The Low-Down on Prenatal Vitamins

Just about every pregnant woman is told by her health care provider that she needs to take a prenatal vitamin. Certain specific nutrients, including folic acid, iron and calcium are essential to your baby’s growth, and so it’s no surprise that so many health care providers recommend supplements.

Still, there are some important areas to think about when you’re getting ready to take prenatal vitamins. From knowing your options to choosing a prenatal vitamin that’s best for your situation, take the time you need in order to get the right one and it will pay off.

Choices, Choices

There are many prenatal vitamin types out there. Some have a higher amount of iron than normal, for example. These are aimed at women with an iron deficiency. There are other prenatal vitamins that may combine nutrients like vitamins and minerals alongside herbal supplements, as well. There are also over-the-counter prenatal vitamins as well as prescription ones.

Eating Right

Taking a prenatal vitamin doesn’t mean you don’t still need to eat a balanced diet. You need to focus on unprocessed foods, different sorts of vegetables, plenty of whole grains and water to keep hydrated. These foods are the best way to get the nutrients you need. However, you still need to take your prenatal vitamins, even if you carefully watch your diet.

What Does Your Doctor Say?

It’s important that you talk with your health care provider about your prenatal vitamins. You might have a health concern that makes one better than another for you. If your prenatal vitamins make you ill due to the high iron content, don’t just stop taking them without talking to your doctor first. Make sure your doctor is aware of what you’re taking, and be willing to listen to her advice.

Ultimately, what sort of prenatal vitamins you take is a decision that you have to make. You want the best for your baby, and you want to give your body the building blocks it needs to get you through your pregnancy and to insure that you come out with a healthy, happy and fully-developed child.

Most women will experience Braxton Hicks contractions before experiencing real labor. These “false labor pains” are normal, and nothing to be alarmed about. Some women experience Braxton Hicks contractions while they’re still in their second trimester. Others experience the false contractions late in the third trimester, when you would expect to have true labor pains.

Braxton Hicks may seem like actual labor pains, especially to new mothers who have never experienced labor before. Knowing the difference can save you and your partner a frenzied (and unnecessary) trip to the hospital or two.

Here are the identifying characteristics of Braxton Hicks contractions:

• Abdominal tightening. This tightening feeling will come and go.
• Non-painful contractions. Most women describe Braxton Hicks as feeling similar to mild menstrual cramping.
• Contractions at irregular intervals. The duration of the contractions doesn’t increase, and the interval between them doesn’t steadily decrease.
• Contractions don’t increase when you walk.

Look for these signs that you are experiencing actual labor:

• Discomfort or ache in your abdomen or lower back.
• Pressure on your pelvis.
• Painful sensation in your thigh or sides.
• Contractions become stronger when you walk.
• Contractions feel like strong menstrual cramps or diarrhea.
• Interval between contractions is becoming lower.
• Contractions are growing in intensity.
• Contractions are growing closer together.

If you’re not sure whether the contractions you’re experiencing are actual labor or Braxton Hicks, it’s better to err on the side of caution. Call your doctor or health care provider and get her input. In the end, it’s better to go to the hospital and need to leave than to stay home when you should have gone to the hospital.

While Braxton Hicks contractions aren’t dangerous, they can still be unpleasant. If you are feeling uncomfortable because of Braxton Hicks, you can:

• Go for a walk.
• Go to sleep
• Lay down and rest
• Use relaxation techniques
• Eat a small meal or snack
• Make sure you’re drinking enough water.
• Treat yourself to a massage

In most cases, Braxton Hicks contractions subside fairly quickly. In any case, they’re nothing to be worried about. Most doctors agree that Braxton Hicks are caused by your baby moving around and getting ready for the “real thing.”

Most children in the United States are potty trained between the ages of 18 months and three years old. Many, however, believe that early potty training can be accomplished at a much younger age.

The main argument against early potty training is that babies don’t have the physical muscle development needed for real toilet training before they are two years old. Those who favor early potty training point out that it really isn’t about the child’s ability to get up and use the potty by themselves. Rather, early potty training has more to do with the parents’ ability to pick up on babies’ signals that they have to eliminate.

There really is no set age to begin early potty training. Some early potty training experts suggest that your baby can start early potty training as young as seven or eight months old. Of course, this requires a considerable commitment on the part of the parents. After all, early potty training mainly focuses on the parents recognizing their baby’s signals.

Early potty training is easiest if your baby has fairly regular bowel movements. If you know roughly how long it takes for your baby to poop after she has eaten, it’s a simple matter to have her sit on the potty chair until she eliminates.

Even if your child’s bowel movements don’t run like clockwork, early potty training can work. You simply need to pay attention to their signals. At first, it’s more about the parents being trained than the babies, but the babies do catch on to the idea fairly quickly.

Common signs that your baby is ready to eliminate include:

• Grunting
• Bearing down
• Changing facial expressions

When you think about it, you are probably already attuned to many of your baby’s signals. After all, you know their body language and the different cries they use when they’re tired, hungry, hurt, scared, or crabby. Chances are, you also have a good idea of what body language they show when they’re getting ready to eliminate, too. For early potty training, you just need to take the next step and get them to the potty.

Some suggest that the age when a baby is ready to potty train is essentially up to the baby. While it’s true that you can’t really force your baby to train effectively before he’s ready, it’s also true that most babies will pick up early potty training very quickly if you’re ready to put in the time and commitment.

During the first twelve months of your baby’s life, she’s learning a tremendous amount of things. Most importantly, perhaps, she’s learning how to use her body, and motor skill development in the first year is truly significant. If you know what kinds of milestones to watch for, you can encourage your baby in that progress toward motor skill development in the first year as she transitions from infant to one year-old:

• The movements of a newborn are, for the most part, reflexive. Your newborn’s body responds to the environment around him. These kinds of reflexive actions include things like sucking, grasping and rooting, as well as the startle reflex. both rooting and sucking are reflexes that help your baby breastfeed. The grasping reflex is your baby’s response to an object placed in his hand. The startle reflex comes as a response to a noise or other surprising action. Perhaps the most interesting reflex is, however, the “tonic neck” reflex. This refers to your baby’s head turning to one side and then he automatically straightens the arm on that same side while bending the other arm.
• Between the ages of 1 month and 3 months, your baby begins to get some control. She rolls over. She lifts her head. She props herself up on her arms in order to look around. She kicks her legs. Her vision is also starting to improve.
• From 4 to 7 months, your baby usually starts to roll over. He’ll reach out for objects that he’d like to have. He may start to pass objects from hand to hand at this stage. Many babies will crawl at this point, and he may be able to stand up.
• From 8 to 12 months, your baby will see significant motor skills develop. She will be able to get up on all fours. She’ll sit up. She’ll stand, she’ll bounce, and she’ll crawl. She might even walk.

Ever baby is different, of course. If you’re concerned about your baby’s motor skill development in the first year, make sure that you talk to your baby’s pediatrician.

As you well know, it’s generally not considered safe to lose weight while you’re pregnant. Even a woman who starts out her pregnancy overweight should still gain at least 10 to 15 pounds during the course of her pregnancy. Weight gain is a normal an natural part of pregnancy. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy, of course, isn’t healthy, but you need to gain at least some weight.

Breastfeeding is different, however. There’s no reason why you can’t lose weight while you’re breastfeeding, especially if you’re smart and careful in terms of how you go about doing it. Here are some things to keep in mind while trying to lose weight while breastfeeding:

• Before you start any diet, you’ll want to establish your nursing and milk production for at least a couple of months. You don’t want to interfere with your body’s production of your baby’s nutritional needs.
• Talk to your doctor. In some cases, there may be specific things that you need to take into account when trying to lose weight while breastfeeding.
• Make sure you’re getting a balanced diet. You still need some specific nutrients in order to pass them along to your baby while you are breastfeeding. The best thing you can do, both to lose weight and for your baby, is to get rid of processed foods with little or no nutritional value from your diet, and to load up on grains, meats, dairy, fruits and veggies.
• Don’t drastically cut your calorie count. That will almost assuredly affect your production of milk, and your baby’s supply. Recognize that you need more calories when you are breastfeeding than if you weren’t breastfeeding.
• Steady weight loss is key. You shouldn’t lose more than about a pound a week on average. If you’re losing weight at a pace that’s more rapid, you need to increase your caloric intake.

Stay hydrated. Part of effective breastfeeding relies on you being hydrated, and diet and exercise can sometimes lead to dehydration. Stick with water, and avoid caffeine.

When you’re a new parent, any possible condition your baby may have sounds daunting. We simply don’t want to think about the possibility of anything being wrong with our babies, especially in their first few days of life. One of the most common problems babies experience in their first couple months is jaundice.

Don’t worry. It’s not as scary as it sounds. Jaundice is caused when baby’s liver isn’t handling the bilirubin, which is caused by the breakdown of red blood cells, as well as it should. When bilirubin levels get high, typically in the first couple months of baby’s life, her eyes, mouth, and skin may take on a yellowish tone.

This isn’t usually anything to worry about, but you should take your baby to see her doctor. Your doctor will take a sample of baby’s blood to check her bilirubin levels. In most cases, doctors will monitor the bilirubin levels, and nothing more needs to be done.

One thing you can do to help your baby if she has jaundice is to make sure she gets plenty of sunlight. Placing her bassinette or crib by a window with the shades open can give baby some of the extra light she needs. You should also feed your baby more often if he has jaundice. Babies with jaundice should be fed at least every 2-3 hours.

If baby’s bilirubin levels are too high, doctors will use light therapy to treat baby’s jaundice. This may be done in the doctor’s office or at home. Often doctors will prescribe a biliblanket, which parents wrap their little ones in. The biliblanket is essentially a cloth wrap with several rows of lights in it.

Whichever type of light therapy (more properly called phototherapy) your doctor uses, the idea is that the light causes the skin and blood to be able to break down the bilirubin so it can be eliminated in baby’s urine. This treatment may last from one or two days to a week or more, depending on the severity of the jaundice. The treatment lasts until baby’s liver is mature enough to deal with the bilirubin on its own.

In rare instances, babies may need a blood transfusion if they don’t respond to phototherapy. However, even in these instances, it is very rare these days for any real harm to come to baby because of jaundice. Just make sure that baby’s doctor is aware of the situation if you see a yellow tint to baby’s skin or eyes so that he can monitor your baby’s bilirubin levels.

It’s not uncommon for a woman to want to experience childbirth without pain medications that can dull both the body and the mind. Today especially, women are recognizing that pain medications can take away from the experience of birth, rather than enhancing it. Pain medications can prolong labor, and in some rare cases they can cause complications for the woman’s health or the baby’s health.

Just because you decide you don’t want labor pain medications, however, doesn’t mean that you have to deal with all of the pain of labor at its maximum intensity. Even apart from taking pain medications, there are a number of things that you can do to try to avoid labor pain.

Here are two of the most common things women to do avoid labor pain medications:

• Consider herbal products. There are a number of herbal creams that are designed to not only relieve the pain of labor, but to also help labor progress. Some of the herbs you might find in these creams include lavender, kukui nut, blue cohosh, and black cohosh. In addition to these herbal ingredients, you might find other ingredients designed to help soothe the labor process, such as vanilla oil and Vitamin E.
• Look into alternative treatments for pain. Some women have turned to alternative medications or treatments. some of the most common of these include hypnosis, aromatherapy, acupressure and acupuncture. Some women use a combination of these kinds of alternative treatments in order to avoid labor pain medications.

It’s important to be informed. Even if you want to avoid labor pain medications, you should do your homework. Understand what pain medications are available, and what the possible side effects are. If you go into labor armed with that knowledge, you’ll be much better equipped to make decisions about labor pain medications when you’re actually in the middle of labor.

Doctors across the board prescribe prenatal vitamins to pregnant women these days. Additionally, many doctors suggest continuing to take prenatal vitamins after baby is born, particularly if you are breastfeeding. But why are they important?

First of all, understand that no vitamin can make up for a poor diet. Prenatal vitamins are intended to be a supplement, ensuring that you get sufficient doses of vitamins and minerals which are particularly important to women while they are pregnant and to their babies. However, this should be used in addition to a balanced, nutritious diet. If you’re not sure what kinds of food you should be eating, ask your doctor or nutritionist.

While prenatal vitamins offer a number of nutrients, here are the ones which are particularly important for expectant moms and their developing babies:

• Folic acid. It helps reduce your baby’s chances of certain birth defects such as spinal bifida. The folic acid helps the neural tube to develop. It has even been recommended that women who are trying to conceive begin taking folic acid supplements before they are pregnant. 400 micrograms is generally enough to be beneficial before you conceive. Your prenatal vitamin should contain at least that much. If your family has any history of neural tube disorders, let your doctor know. She might want to prescribe a prenatal vitamin higher in folic acid.
• Iron. Iron helps the blood carry oxygen, and mothers and babies both need a good deal of oxygen in their blood streams. Your prenatal vitamin should have at least 17 mg of iron and you should eat foods rich in iron, such as liver, turkey, spinach and shellfish. Your body produces considerably more blood while you are pregnant (50% more), and your baby and her placenta both use up iron as well. Add this to the fact that most people don’t get enough iron in their diets to start with, and it adds up to a need to get plenty of iron through a prenatal vitamin. Anemia (low iron) is associated with preterm delivery, infant mortality, and low birth weight. IT is especially important that you get enough during the second and third trimesters.
• Calcium. A woman’s body requires a good deal of calcium to begin with. When you’re pregnant, your baby’s developing bones also require lots of calcium. Supplementing your diet with calcium helps ensure that you don’t lose bone density. In some cases, it is even recommended that you take a separate calcium supplement in addition to your prenatal vitamins.

There are, of course, other nutrients your body needs, and most prenatal vitamins address those, too. Folic acid, iron, and calcium, however, are the three key nutrients that many pregnant women have deficiencies in. Make sure your prenatal vitamin contains adequate sources of each of them.

Pregnancy can be a time of great joy, excitement and anticipation, but it can also be a time of many fears and worries. One of the things that can cause an excessive amount of stress and worry for a woman who’s pregnant is bleeding. While bleeding in pregnancy isn’t always a sign that there’s a major problem, it is something that’s worth talking to your doctor about. In some cases, bleeding during pregnancy can indicate that there is something really wrong.

Bleeding during the first half or so of pregnancy is relatively common. Around 25 percent of women will experience some bleeding during pregnancy. Sometimes, the cause is benign, and sometimes, it indicates a problem.

Here are some common reasons for bleeding in early pregnancy:

• Implantation bleeding happens between 6 and 12 days after conception, and indicates the implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterus.
• Pelvic infection as well as urinary tract infection can cause bleeding.
• You may experience bleeding after intercourse, as the cervix tends to be tender and sensitive.
• Bleeding can also be a sign of miscarriage. It doesn’t mean that miscarriage is immanent. Around half of the time, women who experience bleeding are miscarrying. Miscarriages are relatively common, with an estimated 15 percent of all pregnancies ending in miscarriage. Most of those miscarriages occur during the first trimester of pregnancy.
• In some cases, bleeding can indicate an ectopic pregnancy. This occurs when the pregnancy implants somewhere other than the uterus, such as in the fallopian tubes. These pregnancies, obviously, will not survive. Around one out of every 60 pregnancies is ectopic.
• A molar pregnancy can be responsible for bleeding, as well. These are extremely rare. Essentially, it involves the growth of abnormal tissue, as opposed to an embryo, and the signs can mimic pregnancy. However, a molar pregnancy is usually accompanied by bleeding.

When you think about being pregnant and all of the various doctor’s appointments involved, as well as the planning you do for labor, chiropractic care isn’t probably the firs thing you think of. The fact of the matter is, however, chiropractic care can be extremely beneficial during pregnancy.

You see, your body is going through tremendous changes during pregnancy, both in a chemical sense and in a very physical sense. Your center of gravity is shifting, for example, which is responsible for many of the aches and pains of pregnancy. Add in all of the other bodily changes, and you start to see where chiropractic care can help.

There is some evidence to suggest, for example, that chiropractic care can help with morning sickness. By making regular adjustments, your chiropractor an help lessen the severity as well as the frequency of morning sickness.

Chiropractic care can help address a number of potential problems, too. It’s relatively common for your joints or spine to become misaligned while pregnant, leading to pains like back ache. In some cases, this misalignment can make labor more difficult.

The best time for chiropractic care during pregnancy, of course, is during the later stages. When your baby starts to really grow and you start to add weight, chiropractic care can help your body adjust to the changes.

There is even some evidence that women who have been under regular chiropractic care during pregnancy may experience a shorter labor. Some studies suggest that labor may be as much as a quarter shorter for women who are under chiropractic care, largely due to increased flexibility and movement in the pelvic area.

If you’re interested in chiropractic care, talk to your doctor today. She may be able to refer you to a reputable and effective chiropractor, and one who is used to treating women during pregnancy.