Lifestyle 101: Making the Best Choices for Your Baby

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Weight gain during pregnancy . Nutrition during pregnancy . Exercising during pregnancy . Medications during pregnancy . Other hazards to avoid . Sex during pregnancy . Working during pregnancy

Lifestyle 101: Making the Best Choices for Your Baby

Think it's tough being pregnant today? Imagine what it was like to be an expectant mother 100 years ago. You were not merely expected to protect your baby's physical well-being by eating well, exercising, and leaving your corset unlaced. You were also expected to begin to educate your child from the moment of conception and to think pure thoughts that would encourage your child to develop into a morally upstanding citizen. Sex was obviously out of the question, according to the author of this particular marriage manual, who took great pains to remind his readers that having sex during pregnancy wasn't merely unnecessary; it was also morally wrong: "Impregnation is the only mission of intercourse, and after that has taken place, intercourse can subserve no other purpose than sensual gratification."

Although attitudes about pregnancy have changed a great deal in the past 100 years, the Victorians did manage to get one fact straight: a pregnant woman's lifestyle has a major impact on her baby's well-being.

In this chapter, we provide the facts you'll need to make the best possible lifestyle choices when it comes to eating, exercising, taking medications, avoiding hazards to your baby, remaining sexually active, and working during pregnancy.

" Low spirits, violent passions, irritability, frivolity, in the pregnant woman, leave indelible marks on the unborn child.
—an excerpt from Safe Counsel, a marriage manual published in 1894 "

Weight gain during pregnancy
It takes approximately 80,000 calories to grow a baby. That amounts to approximately 300 extra calories per day. So although you are technically "eating for two" during your pregnancy, you certainly don't need to consume enough food to feed yourself and a 250-pound trucker!

Before we get into a detailed discussion about what foods your body needs during pregnancy, let's stop to consider how much weight your body needs to gain and why.

Bright Idea
If you're concerned that you are gaining weight too quickly, measure the circumference of your upper thighs weekly. If the weight you're gaining is within the normal range, the measurement should stay about the same.

Your gain plan
Take a look around the waiting room the next time you're sitting in your doctor's or midwife's office, and you'll see that pregnant women come in all shapes and sizes. Some start out overweight and some start out underweight. Some gain large amounts of weight during their pregnancies; others gain only a little. That's why health-care practitioners are steering away from the conventional wisdom that states that all pregnant women need to gain a certain amount of weight, period. Instead, many are choosing to come up with a customized weight-gain plan for each woman. Here are some of the factors that are generally considered:

• Your prepregnancy weight: If you start your pregnancy at a normal weight (see Table 8.1), you will likely be encouraged to gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy, a figure recommended by the National Academy of Sciences/Institute of Medicine (NAS/IOM). If you are underweight, you'll be encouraged to gain a little more—28 to 40 pounds—and if you are overweight, you'll be encouraged to gain a little less—15 to 25 pounds.