6 Common Mistakes to Avoid During Pregnancy
A healthy pregnancy and prenatal care equal a healthy baby. This is because the growth and development of a baby solely depend on the mother’s mental and physical health.
Here’s a list of some common mistakes to avoid during pregnancy to ensure a healthy baby:
Pregnancy mistakes
1) Too Little or Too Much Sleep
A lot of pregnant mothers are expected to work, complete daily chores, or even take care of their older children while trying to remain fit and healthy for their unborn baby.
However, it is important for pregnant mothers to understand that they cannot sacrifice their sleep in order to maintain this work-life balance.
When the human body is at rest, the maximum amount of healing and growth takes place. This is even more essential when there’s another human body developing inside of you at a high rate.
Moreover, hormonal and physical changes that one will experience requires a lot of rest and recovery.
A lot of working mothers overwork themselves in offices during their pregnancy as their intention is to have enough spare or free time to take care of their newborns.
Although this seems like a logical plan, one must realize that the proper development of your baby is the most important criterion of having a healthy baby.
Moreover, oversleeping or lack of sleep can cause changes in your baby’s sleep pattern. Oversleeping could also lead to stillbirth.
2) Sleeping on your back
During your pregnancy, especially during the third trimester, it is very important to sleep on the side of your body and not on the back.
This is because as your uterus expands, sleeping on your back can decrease blood supply to your uterus and even make you feel uncomfortable, and hence, one will not get enough rest.
Moreover, sleeping on the back can cause backaches, digestive problems, loss of breath, low blood pressure, and poor blood circulation to your growing fetus.
Thus, sleeping on your side will help avoid these problems. To be more specific, it is even better to sleep on your left side and it will avoid your heavy and large uterus to apply pressure on your liver that is located on the right side.
Excercise, Credit: pexels
3) Lack of exercise
A lot of mothers wrongly assume that they must stay put and be less active during their pregnancy to avoid any cardiac problems or any falls or injuries.
This may be true up to a certain extent but staying fit and exercising during your pregnancy is very important.
Exercise will help your pregnancy in the following ways:
It helps the body overcome hormonal and physical changes.
Boosts blood circulation and maintains healthy blood pressure.
Most importantly, exercise will help in fetal development, prepare your body for labour, help your body go into labour faster, and also make delivery less painful and fast.
On the other hand, no form of exercise or not burning any calories by physical activities can also cause serious complications to the mother’s life, the baby’s life, and the delivery process.
Moreover, maintaining a healthy abdominal muscle or core could also protect the fetus during accidents or falls.
Some good form of exercise include:
Yoga
Talking walks
Jogging
Aerobics
Swimming
Pelvic tilts and squatting
4) Overdosing on prenatal
Sure, vitamins and other nutrients are good for your body but there is no evidence that indicates overdosing yourself with these pills will do your baby any good.
In fact, excess of certain vitamins and minerals can cause serious side effects to the mother’s bones, skins, and organ functions which indirectly affects the health and development of the growing baby.
Moreover, overdosing of these pills can cause a chemical imbalance or even interfere with other medications the mother is taking for her health.
Thus, it is important to consult and doctor and make sure you are taking the specific amount of prescribed prenatal.
Self medication, Credit: Army
5) Self-medication
Majority of over-the-counter drugs and medications always have a disclaimer for pregnant women. They include pain killers, antacids, acne drugs, and even cosmetic pills to improve the quality of your hair or nails.
Thus, it is very important for pregnant mothers to not self medicate with such drugs and always consult a doctor if there are any problems before deciding on the next step.
Moreover, during the start of your pregnancy, it is also advisable to inform your doctor if you have been taking any such pills in order to ensure the health of your baby.
The reason behind this is that some or most medications are capable of passing through the placenta and drug you growing fetus which may cause complications and deformities.
6) Diet mistakes
The two most common mistakes women make during their pregnancy include:
● Eating too much
The average and healthy calorie intake for a woman is between 1850 to 1900 calories, so if you think about it the growing fetus that is so much tinier than does not really require or utilize a high amount of calories.
Thus, whenever the mother eats double of their usual serving in the name of ” eating for two”, they are essentially just increasing the risk of excessive weight gain or obesity.
This could cause serious problems during childbirth and the mother may be forced to undergo a C-section.
Cravings, Credit: flickr
● Avoiding their cravings
When the mother tries to limit her intake of unhealthy cravings, it is beneficial to the baby’s growth and development.
However, if the craving and hunger pangs extend to a point of desperation and anxiety, then taking a bite of that unhealthy sweetness will prove to be less consequential than affects your baby’s health due to such levels of stress.