Child Care: The Importance Of Prenatal Care

Pregnancies in the past until the late eighties, early nineties were simple for the most part; women simply avoided factors they thought might harm the baby. They might have seen a midwife a couple of times and when the time came, POP!, a baby was born. Most of the time the baby and mother were both fine, but way more often than now, either the mother and, or the baby died. A lot of progress has been made in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries in regards to prenatal care. Prenatal care has become a priority for mothers and for health care providers. Now there are steps taken during a woman’s pregnancy that help maintain a healthy pregnancy and increase the chances of a healthy baby. Prenatal care includes regular doctor appointments, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, avoiding certain drugs and chemicals, and increasing the intake of certain vitamins and minerals. Several ways to decrease the chances of birth defects and prematurity in babies have been discovered. Even the actual birth process has changed and become more complicated than it used to be. Certain prenatal care measures should be taken by expecting mothers to prevent premature birth and abnormalities in their newborns.

A number of important steps should be taken by women who are planning to become pregnant. One of first steps is to stop all

The most important thing a woman can do during pregnancy for her baby is to avoid alcohol and drugs. illegal drugs and even some over-the-counter drugs can be extremely harmful to a baby still in its mother’s womb. Drugs and Alcohol can affect a baby’s birth weight, and how their heart, lungs, and brain work. They can also cause serious birth defects, learning, emotional, and other physical problems both before and after it is born. Preterm labor, premature birth, miscarriage, and stillbirth are can also be caused by use of illegal drugs