Top 50 Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy
Trying for a baby? Being healthy before, during and after pregnancy involves so many different aspects of your life. So, we've compiled a quick list to help you stay on the healthy side.
- See your practitioner before becoming pregnant.
- Start changing your food habits to include a healthy variety of foods.
- Exercise! Starting now will help you stay in shape during pregnancy, can lower your risk of miscarriage, and has been proven to help reduce labor complications and length.
- Educate yourself!
- Eat a new vegetable you've never tried.
- Check out a book on pregnancy.
- Figure out what to do about chemical birth control, like the birth control pill.
- Stop smoking. There are many programs to help you.
- Take a prenatal vitamin. They can be prescribed by your practitioner or you can buy them over the counter. Ensure it contains 0.4 mg of folic acid.
- Ask your partner to join you on your new healthy habit changes.
- Track your cycles. Learning what you can about your cycles will help determine when you ovulate and when you conceived. These make for more accurate due dates.
- If you need a new practitioner, interview before you become pregnant.
- Ask your friends about pregnancy and parenthood.
- Avoid chemicals that could possibly harm your baby. You can find these at work, in your home, and just about anywhere, be environmentally sensitive.
- See your dentist before you get pregnant and brush your teeth daily.
- Tell any medical professional that you may be pregnant if you are trying to get pregnant.
- This can prevent exposure to harmful tests and chemicals if you are pregnant and don't know it yet.
- Stop changing cat litter.
- Remember, it can take up to a year to become pregnant. If you have been actively trying for a year or more than six months if you are over 35, see your practitioner.
- Act pregnant. This includes not drinking alcohol, even while trying to conceive. There is no known safe level during pregnancy and alcohol can cause birth defects.
- Announce your pregnancy when you are ready.
- Talk to your parents, what do you want to take from their experiences? How do you want to be different?
- Rest when you can. Nap!
- Start a journal or a pregnancy blog.
- Use non-medicinal remedies for problems like nausea, heartburn, and constipation.
- Drink six - eight eight ounce glasses of water a day.
- Read yet another book!
- Join a prenatal yoga or exercise class.
- Keep your prenatal appointments with your midwife or doctor. This will help ensure that if you have any problems that they are caught early and kept to a minimum.
- Take an early pregnancy class.
- Remember to add 300 - 500 calories a day while pregnant.
- Tour your selection of birth facilities before making a choice if you are not having a home birth.
- Review the signs of premature labor and warnings signs for when to call your practitioner.
- Talk to local doulas and start interviewing. Doulas can help you have a shorter, safer and more satisfying birth.
- Keep a food diary to ensure that you are keeping up with your daily requirements.
- If you are decorating your house or a nursery remember to avoid fumes often associated with paint and wall paper. Perhaps have friends do the heavy work while you help make snacks for them. Keep the windows open!
- Baby sit a friend's baby and learn a bit about caring for a newborn.
Take a childbirth class. Sign up early to ensure you get the class and dates that you want. - Swimming is great in late pregnancy. It can help relieve a lot of aches and pains and makes you feel weightless.
- Take a breastfeeding class to help prepare you for the realities of breastfeeding.
- Stretch before bed to help prevent leg cramps.
- Continue to exercise, even if you have to slow down. This will help you recover more quickly.
- Write a birth plan. Something to help you clarify what you want or need for your birth experience. Share this with your practitioners and those you have invited to your birth.
- Have film and cameras ready!
- Practice relaxation whenever you can. Try for at least once a day.
- Do pelvic tilts to help with late pregnancy back pain. It will help relieve your pain and even encourage the baby to assume a good birth position.
- Pack your bags if you are going to a birth center or hospital. Don't forget your insurance cards, pre-registration forms, camera, birth plan, etc.
- Review the signs of labor and warning signs.
- Take a picture of yourself before the baby comes!
- Read birth stories.
- Kiss the baby!
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