The fetus, growing and developing inside the womb, depends entirely on its mother to supply all nourishment necessary to bring a new, healthy life into the outside world. After birth, infants continue to depend on others to fulfill all their needs. This absolute dependency places upon parents the responsibility of feeding their children well – to ensure their survival and to safeguard their health and well-being. This role must be taken seriously.
A mother should begin by being careful of her own diet throughout pregnancy. Later on, she should continue to eat well herself and to feed her newborn wisely. If a mother is poorly nourished during pregnancy or if an infant receives a diet deficient in essential nutrients, lifelong health problems may develop. You have to understand The Fit And Healthy Pregnancy Guide.
Pregnant women and new parents normally have many questions about how best to fill the nutritional needs of the baby, both before and after birth. Should pregnant women stop drinking coffee? Take vitamins? Drink alcoholic beverages? Is it best for a mother to breast feed or bottle feed her newborn? When should an infant begin to eat solid foods? And, what are the best first foods?
NUTRITION DURING PREGNANCY
Good nutrition begins even before conception. Eating well before conception prepares the mother’s body for the physically demanding period of pregnancy. The mother’s pre-pregnancy health, therefore, can affect the fetus’s health, development, and chance of survival. If a woman is eating poorly and a pregnancy begins, she must promptly improve her diet to compensate for nutrients not present at the time of conception.
After conception the mother’s diet is crucial to the development of a healthy baby. In fact, contrary to previous theories, malnutrition affects the child more severely than it does the mother. In evolutionary terms, this makes sense: a baby born to a nutritionally depleted mother does not have a good chance of surviving.
Therefore, with few exceptions, the mother’s nutritional needs are met first, followed by the needs of the fetus. Both the quantity and the quality of the mother’s diet affect the fetus, in many ways – birth weight, and the risks of malformation, spontaneous abortion, mortality, or retardation.
For the best guide to healthy eating before, during and after pregnancy I recommend you to read the book from American Dietetic Association, Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, and After Pregnancy (American Dietetic Association)
On the next post I will outlines the developmental stages of the fetus. Because organs develop from the very beginning, the mother’s diet matters right from the start. Fetal growth itself is rapid throughout pregnancy, particularly in the last trimester.
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