How to Have a Healthy Pregnancy
Healthy Pregnancy
Being in the sweet wait is one of the most exciting moments in life.
To live a healthy pregnancy, the most important thing is that you take care of yourself throughout these nine months, so that both you and your baby are as healthy as possible.
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Since you will go through many changes in your body, both physical and emotional, you will need to make some lifestyle changes and focus on eating a healthy diet, being physically active, and enjoying your pregnancy helps significantly to avoid inconvenience. How to have a healthy pregnancy?
Having a healthy pregnancy is very easy if we maintain certain daily habits
In addition to taking care of your diet and doing some physical activity, it is important that you receive all the prenatal care you need, as it will help you avoid the possibility of complications during pregnancy and have a perfectly healthy baby.
10 Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy
Pregnancy requires a great deal of care and medical attention in order to ensure both the well-being of the mother and the baby. For these and other reasons, we share 10 tips to have a healthy and happy pregnancy. Take note and enjoy your pregnancy!
- Receive prenatal care
The medical care you receive during pregnancy is known as prenatal care. Through these appointments or prenatal check-ups, you will be able to monitor your progress and ensure your safety and that of the baby throughout the nine months of pregnancy. Ideally, you and your baby should receive prenatal care right from the start, especially if you suspect you are pregnant.
At your first prenatal visit, your doctor may ask you to do a series of tests to check that your baby is growing correctly and to see if something is wrong or not going as expected.
This point is super important, because the sooner possible complications are detected, the quicker the necessary measures can be taken.
It is important that your pregnancy is controlled from the beginning.
- Taking Folic Acid for a Healthy Pregnancy
Folate, or folic acid, is a vitamin of the group B (B9) extremely important during pregnancy, since along with iron are responsible for carrying the early development of the baby in a healthy way and reduce the risk of complications and defects.
It has been shown that all pregnant women who include 400 micrograms (0.4 milligrams) daily before and during the first months of pregnancy in their diet can reduce the chance of the baby being born with neural tube defects by up to 70%.
Folic acid can be found in leafy green vegetables, such as cabbage and spinach, orange juice, and enriched grains, but you can also eat them through prenatal pills.
- Eating a balanced diet
There is no better time to take care of your diet than during pregnancy. In addition to helping you have a healthy pregnancy, a balanced diet will give you the extra energy you need for your baby's development.
From the fourth month of gestation, your baby will need to gain weight quickly, but more than "eat for two", what you must do is increase an additional 300 calories daily in your diet so that you and your baby do not lack energy.
The diet should be balanced and include all food groups, such as milk, meat, green vegetables, yellows, and fruits. Now you should eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, especially vitamin C which you will owe 70 mg a day. Proteins are also important, so it is recommended to increase your intake between 2 and 3 servings each day.
Eating well during pregnancy is very important
The same happens with calcium, because at this stage it is essential to increase its consumption to an additional 1000 milligrams. The ideal diet for a pregnant woman is 2500 calories per day.
The ideal is that you divide all these nutrients in 5 daily meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner and snack.
Engage in any physical activity
Nausea, fatigue, and belly weight are likely to discourage you from exercising a little, but for a healthy pregnancy, there's no better way to stay active than to stay active. Practicing some physical activity during pregnancy will help you improve your cardiovascular and muscular condition, improve your posture, control weight gain and prepare much better for the time of delivery.
Although sometimes we may feel bad, exercise during pregnancy is essential and will help us feel better.
Also, exercise is excellent to avoid the discomfort associated with constipation, improve blood circulation, reduce some discomfort typical of pregnancy and reduce stress and anxiety you may experience at this stage.
All the benefits of exercising during pregnancy contribute to your well-being and a healthy pregnancy.
However, don't forget that you shouldn't put too much effort into exercising, overheating or dehydration. Staying active during pregnancy will ensure not only your health, but also that of your baby.
- Rest
The tiredness that is naturally felt during pregnancy, especially during the first and last trimesters, is the ideal time to listen to your body and find a time to rest. Rest and have short breaks during the day, as well as a good night's sleep, will help you recharge your batteries and alleviate all the typical discomforts of this stage, such as nausea, vomiting, sleep and extreme tiredness.
The ideal is to take some time of the day to lie down and rest.
Rest is good for your health and that of your baby, because if you feel well rested, you will greatly improve blood flow and ensure adequate supply of oxygen and nutrients to the baby. Try to take some time of the day to lie down and rest, ideally you do it in bed and without any electronic device turned on.
Even if you don't sleep, you can elevate your legs, relax and use that moment to visualize your baby.
Getting plenty of good sleep during pregnancy will give your body the time it needs for the baby to grow.
- Controlling your weight
It's true that you need to gain weight during pregnancy to provide your baby with the right environment, but how much you gain, whether too much or too little, can have a big impact on the health of both of you. The weight that a woman should gain during pregnancy depends a lot on the weight she had before being in a state, ie if you were underweight, you should gain much more than those who are overweight.
For a healthy pregnancy, a weight gain of between 9 and 15 kilograms over nine months is recommended.
In order to know exactly how much weight you need to gain for a healthy pregnancy, you must know your initial weight and calculate your BMI (Body Mass Index), which is the relationship with height.
Mom usually gains an average of 2.2 kilograms in the first trimester, 5.5 to 9 kilograms in the second trimester, and a maximum of 5 kilograms in the third and final trimester.
- Avoid alcohol completely
In order to have a healthy pregnancy, it is very important that you do not consume any type of alcohol, since it can quickly pass into the bloodstream, cross the placenta and reach the baby, who could store alcohol levels for much longer than you.
By drinking just one glass of wine, you are increasing the risk of low birth weight, miscarriage, or the possibility that the baby may have learning, language, attention, and hyperactivity problems in the future.
Completely remove alcohol from your diet while you are pregnant and you will avoid exposing both you and yourself to these complications.
- Decreases caffeine intake
During pregnancy, it is very important to reduce the amount of caffeine you normally consume, since high concentrations of these substances at this stage can contribute to your baby being born with little weight and in the worst case, induce a miscarriage.
Rather than completely eliminating it from your diet, what organizations like the March of Dimes advise is for pregnant women to reduce their caffeine intake to about 200 mg per day.
Caffeine is not only found in coffee, but also in other foods such as soft drinks.
So as long as you consume one or two cups of coffee a day there's nothing to worry about. However, don't forget that caffeine is not only found in coffee, but also in cola drinks, certain types of medication, chocolate and some teas, so you should also be very attentive to the consumption of this type of food.
High caffeine intake makes it difficult to absorb iron, an important mineral during pregnancy.
- Make an appointment with your dentist
Dental care is also a very important aspect to consider during pregnancy. What happens is that in pregnancy, your body produces higher levels of estrogen and progesterone, which although they are normal hormonal changes, at higher levels they can make you more susceptible to gum disease.
These discomforts and inflammations in the gums, known as gingivitis and periodontal disease, will make you bleed easily and suffer from inflammation and sensitivity in the gums very often.
To avoid all this discomfort and have a healthy pregnancy, you should see your dentist at least every 3 to 4 months during this stage to ensure that everything is going well with oral health. Also remember to brush your teeth after every meal and floss.
- Connect with your baby
At this stage your hormones will be at their best, so it is very likely that you will become very happy and calm and feel nervous and in a bad mood in just an instant. Having mood swings during pregnancy is completely normal, but you must find the healthiest way to overcome them to avoid depression.
To read more about connecting with your baby in the Prenatal Stage.
A great way to feel more comfortable during pregnancy is to concentrate on your baby and find a way to communicate, narrowing and devoting a special moment to connect with and stimulate your baby.
Remember that reading to him, talking to him, listening to music and connecting with him through the belly is not only a way to start a relationship but also allows you to share your well-being and sense of happiness.
Connecting with the baby is one of the most beautiful things about pregnancy.
The baby, even inside the womb, perceives even the slightest change of mood that you experience, so you must try to be as happy as possible to transmit all this welfare.
There are many ways to make contact with your baby, such as stroking your belly, speaking to your baby in a soft voice and including your dad in these moments too, can also give him a nice feeling of love and security.
Living a full pregnancy and enjoying all the activities that cause you pleasure, will also help you have a healthy pregnancy to be able to transmit to the baby positive feelings of tranquility and happiness.
Remember that the chances of living a harmonious pregnancy without any problem will increase if you follow each of these tips.
Remember: Enjoying all the activities you love will also help you have a healthy pregnancy.
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