Program Your Baby’s Health, or How to Take Care of Your Baby’s Health During Pregnancy

Pregnancy is a magical time for all moms-to-be. A new life is developing in us so planning a starter kit or decorating your baby’s room is a joy that overwhelms us. We want to make sure our baby gets all the best of everything.

However, the most important issue we worry is our baby’s health. Most of us ask ourselves the question whether our baby is going to grow up healthy from the moment we find out we’re pregnant. 

Not everything in this matter depends on us, but the good news is that throughout our pregnancy we can do a lot to keep our offspring healthy! Trust me, dear future moms, your baby’s health to a large extent lies in your hands.

 

Energy requirements during pregnancy

It’s probably no surprise that we begin with nutrition during pregnancy. After all, a pregnant woman must provide enough nutrients for two, but there’s no need to eat twice as much. It is obvious that the energy supply during pregnancy must increase – while this is not as drastic growth as some of us think. There is no need to increase energy supply in the first trimester (unless we were underweight when we got pregnant). In the second trimester, the increase in energy demand amounts to about 350 kcal, and in the third trimester to 475 kcal. Increased energy supply results, among others, from the accumulation of fat tissue by the body of the future mother and of course the growth and development of the new organism.

Remember, however, that quality is more important than quantity! Additional energy should come from high-quality products that ensure a good balance of your daily diet. Take care of the quality of energy sources consumed during pregnancy and increase the supply of vitamins and minerals with the diet. Remember that simplicity is the best, instead of looking for complicated diets, make sure that your daily menu consists of products which are unprocessed and of high quality. The distribution of macronutrients is important, i.e. you should maintain the right proportions of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the diet

 

Proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet of a pregnant woman

In a healthy pregnant woman, carbohydrates should cover 55-60% of daily energy needs. There are many valuable sources of carbohydrates, including quinoa, amaranth, millet and buckwheat, sweet potatoes. The demand for protein in a pregnant woman increases by about 0.3 g per kg of body weight per day. It is not only its quantity that counts, but also the type of protein supplied. 60% of total protein should be supplied from animal products, and the remaining 40% should come from plant sources. During pregnancy, you should not avoid fats, but focus on choosing products rich in unsaturated fatty acids. Try to limit the supply of saturated fatty acids. Fats should cover about 20-35% of energy demand. We can find them in good quality meat, butter, olive oil, avocado, eggs, seeds and nuts, linseed oil or fish. When choosing them, try to avoid, among others predatory fish (due to high levels of pollution). Buy fish from large natural reservoirs (Pacific, Atlantic Ocean, North Sea), choose fish that live short and are non-predatory . During pregnancy you should limit the amount of fish such as tuna, shark, butterfish, or perch in your diet.

 

Products not recommended during pregnancy

There are also products that should not appear in the menu of pregnant women. This is definitely highly processed food, which I mentioned earlier. Dear mothers – it is obvious that you should cut out fast food, ready meals or sweets (well, unless  you go for some healthy alternatives – look for my recipes on the blog). We must also avoid certain foods that may pose a threat to our baby’s health, although they are generally considered healthy. One of them is liver (it contains too much vitamin A) and others are products of animal origin not thermally processed due to the risk of microbial contamination  (such as raw meat, fish, seafood, raw eggs, soft-boiled eggs, raw milk, blue cheese ).

 

 

Fluid needs

Hydration is also a key issue in pregnancy. Dear future mothers – don’t forget to drink a lot, because the need for liquids increases during pregnancy. What fluids should you choose? Preferably mineral water. It should cover 60 to 80% of fluid intake. By drinking the right amount of water, we can significantly reduce the occurrence of typical pregnancy problems, such as nausea, vomiting or constipation!

 

How a pregnant woman’s nutrition affects her baby’s health

The diet of the future mother is one of the basic factors affecting the correct course of pregnancy, the development of the baby during fetal life, but also – which is very important – significantly affects their health, not only in childhood, but also in adulthood. This is the theory of intrauterine programming. We often say ‘you are what you eat’ and following this saying we can conclude that your baby will be what you eat during pregnancy.

 

Food intolerances in pregnancy

There is one more important issue that I wrote about on the blog before – food intolerances, or latent reactions to foods (HERE). The characteristic symptoms of such intolerance include, for example, gastrointestinal complaints (abdominal pain, flatulence, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, posseting), skin problems (acne, atopic dermatitis), but also mood disorders, migraines, and chronic fatigue which is rarely associated with food. When we get pregnant, we often don’t even suspect that we have problems with food intolerance, and we attribute the symptoms to life in stress, fatigue or the belief that these abdominal pains or migraines are simply our typical feature…

Meanwhile, we will pass on food intolerances during pregnancy. This is due to IgG antibodies, which develop against selected foods in people with food hypersensitivity. This is obviously a “mistake” of our immune system, because the role of antibodies is to protect our body against infectious agents, such as bacteria or viruses. These protective antibodies are passed on by the mother to her baby throughout the whole pregnancy, to protect the baby against infection after delivery – until the child’s body develops its own protective mechanisms. Unfortunately, mother suffering from food intolerances along with protective antibodies will pass the baby’s adverse reactions to food, even during pregnancy. What’s more, without knowing that some foods harm her (remember that symptoms may appear even a few days after eating an intolerated meal), she constantly eats badly tolerated foods, which causes antigens to appear in her milk, sensitizing the baby.

If our baby has problems with colic, posseting, stomach ache, he or she is putting on weight incorrectly, skin changes and frequent infections appear – you should think about the problem of food intolerance. It is necessary to perform specialized blood tests to assess which foods should be eliminated from the diet – both for the mother and the baby. For the first few months of life, a significant proportion of the antibodies in a baby’s body are mother-derived antibodies.

Therefore, if the symptoms appear in a baby who is not yet one year old, we test the mother’s blood, not the child’s blood. Based on the results obtained, we modify our diet to avoid intolerant foods while feeding the baby. On this basis, we are also expanding our baby’s diet. In turn, after the age of 12 months, we can do the test directly from the baby’s blood. However, it is better to prevent than to cure, so we should  have the examination during pregnancy, to eliminate badly tolerated foods from the diet early enough and, as a consequence, not pass our undesirable antibodies to our baby.

Dear mothers, remember – your baby’s health is largely in your hands. I’m going to write soon how to give your baby a healthy intestinal microflora and thereby reduce the risk of developing many diseases in adulthood.

 

Bibliography

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