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How to Prepare for Pregnancy: The Most Important Things to Know
Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology with a course of perinatology at RUDN University Viktor Radzinsky about when is the best time to give birth, what diet to follow and how long to start preparing for pregnancy.
At what age is it better to give birth and why
If 20 years ago primiparous women over 25 were called “elderly”, and those who decided on their first child after 30 were generally old, now this line has shifted to 40 years. Of course, this age is not the limit, but despite the fact that after forty the reproductive functions of the body work almost as well as at a younger age, it is highly likely that the expectant mother already has some kind of chronic disease.
In addition, after forty, it becomes more difficult to conceive a child, and the risks of various disorders increase significantly. On the other hand, this is not a reason to give up pregnancy – if a woman leads a healthy lifestyle and takes care of herself, then at any age, gestation can take place normally. However, it is worth remembering that in adult women, congenital malformations of the fetus, spontaneous miscarriages, premature birth and pregnancy complications are more often observed, but even these risks can be minimized.
What time of year to plan conception
You can and should give birth at any time of the year, the main thing is to properly prepare for conception. Do not believe the myths that something happens differently in winter or summer, and childbirth is easier, and children cry less. In Russia, only about 4% of women plan motherhood in general, pregnancy more often occurs randomly. I urge you not to catch the “good” seasons, but to prepare your body: quit smoking, do physical exercise (especially swimming) and monitor your health, visiting not only a gynecologist, but also a therapist or other specialist you need – it definitely works.
Unfortunately, the joke “no healthy – there are under-examined” in relation to the “giving birth contingent” contains more truth than, in fact, jokes! Our research ten years ago established a sad fact: young women of 23 years old have more diseases in total than their 46-year-old mothers! But after all, both daughters and mothers are at reproductive age (15-49 years).
When to start preparing for conception and pregnancy
Ideally, you need to start preparing for pregnancy from birth – do not smoke, eat healthy food, engage in physical education – but in reality this is difficult to implement, so you need to start preparing at least six months before the expected conception.
What examinations do future parents need to undergo?
First of all, I want to say that any direction for tests and drugs prescribed by doctors should be assessed critically – objectively, a woman at the stage of preparation needs to visit only a therapist and a gynecologist, check the condition of internal organs and cure her teeth. Those who have had hereditary diseases or fetal abnormalities in the family should visit genetics.
If you have any chronic diseases, you should pay special attention to your pregnancy from the first days and visit your doctor with the frequency that he prescribed for you. In addition, if a woman has chronic diseases due to which she is registered with a dispensary (diabetes, diseases of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, etc.), then she needs to be observed not only by a gynecologist, but also by a specialized specialist!
What to eat when preparing to become a mom
If we are talking about the diet, then in no case should you starve yourself. Anorexia is a real killer of a woman’s reproductive system, the nutrition of the expectant mother should be complete so that the body is always saturated with complete protein (meat, fish, cottage cheese).
In addition, when a woman is planning a pregnancy, she must give up alcohol and smoking, and also make up for the lack of vitamins in the body. Informed women should at least know that the concept of “pregravid preparation”, that is, a conscious attitude to future pregnancy, all over the world provides for the elimination of folate deficiency, saturation of the body with folic acid. This simple and cheap method is the only proven measure that reliably reduces by more than 90% the worst fetal defects – neural tube defects! There is nothing worse than these anomalies, and prevention is close, simple and reliable!
There is nothing supernatural in preparing for fatherhood either – the future dad is also advised to give up bad habits and lose weight, if any. By the way, you need to start preparing no later than 90 days before conception – this is how long sperm maturation takes.
The World Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not insist on the mandatory intake of vitamin complexes – the most important thing is that the body of the expectant mother does not have a deficiency of protein, vitamins A, D and B9 (folic acid). The latter, as already mentioned, is one of the most important micronutrients – its deficiency leads to an increased risk of not only neural tube defects, but also the formation of cardiovascular defects, cleft palate, limb defects, and urinary system defects in the fetus. Worst of all, all this is laid in the early stages of embryo development, when a woman may not know about her pregnancy at all. This is why I strongly recommend starting folic acid intake at least three months before pregnancy and continuing to drink it for several months after giving birth.
On the other hand, randomized trials confirm that those who took a balanced vitamin-mineral complex containing 800 mcg of folic acid per day, both before and during pregnancy, decreased the risk of neural tube defects by 92%, and for it took the subjects only 1 month. Moreover, in the course of research it turned out that folic acid is very effective in combination with other vitamins of group B, C and PP. It is also worth taking additional vitamin D – it is not only an essential vitamin, but also a new hormone that regulates, among other things, reproductive functions!