Your body goes through numerous physical and hormonal changes during pregnancy. The way you nourish your body during this time will affect the health of both you and your baby. You must eat a healthful, balanced diet to help ensure you stay healthy throughout your pregnancy. The food you eat is also the main source of nourishment for your baby, so it’s critical to consume foods that are rich in nutrients. Proper nutrition can help promote your baby's growth and development. By following some fairly easy nutrition guidelines, you can be on your way to a healthy pregnancy.
Nutrition requirements during pregnancy
Your body has increased nutritional needs during pregnancy.
Although the old adage of "eating for two" isn't entirely correct, you do require more micronutrients and macronutrients to support you and your baby. Micronutrients are dietary components, such as vitamins and minerals, which are only required by the body in small amounts. Macronutrients, on the other hand, are nutrients that provide calories or energy. Examples of macronutrients include carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. You need to consume more of each type of nutrient during pregnancy. You can find these nutrients in the following foods:
It's been a couple weeks since you did the deed, and now you're dying to know: am I pregnant? You'll need a home pregnancy test or a blood test at your OB's office to know for sure, but until you can take one (the best time is once your period is late) click through these early signs of pregnancy and see if any of them feel familiar.
Shortness of Breath
Do you get winded going up the stairs all of a sudden? It might be because you’re pregnant. The growing fetus needs oxygen, leaving you a little short. Sorry to say, this one may continue throughout your pregnancy, especially as your growing baby starts to put pressure on your lungs and diaphragm.
Sore Breasts
Putting on your bra this morning felt like mild torture. And are you imagining it, or are the girls a little bigger? Tender and heavy-feeling breasts, darkening of the areolas and even more pronounced veins on your chest can be a first sign that you're pregnant. Wear your most supportive bra—to bed if you need it—to help ease discomfort.
Fatigue
You didn't even make it through one page of your book last night before falling asleep. If you're suddenly exhausted, it might be a response to the increasing hormones in your body. For many women, tiredness continues through the first trimester, but then ebbs in the second.
Nausea
Most pregnant women start to get the queasies when they're about 6 weeks along, but some can experience morning sickness (which unfortunately can occur morning, noon and night) earlier. It will most likely subside as you enter the second trimester. In the mean time, try to eat foods that will settle your stomach, like crackers or ginger ale.
Frequent Urination
If you suddenly find yourself unable to sleep through the night without a trip to the loo, it might be a sign. During pregnancy your body produces extra fluids, which has your bladder working overtime—and you taking a lot of pee breaks.
The jury is out on whether caffeine can actually hurt baby, but most health-care professionals do recommend limiting intake. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it pulls fluids and calcium from both you and baby and will keep you running to the bathroom (as if you aren't peeing enough already). Also, caffeine has no nutritional value and can affect your mood, sleep schedule and iron absorption. And it’s not just the coffee — remember, caffeine is also found in most teas, soft drinks and chocolates. Play it safe by totally eliminating caffeine, but if you simply can’t kick the habit, at least cut back. Some studies show that excessive caffeine consumption (more than 200 milligrams or one to two 8-ounce cups a day) can increase chances of miscarriage or premature birth.
Going cold turkey can be tough, so try lowering your caffeine intake gradually. If you’re a coffee drinker, work your way down to half-caf before becoming a full-fledged decaf drinker. Exercise and frequent small meals (good ideas whether or not you're kicking a habit) will help keep up your energy during the withdrawal. If you just like to have a tasty drink on your desk, try mixing fruit juice with sparkling water instead, or customize decaffeinated tea by adding cinnamon, cloves or bits of your favorite fruit. Though herbal teas usually don't have caffeine, run the ingredient list by your doctor first — some may not be safe for baby.
Babies are generally ready to start trying solid foods around six months, but it's ok to start as early as four months. If baby is showing interest in other foods (think grabbing for your chicken wings and staring at your cereal) and able to sit up in his high chair, it's probably a good time to start. It's best to run it past your pediatrician before starting the taste tests—the four-month checkup is a great time to ask.
While many parents think of the standard first food as single-grain baby cereal (often rice cereal or oatmeal) mixed with breast milk or formula, New York City pediatrician Preeti Parikh, MD, says there's no official scientific data that says you have to start with that. Start with one food item a day—as long as it's pureed—from whole-grains to strained, mashed and finely pureed fruits and veggies like bananas and sweet potatoes. Allow about at least two to three days between each new food introduction to monitor for allergic reactions. And introducing new foods early in the day better allows you to be on the lookout for possible reactions.
At nine months, it's time to start introducing new textures. Baby's diet should be similar to yours, but with much smaller pieces, since he or she's still getting the hang of this whole chewing thing. Three meals and two snacks per day are ideal. Stay away from honey until baby is at least a year. Some pediatricians recommend against fish and eggs in baby's first year, but there's actually no evidence that early introduction to them can cause allergies. You can also introduce real milk at 12 months. If he or she doesn't like that, try cheese or yogurt instead. By now, most calories should be coming from solid foods. Don't ever force foods—if baby repeatedly refuses to try something new, he or she's simply not ready yet. And remember, baby still needs breast milk or formula until at least a year.
Finding out you're pregnant can bring out all kinds of emotions, from joy to bewilderment, indecision to fear. Even when a pregnancy is planned the reality of carrying another human life is quite different to the idea of being pregnant. One minute you're over the moon and confident in your abilities as a mother-to-be, the next minute you wonder what you've done and how on earth you'll cope with such a life-changing event. Add all those pregnancy hormones into the mix and it's a potent combination, so it's no wonder many women can become quite overwhelmed, both physically and mentally, by those early pregnancy days. But if you really are struggling to come to terms with a pregnancy and need support on what to do next, there are some organisations which can offer you professional, unbiased advice.
When pregnancy is unplanned
Unplanned pregnancy is an extremely stressful situation to navigate. There can be all sorts of reasons why your unplanned pregnancy is problematic: perhaps you are not in a relationship and the pregnancy is the result of a casual encounter; you may already have children and feel your family is complete and there simply isn't the room or money to accommodate another child; or it may be that you have never wanted children.
Emotional, financial and practical considerations all play their part in weighing up the pros and cons of continuing with or ending a pregnancy but making that final decision is such a hard and pressured thing to do, especially as there are implications the longer it takes to come to a final decision. Furthermore, you may feel you have no one to turn to at this emotional time - family members and friends are often too emotionally involved themselves to offer impartial advice, and it can be hard to discount their advice even if it's at odds with how you're feeling. So, where can you turn?
Advice on unplanned or unwanted pregnancy on Netmums
If you need a friendly ear to listen to your worries a good place to start is our Coffee House, where we have a dedicated unplanned pregnancy board. You can remain anonymous and you'll be able to share your worries with other members who are going through, or have been through, a similar situation.
