Showing posts with label Pregnancy Facts & Fallacies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pregnancy Facts & Fallacies. Show all posts

Making Sure You Act On The Right Information – Pregnancy Facts & Fallacies

Do not worry – I am not going to fill anyone’s head with frightening pregnancy facts that could over-shadow what is one of the truly wonderful times in most women‘s lives.

But it is natural to be apprehensive maybe, even if it is not your first pregnancy. And it can be easy to get confused by all the myths associated with pregnancy – facts and fallacies soon become intermingled, making it difficult to know what is going to be best for your baby

OK, pregnancy can be tinged with fear of the unknown even, if it is your first pregnancy, but for most women the excitement and anticipation of coming face to face with a little baby who’s going to be the most wonderful and important little person you’ve ever met in your life so far (and that includes your partner!) is always going to outweigh any temporary issues you may have.

So, what I’d like to do is to put a few pregnancy facts and figures in front of you that are meant to reassure in some cases and to act as gentle warnings in others.

Once you know the facts, it is amazingly simple to relax and just get into a routine of doing the ‘right’ things and avoiding doing the ‘wrong’ things.

Let’s proceed with this blog post. But hardly anything can be worse than suddenly realising, maybe too late on in your pregnancy, that smoking for example does not only harm you but also can seriously harm your precious unborn baby. Unfortunately, you do not have to be a smoker yourself to suffer from cigarette smoke! Passive smoking can be just as bad for you and your baby.

This is one of the inescapable pregnancy facts that I really must stress!

Whilst I am not medically qualified, I’m a trained scientist and I can evaluate research findings with an experienced eye. I can therefore say that there is no doubting the research which has gone into smoking and health in recent decades.

So I can most definitely say that one of the most potentially disturbing pregnancy facts for smokers is that giving up smoking before you even become pregnant is essential!

OK, I know it is difficult – I went through the bad times of giving up many times myself but in the end I managed it.

Nonetheless, I genuinely think it would have been easier for me personally if we’d been planning on starting a family because I am sure we are all going to think much more about our baby’s wellbeing than our own.

Anyway, hopefully I have made my point so let’s move on to some less heavy pregnancy facts!

How about taking sufficient rest and avoiding stress? Sounds good to me, but giving up smoking can be pretty stressful so if you are planning to become pregnant, the sooner you start the better so you can have lots of lovely stress-free rest!

One aspect of pregnancy that particularly appeals to me is eating healthy high fibre foods including plenty of vegetables and fruits and taking low-fat milk, yogurt and other dairy produce in moderation but sufficient to keep your calcium levels good!

On the subject of food, one of the real problems is that it can be difficult to distinguish pregnancy facts from fallacies as the situation is so often surrounded with superstition or misconceptions (no puns intended!).

Like, the ‘wise’ old saying “you are eating for 2 now”.


This could hardly be worse advice in our modern society where many of us (me included) are eating at least partly for someone else already.

It’s without doubt that one of the most important pregnancy facts is that overeating is not only bad for you, but also for your baby.

In fact, research data released only this year (2011) has shown that obesity in pregnancy can lead to the baby’s DNA becoming altered so that he or she becomes much more prone to being obese in later life.

At the same time, it’s not only inevitable that you gain weight during your pregnancy but it’s also essential to do so in a controlled and well-informed way.