Prenatal care knowledge

There is no standardized universal formula for prenatal care. The core is centered around the four dimensions of diet, body monitoring, daily care, and psychological adjustment. It is dynamically adjusted based on your own physical foundation. All "prescribed actions" that make you feel uncomfortable can be flexibly adjusted without having to force yourself.

To be honest, the biggest pitfall I have seen is eating. Last month, there was a pregnant mother whose BMI was only 19 when she set up her profile. The standard couldn't be better. However, when she was 28 weeks pregnant, she failed the glucose tolerance test. When she asked, she found out that her mother-in-law stewed old hen soup and soaked bird's nests for her every day, saying that she wanted to support the baby. She ate all the food for fear of disappointing the old woman, and she gained 20 pounds in three months. In fact, the current consensus in the nutrition community is very clear: For pregnant mothers with normal pre-pregnancy BMI, it is enough to control the weight gain of 11.5-16kg throughout pregnancy. There is no need for additional calories in the first 3 months. In the middle and late stages, just one extra egg and a glass of milk is enough every day. There is really no need to eat a lot of fish and meat.

Oh, by the way, regarding the topic of "can you eat ice and spicy food during pregnancy?" which has been debated for many years, the current opinions of Chinese and Western medicine are indeed different: Traditional Chinese medicine generally believes that cold and spicy food can irritate the gastrointestinal tract, and in severe cases may cause uterine contractions, so it is not recommended to eat more； Western medicine believes that as long as your gastrointestinal tolerance is tolerated before pregnancy and you do not experience diarrhea or abdominal pain after eating it, it is perfectly fine to occasionally eat ice cream or a bowl of Malatang, and you don’t need to make yourself too uncomfortable. When I was pregnant with my baby, I had to eat two popsicles a week in the summer. The prenatal check-up gave me the green light, and the baby was born healthy. The key is to look at your own body's reaction. Don't force yourself to eat or hold back.

Now that the food issue has been clarified, the second thing that everyone is worried about is various monitoring. Many pregnant mothers buy fetal heart rate monitors and put them at home as soon as they are 12 weeks old. They listen to them three times a day. If they can't hear the fetal heart rate, they panic and run to the emergency room overnight. In fact, it is really unnecessary. Fetal heart rate monitoring is something that only needs to be done every week after 32 weeks of pregnancy. Before, as long as there was no problem with regular prenatal check-ups, you only need to count fetal movements at home, and you don’t have to make trouble for yourself every day. To count fetal movements, you don’t need to use a small notebook to record them minute by minute. Pick three times a day when you think your baby is usually moving, such as after eating or before going to bed, and count for 1 hour each time. If the total of the three times exceeds 10, it is completely normal. If one day the number of fetal movements suddenly decreases by half or doubles than usual, it is not too late to go to the hospital.

By the way, there is also the controversy over exercise during pregnancy. Now two factions are arguing fiercely on the Internet: One faction says that you should walk 10,000 steps a day in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, and exercise more to have a better pregnancy.； Another school of thought says that you have to rest during pregnancy, as moving too much can lead to miscarriage. In fact, objectively speaking, both of these statements are too extreme. If you are a pregnant mother without high-risk factors such as a low-lying placenta or threatened miscarriage, you can walk 3,000-5,000 steps a day, or do half an hour of maternal yoga or swim. It can indeed help you control your weight and shorten the labor process. ； But if you have high-risk factors, or you feel exhausted after walking for 10 minutes, then there is nothing wrong with lying down at home. I have seen many pregnant mothers who stayed in bed for almost the entire pregnancy, and the birth went smoothly in the end. You really don’t need to be anxious when others say "Why do you lie still all day long?"

When it comes to daily care, many people’s first reaction is to buy a bunch of pregnancy-specific skin care products and maternity bags. In fact, there is really a lot of IQ tax involved. First of all, for skin care products, as long as they do not contain clear teratogenic ingredients such as retinol and salicylic acid, you can still use the ordinary moisturizing products you usually use. There is no need to spend thousands to buy so-called maternity-specific sets. Many of them just change the packaging and the price increases three to four times. For maternity bags, you don’t need to buy dozens of items from online lists. The hospital you have registered with will usually give you a clear list. Many hospitals will even provide maternity pads and newborn clothes. I have seen many pregnant mothers stock up on 20 maternity pads. In the end, the hospital gave them more than they could use, and they left them gathering dust at home.

Oh, and there is another small detail that many people overlook, that is, try not to lie flat for too long in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, as it can easily press on the inferior vena cava, causing dizziness and palpitation. When lying on your side, put a pillow between your legs and it will be much more comfortable. This is a useful tip that I personally tested when I was pregnant.

The last thing I want to tell you is that the most easily overlooked aspect of prenatal care is the psychological state. Many people say, "Don't be angry or cry during pregnancy, as it will affect the baby." I really want to slap the person who said this. Pregnancy is a period of drastic changes in hormones. It is normal to cry for half an hour because your husband forgot to buy the grapes you want to eat, or even just because of the plot on TV. As long as you are not in a state of anxiety and depression for a long time, it will not affect the baby at all. Instead, you are prone to problems if you suppress your emotions. I met a pregnant mother before who pushed herself to be the "perfect pregnant mother" throughout her pregnancy, not crying or fussing, and following all standards in diet and exercise. As a result, she suffered from postpartum depression immediately after giving birth, and it was much harder to recover than those pregnant mothers who occasionally had a little moodiness.

Really, you are yourself first, and the mother second. All prenatal care requirements are based on your own comfort. If you make yourself uncomfortable every day for the so-called "good for the baby", that is putting the cart before the horse. Oh, by the way, if you are really not sure about what can and cannot be done, just ask the obstetrician at the hospital where you are registered. Don’t believe those random folk remedies on the Internet, they are better than anything else.