How to stay healthy during pregnancy

Author: Dr. Kirsten Strudwick (Chiropractor)

One of the best ways to ensure a healthy birth is to have a healthy pregnancy. Getting prenatal care early and often may help you to avoid problems while learning what you can do to have a good pregnancy. Here are some things to think about.

Care before birth

Going to see your doctor to start prenatal care is important to do once you think you may be pregnant. Starting prenatal care as early as possible is a great way to prepare you and your little bub for the journey ahead.

A physical checkup, weight checks, and giving a urine sample are common parts of these visits.

Also, as part of a prenatal checkup, you may be encouraged to do imaging tests, like ultrasounds, and blood tests. During prenatal checkups, your health, the health of your baby, and any questions about the pregnancy are also discussed.

A good diet and exercise

You may be able to lower your chance of encountering issues during pregnancy by looking to improve your diet and setting up a pregnancy exercise program to suit your body.

While pregnant, it may be advisable to avoid soft cheeses, milk products that haven't been pasteurised, and raw or undercooked meat, fish, and eggs. These foods may contain germs that are bad for your baby.

When it comes to fish, try to limit what you eat, especially big fish, because they have mercury in them, and high amounts of mercury may be harmful in higher concentrations.

It may be tempting to keep leftovers and have them to cover the next meal, however, to be safer, try to avoid eating leftovers that are more than a day old. When you do consume them for your next meal, be sure to reheat them fully and to a high temperature.

Things to avoid

It’s probably an obvious one, but it's worth mentioning. Stay away from tobacco and alcohol. Tobacco smoke and alcohol, for instance, may raise the chance of SIDS. Foetal alcohol spectrum disorders are more likely to happen if you drink alcohol.

The Mayo Clinic lists these risk factors as possible factors that might raise the risk of SIDS:

• Sex. SIDS deaths happen a little more often to boys than to girls.
• Age. Infants are at higher risk between the second and fourth months of life.
• Race. It's not clear why, but Black, Native American, and Alaska Native babies are more likely to die of SIDS (these are obviously North American statistics).
• History of the family. Babies with siblings who died of SIDS are at higher risk.
• Smoke. SIDS is more likely to happen in households with a smoker.
• Premature birth. Being born early and having a low birth weight increases likelihood for SIDS.

Prenatal vitamins

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that women take daily prenatal vitamins containing 400 micrograms of folic acid. Folic acid may decrease the chance of birth defects of the brain, spine, or spinal cord by 70%.

It’s interesting to note that even before you may know you’re pregnant, these problems may start to show up. They are called neural tube defects.

Exercise and manual therapy

Our bodies go through big changes during the nine months that you are pregnant, which can affect how you sleep, feel, and eat. However, the biggest change in our bodies during pregnancy is the belly getting bigger, which puts pressure on our spine and joints.

During pregnancy, our bodies may go through the following changes:

• Having back pain
• Having leg cramps
• Back pain from sciatica
• Haemorrhoids and varicose veins (because of more blood)
• Feeling dizzy and passing out
• Water retention, which may cause swelling in the face, legs, hands, and feet.

It may be a good idea to consult with a pregnancy chiropractor should you experience musculoskeletal symptoms such as back pain, postural pain, sciatica or similar.

Pregnancy-related pain relief, reduced tension, improved mobility, pelvic balance, and posture support can be achieved through exercises, manual therapy, and ergonomic advice.

Key points

• Prenatal care is important during your early pregnancy, and may include physical checks, weight checks, imaging tests, and blood tests.
• Improving your diet and implementing a suitable pregnancy exercise program can help you have a more enjoyable pregnancy.
• Stay clear of things your doctor suggests to avoid and consider taking supplements that include folic acid.
• Manual therapies may complement your pregnancy care and can help to address musculoskeletal symptoms.

Author: Dr Kirsten Strudwick (Chiropractor) is a Doctor of Chiropractic with 15+ years of experience in Marrickville, Sydney, and runs Marrickville Chiropractic Care. Holding a BSc and M.Chiro from Macquarie University, her practice focuses on holistic, patient-centred care. Kirsten has a clinical interest in a range of areas including women’s health, paediatric care, and pregnancy-related treatments.