Any expectant mother, while not only creating life, is going to be aware of the vastly differing moods and cravings a human can be susceptible to during their pregnancy. It’s just part of the natal process. The stereotype of a pregnant lady with morning sickness and odd cravings of gravy on crackers is true. Not only does helping a child grow take an immense amount of your resources to achieve, but it can also take a toll on mothers who don’t pay attention to their mental state or overall health.

How to Stay Healthy During Pregnancy

There is a list of responsibilities any mother has to ensure that they give the best start to their child. Any difficult health or emotional habits you have accumulated need to take second priority behind ensuring your child enters our wide world with as much health, nutrition and support as possible.

The following list is a detailed and varied exploration of the best methods any expectant mother can undertake in order to be sure they’ve provided everything necessary for their child to flourish healthily inside the womb.

Lower Your Stress

Lowering your stress during your pregnancy has profound effects on the development of your child. This doesn’t mean you need to take a militant approach to stress-busting, some stress is normal and even healthy. But prolonged periods of high stress, be that in a demanding and difficult job or emotionally turbulent life situation can have net negative impacts on your child’s health. When you’re stressed, your body goes into “fight or flight” mode, which sends out immense levels of cortisol along other stress hormones.

Not only can high levels of stress cause issues such as high blood pressure and some forms of heart disease, but it can impact the chance that your baby is born prematurely, or at a lower weight than is healthy.

Ways to Lower Stress

Of course, we all experience life situations we haven’t planned for, and need to adapt to in order to plainly do right by our family, friends or career, so you shouldn’t feel bad for feeling stressed about those things. A good way to take care of your daily stress is to meditate. Even 10-15 minutes of meditation in the morning can have positive brain changes. The part of your brain that regulates your stress response literally decreases in response to this new stimulus.

If meditation isn’t your thing, see if there’s a prenatal yoga class nearby. This could help you improve your ever decreasing flexibility while helping you connect with new and experienced mothers in your area. This way you can be sure that your child is being looked after even before you need to clothe him/her and change its diapers.

Eat Right

Eating correctly, and in the right amounts can have wondrous effects on the prenatal development of your child. Make sure to take in plenty of vegetables, fish oils and proteins in correct amounts. Remember, you’re ‘eating for two,’ but don’t overeat, as that will also be unhealthy for your child. You’re likely to have a completely shifted palate in the first place anyway, so try and accommodate this as much as possible. For example, you might have eaten carrots happily for the 27 years of your life, but now you’re convinced they taste like gravel. Find what works for you, create a meal plan and try to stick to it. When those inevitable cravings come along, try only to satisfy the ones that make sense from a health perspective (if there are any!)

Take The Correct Prenatal Vitamins

Prenatal vitamins differ from regular multivitamins because they have the requirements necessary for both yourself and your child. Two of the more important elements of these vitamins are folic acid and iron, which are almost universally included because it’s difficult to get them from a balanced diet alone. Getting enough Folic acid (a B vitamin) at the beginning and late stages of pregnancy can reduce your baby’s risk of neural tube problems by up to 70%.

Folic acid might also help issues such as cleft lips and heart defects. Funnily enough, the body actually makes use of the synthetic form of folic acid better than that which you can find in your diet, so even if you have the perfect meal plan, taking a prenatal vitamin is recommended. Just be sure to do your research before purchasing one, and keep your personal requirements in mind.

Lying In The Correct Positions

You’re going to increase in size during your pregnancy, more so if you’re carrying twins, triplets or, stunningly, even more than that. One way to ensure that you’re taking the best care of yourself is to make sure your baby bump is protected at all times. This doesn’t mean wearing a suit of armor, but making sure that you’re carrying yourself correctly, and lying down in the right way that is both comfortable for you and isn’t susceptible to danger while moving around.

Using a pregnancy pillow or specialty down bedding can help you negate these issues. In order to figure out the correct requirements for your form, height and posture needs, you should look online to learn how to choose a down pillow.

Cutting Out Negative Habits

Smoking, drinking, marijuana usage, staying up late and general partying are now things that should evade you. If you embark on any of these, you’re not giving your child the respect it deserves. In order to be the best supermom available, taking at least a 9-month break from these habits ensures the successful growth of your child in all aspects, as well as preventing nasty birthing defects and delivery problems.

Instead, try to replace these habits with positive ones, such as light exercise, eating correctly reading about the nuances of motherhood, and meditation. Both yours and your child will thank you.

Light Exercise

The first disclaimer with this point that should be made is that you shouldn’t overextend yourself. If you feel overtired, you probably are. If you feel like you’ve exerted yourself too much, you probably have. Find a balance that works for you and your fitness level, and strive to be better. You don’t need to be in the gym squatting 100lbs to be a good mother, and in fact, you shouldn’t.

Ways to Add Light Exercise

Positive progress in light exercise during pregnancy could be as simple as taking a 15-minute walking class with fellow expectant mothers, doing light stretching or yoga, or maybe walking on a Stairmaster for 10 minutes at a light volume. If you were a fitness freak before you got pregnant, it might be difficult to say goodbye to the habit you love, but it’s time to town it down. Becoming a better mother doesn’t necessarily mean becoming a better human when you have your child to think about. Remember, every avenue you take to look after yourself must be thought about with the caveat ‘could my child benefit from this?’

Find a balance in what works right for you and your child will be in the best position to be born healthily into your happily family home.

Kegels

Kegel exercises are an advantageous way to ensure that your pelvic muscles are strong, flexible and supple, that way you are promoting an easier birth and lessening the need for a potential cesarean section.

Sleep Well

At least 8 hours a day. If you’re having issues with this, consider keeping a napping schedule if possible or consulting a doctor to improve your sleep quality. Every expectant Mum encounters sleep difficulties or rude awakenings for morning sickness, but if it becomes a persistent problem it’s worth talking to an expert in sleep hygiene to figure out what the problem is.

Sleep is the place where your body repairs itself from the stresses of the day, and an expectant mother is undergoing more than twice the amount of bodily stress of a normal person for 9 months straight. You can see the issues that lack of sleep might provoke. If you’re having issues consider changing the light levels, temperature, or entire sleeping setup of your bedroom such as switching pillows and nightlights. As stated higher in the list, meditation and yoga can actually improve your sleep quality, so ensure you get the best of those.

Run ALL Medications Past Your Doctor

The truth is, you’re going to have to re-prioritize everything you know about your life so far. Taking painkillers to get rid of a nasty head cold might prove harmful if you’re early in your pregnancy. It’s worth examining with a fine eye anything that enters your system in order to ensure you’re giving the most vigilant watch over your child to- be’s health.

How do you stay healthy while pregnant?

If you are expecting, do not fear! This is a life-changing and exciting time, but you’re in for a world of love and beautiful family bonding time that any woman would be jealous to have. Welcome the challenges, and understand that the immense pressure your body is going through will have some strange temporary consequences. This is normal. As long as you’re making an effort to be as healthy as possible during this time, you can be sure you’ve done everything you can to help your child be born into our weird, wonderful world in the best way possible.