If you want your baby to be strong and healthy, there are many good things you can do right now to keep yourself healthy. These can help your baby grow strong and healthy, too.
Visit your doctor at least once a month for the first seven months, and more often after that.
- Eat right. Include plenty of milk, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, whole wheat bread and cereals.
- Take your prenatal vitamins.
- Remember that alcohol and drugs can make your baby sick.
- Stop smoking.
- Take time to exercise, rest and get enough sleep.
- Learn all you can about taking care of your baby. Allegheny General offers childbirth and newborn care classes that provide valuable information during pregnancy.
- If you have questions or problems, talk to your health-care provider.
During pregnancy, women should try to avoid taking medications; however, we recognize that if you get sick and symptoms persist, you may require a mild medication to make you more comfortable. Generally, if you need to use medications, use the lowest dose that works.
Medications in the following list are generally considered safe to take during pregnancy. Always remember to check with your health-care provider before taking any drug.
Constipation
- Citrucel, Metamucil or FiberCon
- Milk of Magnesia
- Colace
Cough
- Plain cough drops
- Plain Robitussin
Nasal congestion
- Saline drops/Ocean Nasal Spray
- Sudafed
- Actifed, only after the third month
Allergies
- Benadryl or Chlor-Trimeton
Hemmorrhoids
- Tucks
- Anusol Cream
- Stool softener
Sleeplessness
Headaches
- Tylenol or Extra-Strength Tylenol
Heartburn
- Tums
- Any other antacid (Rolaids, Mylanta, Maalox)
Avoid the following medications unless your health-care provider prescribes them for you:
- Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil, Nuprin)
- Aspirin
- Brompheniramine (Dimetane, Dimetapp)
- Phenylpropanolamine (Allerest, Contac, Coricidin, Dimetapp, Sinarest)
- Alcohol
- Cocaine and other street drugs
Smoking during pregnancy
If you smoke:
- You baby can be born too early, before the lungs are mature
- Your baby may have to stay in the hospital after you go home
- Your baby may be underweight (under 5 1/2 pounds). Babies who are underweight are often sick and have many health problems.
How does smoking hurt your baby?
When you smoke, you take in poisons. One is a drug called nicotine, and the other is carbon monoxide--the same thing that comes out of a car's exhaust pipe.
Nicotine and carbon monoxide keep your baby from getting the food and oxygen he needs to grow. This sounds very scary--and it is. The good news is that you can do something about it. If you stop smoking, you can help your baby to be born healthy and strong.
If you need help to stop smoking, ask your health care provider.
Alcohol and drugs
While you are pregnant, don't use alcohol and other drugs. When you use drugs, so does your baby.
- Don't drink beer, wine, wine coolers or liquor.
- If you drink while you're pregnant, your baby could be born with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). Many babies with FAS are mentally retarded. Some have faces that don't look normal. Others have heart problems. Babies with either FAS or fetal alcohol effects may have health problems for the rest of their lives.
- Don't smoke marijuana, use crack/cocaine, heroin, inhalants (such as gasoline or ammonia) or drugs sold on the street. Street drugs aren't good for you--and they're even worse for your unborn baby.
If you use cocaine or crack:
- You baby could have a stroke before it is born.
- Your baby could have brain damage.
- Your baby could be born too small or too soon and have trouble breathing.
If you use heroin while you are pregnant:
Your baby could be born addicted and go through withdraw after it is born.
If you use any street drugs at all:
You will be less healthy, which increases the chance that your baby will be born with health problems.
If you are drinking or using other drugs:
STOP NOW. It's not too late to quit. Don't drink any more alcohol or use any more drugs. If you stop drinking alcohol or taking drugs now, you can give your baby a better chance to be born healthy.
If you want to quit taking alcohol or other drugs:
Talk with a doctor or nurse. Either can help you or tell you how to get help. Here are some groups that can help:
Call 1-800-662-4357 if you want to talk to someone about a problem with alcohol or other drugs.
Source: Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
Although most women have normal, healthy pregnancies, complications may still occur. If you experience any of the following warning signs, please call your health care provider immediately:
Signs of preterm labor
Preterm or premature labor is the onset of labor that occurs before the 37th week of pregnancy. Preterm labor may lead to the delivery of a premature baby.
Premature babies are smaller than normal and have immature organs. They may have difficulty breathing if their lungs are immature. Babies born early usually need to be cared for in an intensive care nursery in the hospital after the mother goes home.
There are many treatments for preterm labor, but they are effective only when started early. So, it is important that you know the signs of preterm labor, which are:
If you suspect that you are in premature labor or have bleeding or fluid leaking from your vagina, call your health care provider right away.
Keeping Fit
Fitness goes hand in hand with eating right to maintain your physical health and well-being during pregnancy. Pregnant or not, physical fitness helps keep the heart, bones, and mind healthy. Healthy pregnant women should get at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week. It's best to spread your workouts throughout the week. If you regularly engage in vigorous-intensity aerobic activity or high amounts of activity, you can keep up your activity level as long as your health doesn't change and you talk to your doctor about your activity level throughout your pregnancy.
Special benefits of physical activity during pregnancy:
- Exercise can ease and prevent aches and pains of pregnancy including constipation, varicose veins, backaches, and exhaustion.
- Active women seem to be better prepared for labor and delivery and recover more quickly.
- Exercise may lower the risk of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes during pregnancy.
- Fit women have an easier time getting back to a healthy weight after delivery.
- Regular exercise may improve sleep during pregnancy.
- Staying active can protect your emotional health. Pregnant women who exercise seem to have better self-esteem and a lower risk of depression and anxiety.
- Results from a recent, large study suggest that women who are physically active during pregnancy may lower their chances of preterm delivery.
Getting Started
For most healthy moms-to-be who do not have any pregnancy-related problems, exercise is a safe and valuable habit. Even so, talk to your doctor or midwife before exercising during pregnancy. She or he will be able to suggest a fitness plan that is safe for you. Getting a doctor's advice before starting a fitness routine is important for both inactive women and women who exercised before pregnancy.
If you have one of these conditions, your doctor will advise you not to exercise:
Risk factors for preterm labor
- Vaginal bleeding
- Premature rupture of membranes (when your water breaks early, before labor)
Best Activity for Moms-to-be
Low-impact activities at a moderate level of effort are comfortable and enjoyable for many pregnant women. Walking, swimming, dancing, cycling, and low-impact aerobics are some examples. These sports also are easy to take up, even if you are new to physical fitness.
Some higher intensity sports are safe for some pregnant women who were already doing them before becoming pregnant. If you jog, play racquet sports, or lift weights, you may continue with your doctor's okay.
Keep these points in mind when choosing a fitness plan:
- Avoid activities in which you can get hit in the abdomen like kickboxing, soccer, basketball, or ice hockey.
- Steer clear of activities in which you can fall like horseback riding, downhill skiing, and gymnastics.
- Do not scuba dive during pregnancy. Scuba diving can create gas bubbles in your baby's blood that can cause many health problems.
Tips for Safe and Healthy Physical Activity
- When you exercise, start slowly, progress gradually, and cool down slowly. You should be able to talk while exercising. If not, you may be overdoing it.
- Take frequent breaks.
- Don't exercise on your back after the first trimester. This can put too much pressure on an important vein and limit blood flow to the baby.
- Avoid jerky, bouncing, and high-impact movements. Connective tissues stretch much more easily during pregnancy. So these types of movements put you at risk of joint injury.
- Be careful not to lose your balance. As your baby grows, your center of gravity shifts making you more prone to falls. For this reason, activities like jogging, using a bicycle, or playing racquet sports might be riskier as you near the third trimester.
- Don't exercise at high altitudes (more than 6,000 feet). It can prevent your baby from getting enough oxygen.
- Make sure you drink lots of fluids before, during, and after exercising.
- Do not workout in extreme heat or humidity.
- If you feel uncomfortable, short of breath, or tired, take a break and take it easier when you exercise again.
Stop exercising and call your doctor as soon as possible if you have any of the following:
- Dizziness
- Headache
- Chest pain
- Calf pain or swelling
- Abdominal pain
- Blurred vision
- Fluid leaking from the vagina
- Vaginal bleeding
- Less fetal movement
- Contractions
Source: The National Women's Health Information Center
Last Updated: September 24, 2009