Congratulations! You're pregnant! Now it's time to get to work. The National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC) says that everything you do in the next nine months, from what you eat and drink to how active you are and how much you weigh, could affect how your child grows now and in the future.
In fact, a new report from the NWHRC looks at the growing body of research that shows conditions in utero (while you're pregnant) can affect your child's health even decades later.
For example, one study found that even just one drinking binge during pregnancy could make a child more likely to become an alcoholic later in life. Other studies show that there are strong links between what a mother eats while she is pregnant and her child's risk of being overweight and getting diabetes or heart disease in the future.
The point? Eat right now to keep your child from getting sick in the future.
"Eating right" when you're pregnant is made up of two parts. The first is what you eat, and the second is how much weight you gain.
Many women gain weight for the first time in their lives during pregnancy, but don't go overboard. During your first trimester, you don't need to eat more calories than you normally would. After the first 12 weeks, you can add up to 300 calories to your daily intake.
If you are a normal weight when you get pregnant, you should gain between 25 and 35 pounds. Don't gain more than five to ten pounds in the first 20 weeks of your pregnancy. After that, you should only gain about a pound a week.
Doctors, on the other hand, strongly suggest that if you are overweight, you try to lose weight before you get pregnant. Women who are overweight are more likely to need an emergency caesarean section, get gestational diabetes, have high blood pressure, or lose their babies. There is also a higher chance that something will go wrong with the birth.
During your first prenatal visit, your doctor or nurse will help you figure out where you stand on the weight scale.
Talk to your doctor or nurse about any concerns you have about your diet, like if you are a vegetarian or vegan.
