8 Tips to Ensure a Healthy Pregnancy

Pregnancy is the perfect time when you can pamper yourself as much as you want. Pampering does not only mean spoiling yourself with eating junk food or lying in bed always. It means you should take a very good care of yourself (physically and emotionally) all time. It is very important to keep your pregnancy healthy till the end.

You can ensure a healthy pregnancy by making certain lifestyle changes such as taking proper nutrition, exercising regularly, quitting bad habits and avoiding stressful activities. All these changes help you to improve the health of your baby and yourself.

We have charted down 8 simple tips, following which you can ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy.

1. Right prenatal care at the right time: The very first thing for you is to ensure that you have gone through all the prenatal tests that fall in respective trimesters. Prenatal tests like ultrasound, blood tests and some others help a lot in determining the well-being of you baby. Besides these, you must also go for prenatal genetic screening tests such as NACE (Non-Invasive Analysis for Chromosomal Examination). This test has been recently developed in India and is 100% safe and risk-free. The results of NACE test are highly accurate. The changes of false positive reporting with it are just 0.1%.
2. Exercise regularly: By being healthy, you can ensure that your child will be healthy too. Therefore, it is advised to follow a good exercise routine. Follow a simple and safe exercise routine which includes light stretching, brisk walk and breathing techniques. Prenatal Yoga is also a great option. However, it is advised to consult your doctor before starting any exercise or yoga practice.

3. Be regular with your prenatal vitamins: Almost every obstetrician recommends some prenatal vitamins such as folic acid, iron, calcium and DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) to a pregnant woman. These vitamins are helpful in early development stages of a child and in avoiding certain defects such as Spina bifida. Therefore, you must be regular with these prenatal vitamins as much as prescribed. If your doctor has not suggested you all these yet, ask him in this regard.

4. Eat healthy: When you are pregnant, everyone must have suggested you to eat for the “two”. However, the truth is that you just need to eat 300 extra calories for your baby. In case, you have twins or triplets, you can double or triple the amount of extra calories. Make sure that all calories that you eat come from healthy and nutritious food items. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables which are rich in vitamin C, proteins, and calcium. Try to consume foods that contain a good amount of folic acid. Other than this, ensure that you never diet during your pregnancy.

5. Avoid alcohol/smoking/drugs: All these things are a big NO for you during pregnancy. Alcohol can lead to several birth defects and complications, smoking may lead to still birth or miscarriage and drugs may hamper the normal development of your child. So, it is better to stay completely away from them.

6. Take plenty of rest: Generally, sleeplessness is the common problem faced by a pregnant woman. However, if you try to follow same sleep timings every day, you will surely start to get a restful and calm sleep. It is recommended that you should take at least eight hours of sleep in the night and if possible, try to take a quick nap in afternoon.

7. Cut your caffeine intake: Research shows that tea/coffee/cola are mild stimulants which can result in low birth-weight baby. Therefore, it is advisable to restrict them to one or two servings per day. Instead of these liquids, you should take nimbupani, coconut water, fruit juices and vegetable soups.  

8. Protect yourself from food infections: Watch what you are eating as certain bacteria and parasites can lead to severe infections. For example, listeria bacteria in unpasteurized milk or unwashed vegetables cause listeriosis which may lead to miscarriage or some severe illness in your child. So, always go for freshly prepared meals at home and avoid packaged foods from supermarkets.

The whole duration of pregnancy is surely tougher than said for a pregnant woman. There are several complications amidst which you may avoid by following the aforementioned tips. You may not like exercising or you may not get enough time to rest, however, it is recommended that you follow the above tips to the possible extent.

All the best for your pregnancy!