Eating well is an essential need for you to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy newborn. Being physically active may help you have a more comfortable 9 months and an easier delivery. Here are ideas and tips to improve your eating plan and become more physically active before, during, and after your pregnancy. Make changes now, and be a healthy example for your family for a lifetime.

Tips for A Healthy Pregnancy Nutrition

* Talk to your health care provider about how much weight you should gain during your pregnancy.
* Eat foods rich in folate, iron, calcium, and protein, or get these nutrients through a prenatal supplement.
* Talk to your health care provider before taking any supplements.
* Eat breakfast every day.
* Eat high-fiber foods and drink plenty of water to avoid constipation.
* Avoid alcohol, raw fish, fish high in mercury, soft cheeses, and anything that is not food.
* Aim to do at least 30 minutes of moderate activity on most days of the week. Talk to your health care provider before you begin.
* After you deliver your baby, continue eating well. Return to a healthy weight gradually.
* Slowly get back to your routine of regular, moderate physical activity.
* Take pleasure in the miracles of pregnancy and birth.

What is a healthy eating plan for pregnancy?

A healthy eating plan contains a wide variety of foods from the five basic food groups.* Every day, you should try to eat:

* 6 or more servings of bread, cereal, rice, or pasta.
o One serving equals one slice of bread, 1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal (about 1 cup of most cereals), or 1/2 cup of cooked cereal, rice, or pasta.
o If you are physically active, you can eat more servings (up to 11 servings if you are very active).
* 3 to 5 servings of vegetables.
o One serving equals 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables such as spinach or lettuce, or 1/2 cup of chopped vegetables, cooked or raw.
* 2 to 4 servings of fruit.
o One serving equals one medium piece of fruit like an apple, banana, or orange; 1/2 cup of chopped fresh, cooked, or canned fruit; 1/4 cup dried fruit; or 3/4 cup of 100-percent fruit juice.
* 2 servings of milk, yogurt, or cheese
o One serving equals 1 cup of milk or yogurt, 1 1/2 ounces of natural cheese like cheddar or mozzarella, or 2 ounces of processed cheese like American.
o If you are 18 years or younger and pregnant, you need at least 3 servings of milk, yogurt, and cheese.
o Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products most often.
* 2 to 3 servings of meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, or nuts.
o One serving equals 2 to 3 ounces of cooked meat, poultry, or fish-about the size of a deck of cards. Choose lean cuts and eat no more than 5 to 7 ounces of meat, poultry, or fish a day. One cup of cooked beans such as kidney beans or 2 eggs count as a serving.
o Four tablespoons of peanut butter or 2/3 cup of nuts also equals a serving.
* At least 8 glasses of water.
o Drinking milk, 100-percent juice, seltzer or other non-alcoholic beverages counts toward your amount of daily water.

* Adapted from the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Department of Health and Human Services Food Guide Pyramid.

Eating a well balanced diet is necessary to maintain good health.  It becomes even more important for a pregnant woman. Basically, it is a very vital part of the pregnancy nutrition. This is because of the fact that the choice of food during pregnancy affects the health of the expectant mother as well as development of the fetus. Doctors agree that some foods contain bacteria and harmful chemicals, which could interfere with the fetal development or, in the worst case, cause serious infection. Owing to this fact, it becomes vital to take care of the food that should be strictly avoided, apart from those specially recommended for the pregnant woman. Read on to explore the foods to avoid during pregnancy.

Foods Not To Eat During Pregnancy

* Alcohol: Consumption of alcoholic beverages causes host of health problems in the baby, including low body weight, learning disabilities, visual problems, deformed organs and other abnormalities.

* Caffeine: Caffeine consumption can put the pregnant woman to the risk of miscarriage and premature birth. Hence, even beverages containing caffeine, like coffee, should be strictly avoided during the period.

* Raw Eggs: Raw eggs should not be eaten during pregnancy, because they contain Salmonella, a bacteria that causes food borne illness. Stay away from the dishes that contain raw eggs as well, including ceasar salad dressing, cookie batter and eggnog.

* Fish with Mercury: Consumption of mercury is related to the delay in the development of the brain of the baby. Therefore, fish with high levels of mercury, such as Tilefish, Shark, Swordfish and King Mackerel should be strictly avoided during pregnancy.

* Smoked Seafood: Smoked seafood available in the general stores may be contaminated with Listeria, a harmful bacteria. Therefore, smoked seafood, especially the refrigerated one, is a strict no-no for pregnant women.

* Fish Exposed to Industrial Pollutants: Do not eat fish from lakes and rivers, such as bluefish, striped bass, salmon, pike, trout and walleye, because they may be exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, a class of organic compounds that are harmful for health.

* Raw Shellfish: Uncooked shellfish is the source of a number of seafood-borne diseases. Hence, pregnant women should avoid raw shellfish.

* Soft Cheese: Soft cheese such as Feta, Gorgonzola, Queso Blanco, Queso Fresco, Brie and Camembert, contain Listeria, which may infect the baby. It may also lead to blood poisoning.

* Unwashed Vegetables: Vegetables should be thoroughly washed before consumption, because they may have been exposed to a parasitic disease ‘toxoplasmosis’, which might have affected the soil where the vegetables were grown.

* Unpasteurized Milk: Ensure that the milk you consume during pregnancy is pasteurized, because unpasteurized milk may contain a bacteria called Listeria, which may lead to miscarriage.

You don’t have to really drive when you are pregnant but sometimes situations call for it especially if you are a busy urban working mom. So here are some safety guidelines for infant care which you need to take in to heart while driving - especially with the use of the airbag. Information courtesy of 4akid.co.za:

- After much debate over pregnancy and seat belts and air bags - it’s important to note that both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and American College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists support the use of properly adjusted three point safety belts and enabled air bags.
- Air bags are meant to work with seat belts in protecting both mother and child.
- Air bags inflate within approximately one-twentieth of a second after a crash. The inflated air bag creates a protective cushion between the driver or passenger and the steering wheel, dashboard, and windscreen.
- It is safe to be near airbags whilst you’re pregnant - Safety experts recommend that all car occupants (not just pregnant women) should move their seat as far back as possible and tilt it slightly backwards. This maximises the distance between your chest and the steering wheel if you are driving.
- Doctors strongly recommend leaving airbags turned on, whether riding as a passenger or the driver.
- Leave air bags operational; just remember that you should have a good 30cm or so between your stomach and a potential air bag.
- No authorities have yet issued definitive guidelines on the use of air bags by pregnant women, though some manufacturers advise that mums-to-be should not sit in front seats with a passenger air bag.
- Avoid leaning or reaching forward, and sit back in the seat with as little slack in the seat belt as possible - this will reduce your forward movement in a crash and allow the airbag to inflate correctly.
- To cut your risks of injury even further, though, you could sit buckled –in at the back seat, which is the safest place to travel in any car.

If you’ve been having back pain, the reason could be that you also have bad posture. Sitting up straight and walking tall do more for you than making you look good; it can also affect how well your muscles and joints perform. Posture and health go hand-in-hand in ridding you of back pain. This is an important virtue which should be integrated into child development early on.

Posture can be defined as the way in which you carry yourself or the position of your limbs in regard to the remainder of your body. To maintain good posture, you want to be aware of how you sit, stand, and walk to ensure your back is healthy and free of pain.

Poor posture can be caused by a number of factors. Obesity, pregnancy, weak muscles, high-heeled shoes, poor working environment, and laziness are a few contributing factors to poor posture.

Maintaining a good posture takes a conscious effort, much like any other habit. If you do something often enough, even standing or sitting straight with your stomach sucked in, it will become second nature and you won’t have to think about it.

Besides getting rid of back pain, having proper posture can also affect the other joints in our bodies. If you slouch while seated, your back, knees, and neck may hurt. If you let your posture go while driving, it could actually be a contributing factor to an accident because you won’t be able to see properly out the rearview or side mirrors.

Your back is the workhorse of the body. Not only is it involved in nearly every movement we make, it is central to balance and keeping our head on straight, so to speak. Backaches and injuries are some of the most common complaints when people visit doctors or when they call in sick.

If back pain is causing you problems, you’ll want to discuss it with your doctor. They may recommend a physical therapist or medication. You may also want to consult a chiropractor to help you correct bad posture.

Take time to be aware of how you stand, walk, sit, and lift. If you relax too much you may get lazy and begin slouching instead of keeping your spine straight and stomach pulled in. Keeping your posture intact helps strengthen the muscles along the spine and can help reduce or eliminate back pain.

Learn exercises that will strengthen your back muscles as well as those in your stomach. You’ll have an easier time maintaining good posture if your muscles are in shape. Strengthening the abdominal muscles, particularly, can aide your back as well.

Children are often told to “sit up straight” or “don’t slouch.” What may seem like a trivial thing to them may actually go a long way to helping them avoid back pain in the future. So, Mom, stick to your guns and keep encouraging them to have good posture. And don’t forget to model a good posture for them; pay attention to maintaining your posture, too.

Some women cannot have the luxury of staying at home while pregnant. Many of them have work to fulfill even during their pregnancy - that is why some are forced to drive themselves to and fro their office and their home. As with any other driver, seatbelts are crucial for pregnant women even at their condirion. Now is it really recommended for child safety?

The primary concern is that the straps on their tummies may be too tight to have an impact on your baby. But of course, as far as risks are concerned, not wearing a seat belt offers a tougher threat to the safety of both the mother and the child.

Moreover, the baby is enveloped in amniotic fluid to help them survive tough blows - so even by a bit, the baby has some sense of protection from the protection of the seat belt.

Finally, as scientific proof, the National Highway Safety Adminstration designed a crash-test dummy for pregnant women and the results point to a safer consequence for the mother compared to not wearing a seatbelt. Thus, seatbelts should be worn faithfully. After all when pregnancy is too deep in the last trimester phase, then the woman should have no more reason to even drive in the first place.

With the fast pace of urban living, even pregnant mothers can’t have the luxury of staying at home. Some still go to work and drive in the process. Thus it is of high priority that pregnancy and child safety are at the forefront when in this situation.

Common sense will go a long way in ensuring the safety of pregnant women while driving. Actually, there seems to be not much difference with normal people. Avoid driving in bad weather and during the night when the traffic flow is heavier. Even isf driving is just an activity done while sitting, it can be very stressful.

It is also important to consult one’s doctor about the possibility of driving. Maybe there are certain conditions which will unable you to drive for long periods of time. These cases can be tiredness and morning sickness.

Pregnant women with medical conditions in their hearts and blood can have an increased risk of pre-term labor so this should always be considered. Other dangerous conditions include toxicosis and migraine. More importantly, pregnant women should not drive when they are expecting.

http://www.4akid.co.za/child-safety-tips/#pregnant

Memo to pregnant mothers all over the world: do not wallow in depression while carrying your child in your womb. An American Academy of Sleep Medicine news release is reporting that babies are more likely to have sleep issues when their mothers are battling depression.

Babies who are born to depressed mothers took longer to fall asleep at night even during the first six months of existence of the baby. This also applies for their sleeping habits during the day so that’s a big no-no for infant care. Moreover, these babies are more than likely to have an earlier on-set of depression as children.

Publishd in the May 1 issue of the Sleep magazine, the research findings are from the Sleep and Chronophysiology Laboratory at the University of Michigan Depression Center. However these data results do not mean that this cannot be reversed in child. In fact, it can be treated for babies.

“We do think that we could develop a behavioral and environmental intervention to improve entrainment of sleep and circadian rhythms in the high-risk infants,” says study lead author Roseanne Armitage, who is also the director of the Sleep and and Chronophysiology Laboratory at the University of Michigan Depression Center, “They may still be modifiable, since brain regulation is very plastic and responsive in childhood.”

Past studies suggest that cortisol, a stress hormone produced in greater amounts by depressed women during pregnancy and after delivery, may affect the infant’s ability to sleep.

Ask any pregnant woman who is in her first or third trimester how they are feeling and the answer will almost always be “tired”.  One of the first clues that many women have that they may be expecting a visit from the stork is the fact that they find themselves droopy eyed in the middle of the day for no reason.

You may find that doing a simply task as walking around the block leaves your desperate for an afternoon nap. The energy you use to have is now faced with the challenge of growing a baby and your body is hard at work. You are also producing more blood, using more water and nutrients and have a higher heart rate and metabolism when you are pregnant. While the best defensive against the tiredness you will face is to get more sleep. There are also some healthy foods choices you can make that will help you get through your day if you do not have the opportunities to take naps.

First, adjust the size of your meals.  Anyone who eats a large meal is going to feel tired afterwards regardless of if they are pregnant or not.  Being pregnant is going to make the effect of a big meal that much worse.   Most of your energy is going to be used towards digesting the meal so of course you will feel sluggish and drained.  Eat smaller meals and eat more often.  Eating six small meals a day will help you combat fatigue.

Eating a good breakfast is the best way to start your day.  You are refueling your body after a long foodless night with a good breakfast.  A good breakfast is not a cup of coffee and a piece of toast. You want to stick to complex carbs and protein.  Whole grain cereal and a banana for example.  These foods will stay with you and keep your blood sugar and energy level up for quiet a while.

Do not skip lunch.  There are many people who skip lunch thinking they will make up for it by having a big dinner.  This is bad when you are not pregnant but it’s even worse when you are pregnant. You need that midday meal to help refuel your body.  As with your breakfast, you should keep it filled with whole grains and protein.  Have a whole grain pita and stuff it with chicken salad and add a side of grapes or an apple.

Plan to eat most of your calories during the day. A pregnant woman needs an extra 300 calories a day throughout their second and third trimester.  The first trimester those are not needed yet. You should eat these extra calories through out the day in the form of healthy snacks such as nuts, cheese, veggies and dip.  Do not save your biggest meal until the end of the day.  Your body needs these calories to help you get through your day.  Steer clear of the quick sugar fixes like candy and soda.  In the end these will only make you more tired.

Lastly, make sure you are getting enough iron. Eat iron fortified food such as spinach and lean red meat to keep your energy up.  There are times when extreme fatigue could be the symptom of an iron deficiency and you might need an iron supplement also.

Besides eating well, make sure you get plenty of rest even if this means pushing your bedtime up and giving up those late night TV talk shows.  As any parents of newborns will tell you, get your rest while you still can.

In your third trimester, your baby was old enough to start getting a taste of the foods his or her mommy likes.   Now that your baby is here and you’re breast feeding, your baby will get an even better taste of your favorite food.

Typically if you are nursing your baby you should produce anywhere from 23 to 27 ounces of milk a day. In order to do this, you need to increase your calorie intake by about 500 more a day.

You also have to increase your water consumption to at least 2 1/2 to 3 quarts of water a day.  You may notice that you are thirstier during nursing session.  This is because the water you drink goes right to milk production.    Try not to drink more than 3 quarts of water a day.  Anything more than 3 quarts can reduce the amount of milk your body produces.

As stated earlier, you need to up your calorie intake. Plan to take in about 2500 calories a day or more if you are planning to nurse for longer than three months. These extra calories should not come from junk food. Junk food and sweets are just empty calories and offer no nutritional value to you or your baby. Eat more protein.  A good rule of thumb is to eat 1 gram of protein each day for every pound you weigh. If you weigh 150, aim to eat 150grams of protein a day.

If you were not doing so during pregnancy, adopt the six meals a day program. Eat breakfast, a midday snack, lunch, a mid afternoon snack, dinner and a night time snack. Your body is going to be making milk continually so it is a good idea to keep it charged with calories through out the day.

There are some foods you might want to avoid during pregnancy. Pretty much everything passes through breast milk and to the baby. This is why the first thing pediatricians advise nursing moms to do when their baby has colic is to look at what they are eating. Chocolate has been blamed in many cases of colic and can cause an upset tummy for most babies.  f you have a baby with a tummy ache think back to see if you had a candy bar or even a cookie in the hours before you nursed. The best advice is to stay away from chocolate while you are nursing.

Stay away from greasy and spicy foods while you are breastfeeding. Greasy foods sometimes upset adults stomachs, imagine what it  would do to your baby’s immature stomach?  Wait until your baby is older and no longer nursing before you start making trips back to McDonalds.

You may also want to stay away from garlic and onions while you are breast feeding. Both of these can flavor the breast milk and you may find that your little one  will not nurse if you have eaten these. Your little one may be just a tad too young to appreciate the taste of garlic and onions anyway. Remember it takes a few hours for the food you eat to make its way into your breast milk. You may have eaten one of these foods right before you nurse and see your baby is fine but by either the following nursing session or the one after you might find your baby having a reaction then.

Your breast milk does not only taste like what you eat, but also what you drink. Just as with pregnancy, you should stay away from a lot of caffeine while breastfeeding. You might need some coffee or caffeine filled soda to keep you functioning and a cup or two will not hurt you or your baby, but too much could have disastrous effects. Just as we experience the jitters and shakes from too much caffeine, your baby does also. Keep your caffeine down to a minimum.

You have made an excellent choice breastfeeding your baby.  Keep it up by making good choices as to what you eat.

One of the first things most of us women prepare to say goodbye to once we see those two pink lines on our pregnancy tests is caffeine. Many women will stop their caffeine habit cold turkey out of the sheer fear of doing some sort of damage to the new life growing inside of them. These women will swear off anything that has caffeine in it from coffee, and soda to even chocolate.  Then there are some of us who will still drink caffeine but cut back.  Instead of drinking five cups of coffee a day, we might cut back to at least one cup of coffee to get us through the day.

Our mothers and grandmothers will probably tell us that they drank the same amount of caffeine pregnant as they did when they were not pregnant and their children turned out fine.  However a lot more research has been done since their time and studies are showing that too much caffeine can cause some complications such as preterm labor and/or low birth weight.

So how much caffeine is too much caffeine? Doctors are telling their patients that a moderate amount of caffeine will not harm their babies.  Even though caffeine does cross the placenta, anything less than 300 milligrams a day (an 8 ounce cup of strong coffee) will not do any harm.  Anything over 300 milligrams puts your baby at risk and studies have also shown that women who drink more than 300 milligrams of caffeine a day during their first trimester have a slightly higher risk of a miscarriage.

Studies have also shown that women who had over 500 milligrams of caffeine a day had babies who had faster heart rates and faster breathing rates.  These babies also spent more time awake in their first few days of life rather than peacefully sleeping after their long journey.

There are a number of other reasons why we women might want to cut back on the amount of caffeine we drink during pregnancy.  For starters, it has no nutritional value.  If there is ever a time for us to be aware of our nutritional needs it is when we are pregnant.  Second, caffeine is a stimulant which will increase your heart rate and can cause insomnia and headaches which can put some stress on your growing little one.  Third,  caffeine can cause heartburn.  If you have been pregnant before you know that heartburn can be a burden to begin with,  and caffeine just makes it worse.  Lastly it is a diuretic which means it can cause you to lose fluids which can put you at a risk of becoming dehydrated.

While it is not necessary for you to give up all caffeine through out the duration of your pregnancy, you should learn how to drink it in moderation or don’t drink it at all.  If you can not handle having only one cup of coffee a day,  then you might be better off drinking no coffee at all.  Stick with caffeine free sodas and even decaf coffee.  Remember though that decaf  coffee still contains small traces of caffeine so make sure you take that into consideration.