More pregnant woman than ever before are becoming aware of the vast amount of chemicals found in every day products and in the food supply. From pesticides and herbicides in produce, to growth hormones and antibiotics in meat and dairy products, MSG and high fruit corn syrup in most super market food, sodium lauryl sulfites and other harmful chemicals in toiletry items. Most food and products are detrimental to our health rather than beneficial as they should be. Pregnancy is a time of massive growth and development for the unborn child and the more natural the mother is throughout, the better off the baby will be. There are many things a pregnant woman can do to lessen the risk to their developing unborn baby and ensure the best start possible by having a natural pregnancy.
Toss the Synthetic Prescription Pre-Natal Vitamin
The majority of all ob/gyn doctors will prescribe a synthetic pre-natal vitamin after the first exam. Although it is good to get a jump start on getting the proper nutrition, there are many vitamins that are especially important during the time frame when few women realize they are pregnant yet. Folic acid is one of the B vitamins that a woman should be consuming in adequate amounts before ever getting pregnant. A diet rich in leafy greens vegetables especially raw spinach, beans, dried sulfate-free fruits and nuts will provide an adequate supply of folate. Synthetic vitamins are hard for the body to digest, and in such a state that it is nearly impossible for the body to assimilate and use them, so does little good. It is best to get the recommended daily amounts from the diet, or from a whole food vitamin supplement. Whole food supplements are not all made the same, however, and care should be taken to...
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...ea to have your water tested for lead or chlorine if using city water. There are shower and water filters that will eliminate most of the unsavory elements from your water supply available.
There are many ways to have a natural pregnancy, and it may seem overwhelming at first, but every step taken to eliminate harmful toxins and replacing them with more natural and organic products is well worth the effort. Even small steps can create a big impact, and if you feel you cannot do all of them, do the ones you can and work towards the others in time. Your body is wonderful, it can be self-healing and healthy when provided the proper elements, and growing an entire new little person is an amazing feat of its own. Provide your body with the right tools for the job and take the necessary steps, even if they are baby steps, to have a healthy and natural pregnancy.
Pam Jenkins is a 36 year-old woman that is 30 weeks into her third pregnancy. Since her pregnancy began, Pam has gained 20 pounds. Although Pam has reduced the amount that she smokes, she continues to smoke 5 cigarettes per day, which may cause some issues with her worry of another preterm birth. Another factor that could also cause complications is her delayed prenatal vitamin use. After logging her dietary intake within a 24 hour period into SuperTracker, I will be making recommendations on how she can alter her diet and lifestyle to ensure that Pam receives the nutrients she needs for herself and for her baby.
...heir diet during their pregnancy to treat all types of ailments. It is important to rule out any side effects, drug interactions or harm if any associated during pregnancy.
Stanner, S. (2005). Safe Diet for Pregnancy. In B. Caballero, L. Allen, & A. Prentice (Eds.),
The purpose of this study is to analyze the preventative effects of folic acid supplementation during preconception and pregnancy in women. Folic acid supplementation is a standard recommendation among a variety of vitamins and minerals during preconception and is said to prevent congenital defects, primarily neural tube defects in children. However, various studies suggest that folic acid supplementation is not directly correlated with the prevention of neural tube defects, but other factors such as socioeconomic status, healthcare, and education come into play (Banhidy, 2011). The use of folic acid to prevent neural tube defects is widely accepted and recommended by health professionals and researchers alike; delving deeper into this practice would be helpful in determining its effectiveness. The use of FA in early pregnancy and its association with 70% reduction risk of NTDs was studied. Faucher (2013) found that high maternal education level and low BMI lowers the risk of NTDs. Many research articles urge the use of folic acid supplementation during preconception in women because it was found that its use prevents the risk of NTDs. Researchers also suggest that folate has had a beneficial role in pregnant women and implies that it prevents the risk of NTDs in expectant mothers (Stamm & Houghton, 2013). FA supplementation and promotion towards mothers from healthcare professionals are also significant factors in NTD risk prevention (Tort, et. al, 2013). However, correlation does not imply causation and that some findings cannot establish causality (Berry, 2013). The goal of this research is to analyze the effects of folic acid and the research that contradicts its assumed preventative effects.
It isn’t just your body anymore, once you 're pregnant there 's a defenseless baby inside of you that only you can protect. You can give your child a happy life and help a couple that can’t physically reproduce have a baby.
To begin this study there were a total of 349,043 births but due to missing information of supplement use and the amount of multiple births only 280,127 where used for obtaining information. The study was conducted to show any relationship between the use of multivitamin and folic acid with placental abruption. The findings were quite intriguing. Compared with no use, vitamin supplement use was connected with a 26% decreased risk of abruption with the strongest reduction being when folic acid and a multivitamin were used in tandem followed by a multivitamin alone then by folic acid alone. With the data collected it suggest that folic acid and other vitamin use during pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk of placental
medications, proper prenatal care, and consulting with doctor about medications are effective precautions during pregnancy. Also, if suffering with diabetes, anemia, hypertension, seizure, or nutritional deficiencies during pregnancy, then these must be controlled. After birth, do not shake baby, which can lead to shaken baby syndrome and brain damage. Do not expose children to lead, this can also lead to brain damage, and give proper immunizations at the right time for the child (Bachrach, 2012).
Exposure to medications or drugs during pregnancy can result in abnormalities such as withdrawal symptom, respiratory problems, growth retardation, developmental retardation, congenital heart defects, caudal deficiency and CNS defects. Known prenatal birth defects resulting from environmental toxins such as Lead, mercury or PCB’s are miscarriage, CNS damage, spasticity, mental retardation, skin discoloration and low birth weight.
Tobacco use during pregnancy is another environmental influence. The nicotine, carbon monoxide, and many other harmful chemicals mixed together in cigarettes are very harmful to the mother and especially the unborn child. This can cut off the baby’s oxygen supply, increase the risk of
Folic acid and folate is a B vitamin and an important part of nutritional intake. The B vitamins are a group of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and folic acid and folate are both forms of vitamin B9 (Barrowclough, 2009). They occur naturally in food and can also be taken as supplements. Vitamin B has a wide range of functions that occur biologically in the body and during pregnancy an important factor of vitamin B9 is the production and maintenance of new cells. Vitamin B9 als...
During recent years, numerous newspaper and magazine articles have suggested that humans may be at risk because small amounts of well known environmental contaminants, such as dioxin, PCBs and DDT, can affect hormone levels. Hormones are produced by the endocrine system as regulators of biological function in target organs. Because hormones play a critical role in early development, toxicological effects on the endocrine system often have an impact on the reproductive system. The term endocrine disruptor is used to describe chemicals that can mimic hormones and may either enhance or counteract their effects. It has been suggested that these hormone changes can, in turn, lead to a variety of health problems including cancer, decreased fertility, and abnormalities in newborns.
There are many factors that are integrated into the successful development of a child from Prenatal growth into toddlerhood. Teratogens (outside factors) have a great impact on the babies’ inutero development. Some outside factors like second-hand smoke, smog, or fumes from cleaning chemicals can cause negative effects on the child inside the womb. A few major affects from teratogens could result in low birth weight, head circumference, slow physical growth as well as an effect on mental, behavioral and motor skills (Berk, 2003). The environment around the mother provides many of these outside factors affecting the baby’s growth. But the main link to teratogens during the gestation period is most likely the mother. Daniel S. Messinger and the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that 2.8% of pregnant women admitted to using illicit drugs during their pregnancy (1996). Through illicit drug use, tobacco use and alcohol use, the mother disrupts her baby’s growth with possibly permanent damage.
All drugs, legal or illegal, are considered to be harmful to the fetus and should be taken with caution and under the doctor’s direct orders only. Drugs can be anything as simple as a cigarette to a major substance like heroin and cocaine. Most mothers who do drugs during their pregnancy don’t think about the detrimental effects they could be causing to their baby. Any amount of these forbidden substances can leave an everlasting effect on the precious defenseless baby. Most women know that when you are pregnant your hormones vary greatly, but when a woman is pregnant it also ...
(Gilman, Breslau, Subramanian, Hitsman, & Koenen, 2008). Despite the warnings about the dangers of smoking while pregnant, some women still choose to smoke, which places themselves and their baby at risk for many health issues. Damage caused by smoking while pregnant During pregnancy, smoking can cause problems for a woman’s own health, including, ectopic pregnancy, vaginal bleeding, placental abruption, in which the placenta peels away, partially or almost completely, from the uterine wall before delivery; Placenta Previa, a low-lying placenta that covers part or all of the opening of the uterus (March of Dimes, 2011). Women that smoke expose their unborn baby to dangerous chemicals, like carbon monoxide, tar and nicotine.... ...
Additionally, the reason miscarriages are under recorded at times is because they occur before the woman even knows she is pregnant, so they may be confused as a late period. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), 10-25% of all clinically recognized pregnancies will end in miscarriage. What is referred to as a “chemical pregnancy” also falls in this category, which accounts for 50-75% of all miscarriages. Moreover, chemical pregnancies are given this term because they are pregnancies that end very soon after a positive test result. Imagine taking a pregnancy test one day and having a faint positive result and testing again a few days later and getting a negative result. This is an extremely early misc...