Depending on how healthy your lifestyle is already, when you are pregnant you may need to make changes to your diet, drinking habits and the amount of exercise that you do, as well as ensuring that you are up-to-date with all of your required immunisations and screening tests.
Self-care
To ensure that your pregnancy goes as smoothly as possible, and to ensure your baby is as healthy as possible, you need to make sure you take good care of yourself and follow the self-care guidelines outlined below.
Alcohol
It is best to avoid drinking alcohol completely if you are planning a pregnancy, and also during pregnancy. If you are trying to conceive, you may be unaware that you are pregnant until several weeks into the pregnancy, so you should stop drinking alcohol before any damage can be done. Drinking alcohol while pregnant can be harmful to your unborn baby, and binge drinking in early pregnancy may be particularly harmful. Heavy drinking during pregnancy is associated with low birth weight and many other serious birth defects, such as heart problems and delayed development.
If you do decide to drink alcohol while you are pregnant, do not drink more than one to two units, once or twice a week in order to minimise the risk to your baby. You should never get drunk while pregnant. If you feel you are unable to reduce your levels of drinking on your own, see your GP who can refer you for specialist help.
Body weight
Women who are overweight or obese are more likely to need a Caesarean section, and are at higher risk of having a still born baby.
Overweight or obese women also have a higher risk of developing pre-eclampsia, a condition in which pregnant women develop high blood pressure, as well as protein in their urine and fluid retention. Pre-eclampsia is usually mild but, in rare cases, it can cause serious harm to the mother and growth problems in the unborn baby.
If you are overweight or obese, before trying to become pregnant, it is best to get as close to your ideal weight as you can. You are considered to be overweight if you have a body mass index (BMI) of between 25 and 29.9, and you are considered to be obese if your BMI is 30 or more.
If you are overweight, or obese, you should see your GP who can advise you about the most effective and safest ways to lose weight.
Folic acid
Taking folic acid supplements before and during pregnancy can reduce the risk of your baby being born with a neural tube defect (NTD). Folic acid supplements are available over-the-counter (OTC) at pharmacies. Neural tube defects, such as such as spina bifida, affect the growth of your baby's brain and spinal cord, so that they do not develop properly.
You should take 0.4mg of folic acid daily if you are trying to conceive, and you should continue this until your 12th week of pregnancy, while your baby's spine develops. However, you have a higher risk of having a baby affected by an NTD, if:
- either you, or your partner, has an NTD,
- you have had a previous pregnancy affected by an NTD,
- you have coeliac disease (a condition caused by a sensitivity to gluten),
- you are diabetic, or
- you are taking antiepileptic medication.
If any of the above applies to you, you will need to take a higher dose of folic acid to help your baby's spine develop properly. You should take 5mg of folic acid daily before you conceive, and until the 12th week of your pregnancy.
If you have sickle-cell anaemia (where your red blood cells are unable to carry oxygen around your body properly) you should already be taking 5mg of folic acid daily as part of your treatment. It is important that you keep this up throughout your pregnancy.
Fish
When you are trying to get pregnant you should avoid eating swordfish, shark and marlin. It is also advisable to limit how much tuna fish you eat to two tuna steaks or four medium-size cans of tuna per week.
This is because these types of fish contain high levels of mercury, which can potentially harm a baby's developing nervous system.
Vitamin A, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, and herbal medicines
Women who are trying to conceive and pregnant women, should not take more than 10,000 IU (international units) of vitamin A from supplements. Too much vitamin A can cause birth defects in your unborn baby. However, the amount of vitamin A in daily vitamin supplements is limited to 6,000 IU, so as long as you do not exceed the daily intake, you should not be taking too much. See your GP if you are unsure.
You may wish to take an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine while you are trying to conceive. If so, you should check with your GP that it would not harm your baby if you were to become pregnant while taking it.
If you need to relieve mild pain while you are trying to conceive, paracetamol is recommended as long as you take the lowest possible effective dose. You should only take ibuprofen while you are trying to conceive if it is recommended by a health professional.
It is not advisable to take any herbal medicine while you are trying to conceive, or while you are pregnant. Herbal medicines are unlicensed products and there is not enough research into the effect that they may have on you or your baby.
Vaccinations and screening tests
When you are pregnant, as well as playing close attention to your diet and lifestyle, you also need to make sure that you are up-to-date with vaccinations, such as rubella and varicllea.
Immunisations
All women who wish to become pregnant should be vaccinated against rubella (German measles). You may already be immune to rubella if you had the necessary jabs when you were younger. However, your GP may want to carry out a test to make sure that you are immune to the condition. If you are not immune, you may have to wait up to a month after being vaccinated before you can try to conceive.
If you have never had chickenpox, or shingles, you may need to be vaccinated against varicella (the virus which causes these conditions) before you can become pregnant. However, this is unlikely unless there is a possibility that you may come into contact with carriers of the virus, such as healthcare workers who work closely with patients, or those who come into close contact with people who have damaged immune systems. If you need to be vaccinated, you may have to wait up to six weeks after your second dose of the vaccine, before you can try to conceive.
Similarly, women who are likely to contract hepatitis B may need to be vaccinated against the condition before they can conceive. You may need this vaccination if:
- you are a health worker,
- you have a long-lasting (chronic) kidney or liver disease,
- you come into close contact with someone who has hepatitis B,
- you have many different sexual partners, or
- you use intravenous drugs.
Cervical screening
If you are planning a pregnancy and you are due for a cervical smear test, you will need to have it before you conceive. This is because pregnancy can make the results of your smear test more difficult to interpret.
Advice for men
As well as there being health guidelines and recommendations for women trying to conceive (or who are already pregnant), many of the recommendation also apply to men as well.
Men are advised to cut down on drinking alcohol and smoking because they have been shown to decrease the quality of sperm, and the chances of their partner conceiving. Some doctors suggest that wearing loose underwear helps sperm production by providing a cooler environment
