If you are pregnant, or wanting to be pregnant, monitoring your health not only benefits the mother, but also is very beneficial to the growing and developing baby. It's important for a mother to eat properly. Taking pre-natal vitamins is also recommended to ensure that both mother and baby are getting all the vitamins and minerals they need to stay healthy. Exercise is also important, and often gives the mother an added sense of well-being.

 

Exercise

Appropriate and moderate exercise is considered beneficial to both mother and child during a normal pregnancy. Ask your doctor or health-care provider for his or her approval and helpful guidelines early in your pregnancy. Exercise can improve muscle tone and circulation. It can help prepare your body for labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery. As a pregnant woman's shape, weight, and center of gravity change, she must be careful to avoid falls and injuries. Exercise patterns may need to be altered or practiced in moderation during the last months of pregnancy. A good exercise program designed for expectant mothers can help you feel better and stay fit. Just as there are things you can do for you to stay healthy, there are also a few things to avoid doing while pregnant.

 

Smoking

Smoking during pregnancy has adverse effects on the developing baby and mother. A variety of pregnancy complications including abnormal placenta implantation, vaginal bleeding, premature placenta detachment, premature rupture of membranes and early delivery are associated with smoking. It also increases the chances of miscarriage. Tobacco use reduces the birth weight of newborns in direct proportion to the number of cigarettes smoked. Smoking reduces the oxygen flow to the unborn baby and causes his or her heartbeat to increase. Infants of smokers have more health problems at birth and may continue to have long term negative effects far into childhood. Babies of smoking moms are twice as likely to die of Sudden Infant Death compared to babies of nonsmokers. The Surgeon General, the American Lung Association and the American Cancer Society all recommend that pregnant mothers not smoke during their pregnancies or at least cut back as much as possible. Giving up smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy can improve the odds of having an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery. Women who quit smoking early in pregnancy can reduce the risk of damage to their unborn child. Having a safe pregnancy and healthy baby may be the motivational goals needed to help break the smoking habit. Second hand smoke can also have negative effects on pregnant women and their unborn children. It is best to avoid being around smoke or ask others to do their smoking out of the house or in a different room. Smoke free air is definitely best for mothers and babies

 

Alcohol

Any alcohol consumed by a pregnant woman is shared with her unborn child. Alcohol enters the developing baby's bloodstream in about the same concentration present in the mother's blood. The more an expectant mother drinks, the more possible danger to the developing child. Consuming even one or two drinks a day or occasional heavy drinking can provoke a number of problems including low birth weight, increased risk of miscarriage and complications during labor and delivery. The use of alcohol during pregnancy is a major cause of birth defects and mental retardation. Heavy drinking can produce fetal alcohol syndrome that causes serious lifelong damage to the infant. The majority of research studying alcohol and pregnancy suggests that it is wise to abstain from drinking or cut back as much as possible while expecting.

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