Pregnancy is an extremely exciting journey and the moment that you decide you want to bring a little one into the world, you’re going to have to start prioritizing their needs and making sure you’re giving them the best. Believe it or not, this journey of caring and providing doesn’t start when your baby is born. Instead, you need to begin while you’re pregnant. There are all sorts of areas you should focus on, but let’s take a moment to go through a few key areas that you might want to take into consideration to give your little one the best start in life possible.
Take Care of Your Own Body
If you’re pregnant, your body is inevitably going to go through a variety of changes as your baby grows and develops inside you. This is extremely exciting, but it can also be a little daunting or intimidating, as you undergo changes that you’re unfamiliar with. You will become larger and heavier. You will become less flexible. You may find it a little more difficult maneuvering yourself through the day to day activities. You may experience soreness and swelling of the joints. But don’t worry too much – these are changes that almost everyone experiences when they’re growing a little one. What’s the most important thing to focus on is caring for your own body, as this is the environment your baby is growing in and should be healthy and in good shape to give your baby the best start possible. Consult your doctor who will be able to give you a gentle exercise regime, filled with exercises and stretches that will be good for both you and your baby. Remember you shouldn’t put too much pressure on yourself. You won’t be able to keep up with your previous fitness regime while you’re pregnant, so you’re going to need to engage with special exercises that better suit your current state of being!
Reassess Your Medication
Some medications are not suitable for pregnant and breastfeeding individuals. This is why it’s important that you don’t simply assume that whatever medication you took prior to pregnancy will be fine throughout pregnancy. All sorts of medication can have an impact on your baby, so you need to do research and consult a medical professional before taking anything – whether that’s melatonin when pregnant, painkillers when pregnant, or even particular vitamins and minerals when pregnant. Your first port of call really should be your GP, so as soon as you find out you’re pregnant, create an appointment where you can talk about your current medications and alternatives that might be better suited to you until your baby is born and weaned.
Consider What You Can Eat
Believe it or not, there are certain food products that pregnant women really shouldn’t eat for the sake of their babies. This is because these foods may make you ill (and this will prevent you from giving your baby the best environment to grow in) or could even make the baby ill. Some key foods you should avoid are specific cheeses. Soft cheeses with white rinds, such as brie and camembert should be avoided, as well as mold-ripened soft goat’s cheeses, such as chevre. Soft, blue-veined cheeses should also fall into the no-no list. They pose the risk of infection with listeria and, while this is pretty rare, it’s not worth the risk to you and your child. Raw or partially cooked eggs should also be avoided to reduce the risk of salmonella food poisoning. Pates should also be avoided – including vegetable pates – as these, like the soft cheeses listed above, pose a risk of listeria infection. Other foods to avoid include raw or uncooked meat or fish, liver, game and shark, swordfish, or marlin. If you’re ever in doubt about a type of food, avoid eating it until you have consulted your doctor!
Take a Baby First Aid Course
You don’t want to leave learning life-saving skills until your baby is already in the world. Book a class in advance to learn first aid for infants. Practicing first aid on a child is, of course, very different to practicing first aid on an adult, so specialist courses are often available to teach you the right techniques and tricks to help an infant in trouble until professional medical help arrives. Hopefully, you will never need to use these techniques. But it’s always better to be safe than sorry and it’ll help you put your mind to rest.
These, of course, are only a few different areas you might want to focus on in the lead up to having your child. But they’re all extremely useful and can help give your baby the best start possible in the world. So, why not incorporate them into your routine? They’re simple, they’re straightforward, and they can make a world of difference!
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