The Significance Of Nutrition During Pregnancy

Learning that you are pregnant can be an exhilarating experience and a frightening one at the same time. You are now responsible for another human being. Whatever you do during the next few months can influence the physical and mental growth of the baby. Though this may sound scary, I have found that some to-be-mothers do not show sufficient contemplation towards the growth and development of their baby.

A recent report from National Women’s Health Resource Centre shows that the state of the uterus can affect the health of the child for decades. One particular study conducted on pregnant women who drank alcohol found that it resulted in increased risk of the child being addicted to alcohol even if there was only one such drinking episode. There are other studies that cite the link between obesity, diabetes and heart disease, and the nutrition the mother had during her pregnancy.

I think that all these facts show without doubt how important a healthy diet is during the time that the baby is in the womb. For a healthy pregnancy diet, you have to consider two main factors. One is the quality of food and the other is the weight gained by you. Physicians usually advice losing weight before you get pregnant as being overweight during pregnancy can lead to diabetes, miscarriage and high blood pressure, which may necessitate an emergency caesarean surgery.

So what is the normal weight gain that is advised? I would say that a gain of around 30 to 35 pounds is the normal range. In the first five months, a weight gain of about 10 pounds is admissible and later on, it can be just one pound for every remaining week of the pregnancy.

I have observed that the only time that women are not concerned about their weight gain is when they are pregnant, but this does not mean that you have to increase the calorie intake too much in the first three months. Instead, an extra calorie intake of 300 can be included at the later stage. How much weight gain or loss you need will be determined by your gynecologist or obstetrician at the time of the first pre-natal appointment. Informing them about your dietary habits beforehand will help your doctor decide on the right diet you should follow.