GIVING YOUR BABY THE BEST START

Start planning early

Planning for pregnancy and antenatal care is the most important factor in growing a healthy baby, says Peter Gluckman, Professor of Pediatric and Prenatal Biology at the University of Auckland and author of The Fetal Matrix. Crucial decisions about babies’ futures are made before birth, explains Professor Gluckman, and what happens in the womb during pregnancy can have an impact on later life and even lead to a greater risk of disease. “People have to remember their baby’s environment is determined by the mother’s behavior, she is the incubator.”

To grow a healthy baby

Plan and prepare beforehand. Stop smoking, alcohol and drugs and eat a balanced and nutritional diet at least two menstrual cycles before conception as eggs develop two to three cycles in advance. Try not to be too thin or too fat when you conceive. Eat a balanced diet and avoid restricting certain foods (like only having a high protein diet). Only take vitamins as recommended by your doctor as too much of some can be harmful. Start taking foliate (folic acid tablets) before conception and keep it up until the end of the first trimester. The recommended daily dose is 0.8mg. If you have diabetes, a tendency to develop diabetes, are very overweight or have large or fat babies, make sure you get to a reasonable weight before getting pregnant and you have a good diet before conception. Early antenatal care does make a difference so see your caregiver early. Exercise moderately during pregnancy. A steady exercise workload compensated with good nutrition is fine but don’t get too carried away. If you exercise excessively, your baby may be small and under-nourished. Talk to your LMC about how much you are exercising. Avoid excessive conditions such as high temperatures. Give saunas and spas a big miss and don’t ignore signs of fever in late pregnancy. Avoid excessive stress and heavy workloads. While stress isn’t always avoidable, try to keep yourself in a good shape mentally. You need to see pregnancy as a time to be moderate in everything. Avoid product medicines if possible and be sure that you need to be on them. Professor Gluckman believes women should deliver in hospital, not because pregnancy is a medical issue, but because things can go wrong in a big hurry in a delivery. Talk about your birth options. While a vaginal birth may have better on average outcomes, a caesarean may reduce the risks to the baby for a broad range of issues, like a breech delivery. It might only be a 1 in 1000 or 5000 risk but you don’t want it to be your baby. Physically the ideal age for having a baby is between 20 and 35 is ideal. Multiple births carry more complications, so get expert advice and care if you’re carrying more than one. Enjoy your pregnancy and most of all enjoy your baby.