A Guide For A Healthy Pregnancy

Damaging Substances

The first three months are most important when it comes to the baby’s growth and development, and consuming damaging substances are certain to affect the baby in some sort of way. Consuming these substances can affect you and your baby in the long run as well as immediately.

Alcohol

During the time you are pregnant, it is recommended that you don’t drink alcohol. This is because, when a pregnant woman drinks, the alcohol passes through the placenta to the baby. If a pregnant woman drinks regularly, the baby will be harmed seriously as it will interfere with the growth and development of the baby. Another effect of drinking alcohol during pregnancy is the child could become addicted to alcohol when it is born. Also, the child could be born with severe, long-term damage. An example of this is foetal alcohol syndrome. Children who suffer from foetal alcohol syndrome will have: restricted growth, facial abnormalities, and learning and/or behavioural disorders. 

Just to make sure you know how much you are drinking, one unit (in the UK) is 10ml/8g of pure alcohol. One unit is also equal to: half a pint of beer, one measure of spirit (at 40% ABV), and half a standard glass of wine (at 11.5% ABV)

Smoking

The main effect of smoking is cancer. 

By smoking whilst you are pregnant, you are risking the chance of your baby being born with: coughs, colds, asthma, chest infections, and ear infections. All these complications could arise later in the baby’s life or earlier.

The best way to protect your baby and keep the child healthy during the pregnancy and in its’ life, apart from your diet, is staying away from cigarette/tobacco smoke. You can never stop smoking too late because your starts to see changes for good in your life as soon as tobacco is no longer consumed and in your body. All the chemicals from the cigarettes will clear out from your body as well as your baby’s body. Oxygen levels will soon turn to normal as well as your baby’s heartbeat. By quitting, you will: have less morning sickness, have fewer complications during your pregnancy, reduce the risk of stillbirth, cope better with the symptoms and side effects of pregnancy, cope better with labour and birth, and reduce the risk of cot death/sudden infant death. Also, your baby will: cope better with birth complications, have a lower risk of premature birth, and have a lower risk of being born underweight. In general, by not smoking before, and during your pregnancy, you will have a healthier pregnancy and baby, and by not smoking after your pregnancy, you baby will grow into a healthy child.

Every single cigarette you have will harm your baby as they affect your lungs. This is restricting the oxygen your baby is getting and the baby will be breathing in all the chemicals. There are over 4,000 chemicals that your baby is consuming by you smoking during your pregnancy.      

Second-hand smoke is smoke coming into your body because someone around you smokes regularly. Your baby is also at risk from second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke can cause your baby to be born underweight or die from cot death. Babies with smoking parents are more likely to have to go to hospital because they are suffering from bronchitis or pneumonia. Even worse, this will most likely happen in the baby’s first year of life. From records, we can say that over 17,000 children aged 5 and under are admitted to hospital as an effect of second-hand smoke. 

Drugs

Illegal Drugs: Illegal drugs cause the foetus to grow at a slower rate than a normal, healthy foetus. By taking illegal drugs during pregnancy, the child will become addicted to drugs, like it does with smoking. Another effect is that the baby would be born severely underweight, or they could experience a lot of pain. These drugs can even be the cause of death for some unlucky babies and parents.

But the most important reason you shouldn’t take them is because THEY ARE ILLEGAL. By taking illegal drugs, you are not only breaking the law, but harming yourself as well as the foetus. If you do take them, try your best to stop taking them; for the sake of the health of your baby, but also yourself. If you need help quitting, there are always people to speak to who can help you find someone to advise you. You can talk to you GP, your maternity team, friends, or family. Some of these people may not be able to offer you proper, full support, but there will always be a bit of support there for you, no matter what. See FRANK for more advice and help on quitting your use of illegal drugs. 

Prescription Drugs: Although you may need prescription drugs for a condition that you could have, they could interfere with the normal pattern of development for your baby. This could most likely happen in the first three months of the pregnancy. For more advice, go to see your GP as they will be able to give you the best advice according to your condition. If you really don’t need the medication e.g. travel-sickness pills, certain antibiotics, don’t take them. Some medicines for long-term conditions that are safe to use are: asthma inhalers, medication for overactive thyroid, underactive thyroid, diabetes, and epilepsy. 

Other medicines that are safe to use are: paracetamol, the majority of antibiotics, dental treatments, certain types of vaccinations, and nicotine replacement therapy. However, you are recommended to always check with your GP or midwife first.

Caffeine

You are recommended not to have too much caffeine during your pregnancy because it will affect your child most during breastfeeding as the child will feel very restless. This doesn’t mean you are being forced to give up caffeine completely during your pregnancy, but it means that you should limit the amount of caffeine you consume whilst you are carrying your child. You are recommended to limit how much caffeine you consume to 200mg a day. This is also equal to two mugs of tea or coffee. If you ignore this limit, you are increasing the risk of having a miscarriage or your baby being born underweight. A baby being born underweight could mean that the child has health problems when they are born or later in the future. However, if you only ignore the limit occasionally, the risks of an underweight baby or miscarriage are low.

You can find caffeine in: coffee, tea, cola, certain energy drinks, and chocolate. So be careful what you eat to you can count up how much caffeine you are consuming. You can do this by checking the ingredients list on the packaging.

Caffeine increases your heart rate and makes you feel a lot more alert. This is bad for your baby because it can affect them in the same way and it’ll make them feel unsettled. It you drink a lot of coffee or tea it can be addictive so make sure you don’t go over the one or two cups of coffee/tea limit. It also keeps you awake at night or can give you a headache after it has left your system. The most suitable time to have coffee or tea is between your meals because it’ll help reduce the amount of iron you absorb from non-meat foods.