Around 130 million babies are born each year. While having a baby is supposed to be a happy time, many mothers are stressed and worried about their pregnancy.
Many first-time mothers aren’t sure about how to take care of themselves while they are carrying an extra human. If that sounds familiar, don’t worry. We are here to help!
In this article, we’ll share all our top tips for a healthy pregnancy. Keep reading to learn more!
Finding Out You’re Going to Have a Baby
If you think you might be pregnant, running to the drug store for a pregnancy test might not give you the most accurate results. For example, if you test too early, these over the counter options might show a false negative.
Blood tests are the best method of testing and can confirm your pregnancy as early as three weeks.
Once you find out you’re pregnant, all the changes you’ve been feeling in your body will start to make a lot of sense. Now let’s get into those pregnancy tips.
1. Get Prenatal Care Early
Even if you’re already living a healthy life prebaby, prenatal care is an integral part of making sure you have a good pregnancy. As soon as you find out about your pregnancy, give your doctor a call and set up your first prenatal appointment.
During your prenatal care appointment, not only will the doctor give you pregnancy advice and guide you as to what you need to do, but they will check you for potential risk factors.
2. Lower Stress In Your Life
While we should always do our best to reduce stress in our lives, during pregnancy — it’s a must. We don’t only have ourselves to think about, but our stress affects our baby as well.
Just as important as taking care of our physical health, it is also essential to take care of our mental and emotional health.
3. Attend Childbirth Classes
Childbirth classes can help put your mind at ease as you’re getting ready to have your baby. You’ll learn how to breathe through the unpleasant contractions you’ll face. You’ll also learn things that can help you as you’re trying to birth the baby.
Some of the things you’ll learn are birthing positions, deep breathing, and how to work with your partner during the process.
4. Take a Prenatal Vitamin
Even if you aren’t pregnant yet, you should take a prenatal vitamin.
Prenatal vitamins help your body by making sure you have plenty of folic acid as soon as your baby is conceived. Having a good supply of this vital nutrient in your body will help with the prevention of serious pregnancy issues.
5. Focus on Eating Healthy
It’s easy to get off course with eating healthy while you’re pregnant. Some women’s cravings are strong and can derail an otherwise healthy diet. You might even have people tell you that it is okay to give in and eat whatever you want during pregnancy.
While it might feel good to give in and eat your craving foods, it isn’t going to do you or your baby any favors in the long-run. Remember that you aren’t eating for two full-size human beings. You only need around 300 extra calories per day to grow a baby.
6. Stay on Track With Your Hydration
Staying hydrated can help you keep many common pregnancy woes away. Common issues like constipation, urinary tract infections, and preterm labor can be reduced just by drinking enough water every day.
Water is the best thing for you to drink, but if you mix it up, milk, juice, soup, and other liquids can play a positive part in the process. Just make sure you keep in mind how many calories you’re taking in while you’re consuming non-water liquids.
7. Focus on Moving Your Body
Moving your body can help you feel a lot better right off the bat. You may have heard that you should rest and stay off your feet, but unless that is what your doctor says otherwise, exercise is helpful.
If you are worried that too much activity might hurt you or your baby, you should speak to your doctor and ask for recommendations. For a normal and overall healthy pregnancy, most doctors are more than happy to have you exercising.
Many times, walking is enough to get your blood flowing, and the endorphins going. And, even light strength training can be good for you as a pregnant woman. Curling a few pounds will help strengthen your arms and prepare you for lifting your bouncing new bundle.
8. Use Kegels for an Easier Birth
When you’re exercising, one of the areas you might not think about is your vagina. Using Kegels to increase the strength of your pelvic floor muscles can make it a lot easier when you’re pushing out your baby.
To do Kegels, all you need to do is tense and release your vaginal muscles. You might opt to put something in your vagina, like kegel balls or specially designed exercisers, to give it something to grip around, but this isn’t necessary.
Another benefit of doing Kegels is that it can help avoid accidental urination. Incontinence is common during and after pregnancy, but doing Kegel exercises can help decrease its severity.
9. Get Some Zzzs
Sleep is important for both mother and baby. If you’re not well-rested, it is easy to slip into depression and frustration. Getting enough sleep can help you keep from experiencing birth complications and pregnancy complications that might otherwise be a problem.
If you have trouble sleeping, try using earplugs and an eye mask to keep out distractions from the outside world. It’s not only the quantity of sleep you get that’s important. Quality of sleep is equally essential.
Schedule as many naps as you can, so you can take a break if you find yourself feeling exhausted.
10. Review Prescription Medications
When you’re getting ready for your new baby, you might think you’re doing all the right things already. But did you get your doctor to look over the prescription medication you’re taking?
Everyone knows you shouldn’t abuse illegal drugs, but many people don’t even think about the fact that some prescription medications can cause problems during pregnancy. Your baby’s body is different from yours, and asking your doctor to review your prescription medications is a wise move.
11. Say Goodbye to Caffeine
Kicking caffeine can be one of the most difficult things for people to do. Caffeine gets many people going in the morning, and throughout the day, they drink more caffeine to keep them going.
If you’re dependent upon caffeine, it might be hard to quit cold turkey. If you suddenly cut out caffeine without decreasing it slowly, you might experience headaches and other withdrawal symptoms.
Your baby will have a difficult time processing caffeine, and its effects will last much longer in its system than in yours.
If you drink caffeine and you’re able to feel your baby’s movements, you might notice they kick around a lot more after you’ve had a coffee or soda.
12. Write a Birth Plan
Writing a birth plan is another key way to reduce stress and allow you to feel healthier mentally. A birth plan goes over important things like where you plan to have the baby, how you want to give birth to the baby, the things you want to bring to the birth, who you want to be there, and more.
13. Prepare for Baby
Since every baby is so different when they are born, it is difficult to prepare for every situation, but you can prepare for some serious situations to give baby the best opportunity for a healthy birth and life.
For instance, if you’re worried about spinal issues with your baby, you might look up information on that topic like at this website: https://www.craniosacraltherapyny.com/pediatric-scoliosis-treatment-in-new-york-city/
Preparing for your baby’s arrival will put you in a positive mindset and allow you to have the healthiest and happiest mindset possible. You’ll also notice you’re feeling less stress because you’re already envisioning yourself as a mother taking care of your new baby.
Using These Tips for a Healthy Pregnancy
Now you know more about how to be healthy while you’re pregnant. You can use these tips for a healthy and pleasant pregnancy.
Do you want to learn more about how to stay healthy, even after baby? Our site has many articles on health to help you as you’re growing this baby and long after they’ve been born.
Browse our site to find more health articles, bookmark them, and come back soon to read more.