancy. Also known as gestational diabetes.
Exercising is also effective in:
- Preventing excessive weight gain
- Ensuring energy and strengthening your muscles for endurance
- Improving your sleep
- Lessening your recovery after giving birth
- Increasing circulation
You can do simple aerobics like light jogging, swimming, and walking to stay active during pregnancy. These activities would significantly help stimulate your muscles, joints, heart, and lungs to help utilize oxygen.
Avoid Substance Abuse
You share almost everything that enters your body with your baby, including the alcohol and tobacco contents you consume. However, studies show that abusing substances would lead to severe complications like; sudden infant death syndrome, drug dependency, premature birth, and small or low birth weight. Depending on the drug used, some of them may lead to miscarriages, among other effects.
Get enough sleep
Not getting enough sleep increases your chances of pregnancy complications like more prolonged labor, preeclampsia, or gestation diabetes- that’s according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. Therefore you must ensure you get ample sleep to help improve your blood flow, labor, and delivery.
Conclusion
Every pregnancy is unique, and to have a healthy pregnancy all through to your delivery, you must ensure you; avoid alcohol and smoking, takes more fluids, have enough sleep, and adequate exercise. Also, ensure you take in a balanced diet while maintaining your hospital visit for check-ups.
Find here – Ways of Maintaining a Healthy Pregnancy