Preparing for pregnancy: when to start, the basic principles and methods
Increasingly, young people spend a considerable amount of time planning family and begin to prepare in advance for the upcoming pregnancy. This is due to increased consciousness, an increase in the age of primiparous mothers and deteriorating environmental conditions.
How does preparation for pregnancy begin?
Ideally, preparation for pregnancy should begin two or three months before the planned conception, and both parents should take part in it.
The given time is in principle enough to adapt the way of life for the safe conception and development of the child, to visit all the doctors in order to exclude possible risks in the state of health, to balance the diet of the diet, which also largely depends on the successful pregnancy and the birth of the child.
First you need to contact a gynecologist who will conduct an examination and prescribe tests. In addition, go to the therapist, even if you do not have chronic diseases. And if you suffer from allergies or illnesses that require taking medications, it is important to consult with specialists and not to plan for conception for the period of seasonal exacerbation. Another important doctor is a dentist, all untreated teeth will have to be put in order.
Doctors-geneticists allow to avoid possible genetic disorders of the fetus, if those took place in the family. It is advisable to pass the examination not only to the future mother, but also to the prospective father. If the future parents have bad habits, then the mother will have to abandon them altogether, as well as the father, even temporarily.
Prepare for pregnancy should begin with a review of the diet. For several months, it is worth to abandon those products in which there are dyes, carcinogens and preservatives. It is necessary to increase the number of domestic vegetables and fruits, it is possible to take additional vitamins and microelements. You can drink vitamin complex for pregnant women.
Also, more walk in the fresh air, physical exercises and the necessary amount of sleep are important. If you have to work in harmful production, then you need to do something about it. You can talk to management, do not endanger the future baby.
It should be noted that planning a pregnancy, you can take care and choice of residence. If you are going to change housing, it is better to choose an apartment that is located near parks, has playgrounds, maybe even pre-school institutions. If possible, you should avoid plants and factories located near the house.
Weight gain during pregnancy is inevitable, and it will not be easy to cope with the increased burden on the spine and abdominal press to an unprepared organism. Therefore, it is important to carry out a set of special exercises even at the stage of preparation for maternity, whose purpose is to strengthen the abdominal muscles, train the muscles of the back, prevent flat feet, tone the muscles and ligaments of the pelvic floor, and develop the leading muscles of the hips.
Daily exercise of these exercises will help not only to cope more easily with pregnancy and childbirth, but also much sooner to return to the original form after the birth of the child.
Thanks to competent physical training, you will be able to avoid the problems of excess weight, and varicose veins, and the appearance of stretch marks on the body, and even the ruptures of tissues that often accompany the birth. Flexible ligaments, strong and flexible muscles of the back, abdominals, hips and pelvic floor will relieve all these troubles, which are considered to be unchanged companions of pregnancy.
Video materials on
Visit the Maternity School and you will learn how to start preparing for a future pregnancy:
And here's what the obstetrician-gynecologist advises:
Different methods for preparing future mothers and fathers:
Step-by-step plan for preparing for future pregnancy: