Are you planning a baby? If the answer is yes then, you should start preparing your body at least a month before conceiving as it will help in a healthier pregnancy, healthy baby and helps in recovering after delivery with more ease.
Below are the things you should do to promote a healthy pregnancy:
Eating healthy food is most important as well as an essential thing. Eat a variety of food and vegetables, whole grain and low-fat dairy products. Avoid packaged food, soda, and other junk food.
Supplements like folic acid, vitamin B are optimal in preventing birth defects. Iron is necessary. Keep a check on your haemoglobin count by taking iron supplements if you are anaemic. Along with these the other important nutrients that are required are vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin E, Calcium, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, zinc.
Your doctor might recommend preconception tests depending on your family history. Genetic Carrier Screening is considered as the most important test before pregnancy in order to have a healthy baby. genetic carrier screening will help to check whether you or your partner have a completely healthy and normal genome and none of you is a carrier of any inherited disease that passes on to your child.
Drinking alcohol hampers the attempts to get pregnant as it prevents ovulation. Drinking alcohol can increase your risk of miscarriage and of having a baby with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) which can cause abnormal facial features, severe learning disabilities, and behavioural issues.
Caffeine can increase your risk of miscarriage and also contribute to the risk of having low birth weight baby. So, limit your intake of coffee, tea, cola, chocolate and energy drinks.
Smoking during pregnancy can cause serious health problems for you and your baby such as miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth, premature birth, low birth weight, etc. So, it’s better to stop smoking before pregnancy.
Regular physical activity helps your body to prepare for birth and makes you feel and sleep better. Regular exercise ensures how much you will be active once you are pregnant. Giving just 30 minutes from your busy schedule to exercise every day can help you to maintain a healthy body which will ensure your healthy pregnancy and a healthier delivery.
Try to avoid any kind of chemicals, radiations, pesticides, solvents, lead in drinking water and other chemicals which can prove to be harmful to the developing baby and can cause birth defects, premature birth, and miscarriage.
Before you are trying to get pregnant avoid certain things raw or rare meats, liver, sushi, raw eggs (also in mayonnaise), soft cheeses, and unpasteurized milk which can cause infections and harm you and your baby-to-be. Wash your hands frequently before preparing meals.
Gaining too much increases the risk of having pregnancy or delivery complications, and too little weight increases the chances of delivering underweight babies. So, maintaining a healthy weight is mandatory in which regular exercise and a healthy diet play an important role.
Dental health affects your overall health. According to many researchers, dental diseases can lead to preterm delivery and higher chances of low weighing babies at the time of birth.
Visit your doctor to find out about infections during pregnancy which can harm your baby such as rubella (measles), toxoplasmosis, etc. and get the vaccination done 1-2 month prior to when you are planning to get pregnant.
Studies have shown that women who get less amount of sleep have more problems in ovulating. So, it is good to have a proper sleep (7-9 hours) in order to conceive easily and have a healthy baby. But get ready for sleepless nights when the baby arrives.
You should avoid stressful conditions as much as you can when trying to conceive as stress can affect ovulation process and can also lead to miscarriage.
