Getting Pregnant – Changes You Can Make to Help Your Body Prepare
If you’re planning to have a baby, it’s a good idea to start thinking about your health and lifestyle as soon as you want to start trying or, even better, a couple of months before you stop using contraception. There may be medical issues you haven’t thought about yet — such as whether you’re up to date with your vaccinations — so it’s worth going to your doctor for a check-up.
With some methods of contraception, such as the male and female condom, the cap, diaphragm and natural family planning, you can start trying to get pregnant as soon as you stop using the contraception.
With other methods, such as the combined pill and contraceptive injections, it can take some time for your cycles to return to normal after stopping the contraception. You may therefore want to come off the pill a couple of months before you wish to start trying for a baby.
It’s a very good idea to think well ahead when it comes to healthy eating: if you’re eating well before you get pregnant, you’ll have all the right nutrients to support your baby from the day of conception onwards. This means eating regular, balanced meals, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and cutting down on ‘fast food’ and processed food. You should make sure your diet includes
Carbohydrates – complex carbohydrates such as pasta, rice and cereals are better than processed carbohydrates like white bread, cakes and biscuits.
Fruit and vegetables – try to eat five portions a day, bearing in mind that the more colourful the fruit or vegetable, the more nutritious it is.
Protein – you can get the protein you need from meat, fish, eggs, pulses and beans.
Milk and milk products – these contain lots of calcium, which is important for bone development
Fat – try to get your fat intake from vegetable sources (olive oil), or oily fish like salmon, herring or mackerel.
Government advice is to start taking folic acid supplements (400mg a day) from when you start trying to get pregnant and throughout the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Taking a folic acid supplement helps in the healthy development of your baby's spinal cord.
It’s also a good idea to make sure you’re getting plenty of vitamins when you’re pregnant. Vitamin supplements should however be taken to complement a healthy diet, not to replace it.
It makes sense for you to be fit before you get pregnant because pregnancy (and looking after a new baby) puts lots of strain on your body. If you’re fit before you get pregnant, it will be easier for you to keep active when you are pregnant. Exercise can also help improving your mood and energy levels, not to mention reducing stress, which is a good thing when it comes to conceiving.
If you’re underweight, you may need to put on some weight, because nature is notoriously unwilling to let women who are too thin get pregnant. Being overweight can also get in the way of a successful pregnancy. So the best thing is to try and achieve as ideal a weight as possible before trying to get pregnant – your doctor will be able to give you information about a healthy weight for you.
It’s best to avoid all these substances while you are trying to get pregnant and throughout your pregnancy.
If you smoke, then giving up will improve your chances of having a happy pregnancy and a healthy baby. You can avoid second-hand smoke by encouraging your partner to give up too.
If you avoid excessive alcohol consumption in pregnancy you are also more likely to have healthy child.
It’s also important that your partner cuts down on these substances (and ideally, stops taking them altogether) while you are trying to get pregnant. Cigarettes, illegal drugs and alcohol all have an adverse affect on the quality of sperm.
