Healthytalk8 Eating Food and Baby Health During Pregnancy
Contents
This is important to check what you eat, especially during pregnancy, because whatever you do also triggers your baby’s health.
So eating well, and plenty of food, however eating well during pregnancy is not just eating more food.
You just need extra calories, than normal women, where your baby grows quickly in both mental and physical health.
In addition, skin-to-skin contact between the mother and baby immediately after the birth keeps the baby a sufficient warm
Studies have shown that maternal diet and protein deficiency during pregnancy can lead to serious outcomes (1) including:
- Hypertension
- decreased heart weight
- premature birth
- increased systolic blood pressure (2)
- fertility
- low birth weight
- preeclampsia
- increased heart rate
Eating too much leads to gestational weight gain (GWS) shown to be a fortune of pregnancy complications and future health issues in the child (3) (4).
How do babies get nourishment during pregnancy?
Have you ever thought about – how food reaches the baby or how babies get nourishment during pregnancy?
Your food through your esophagus into your stomach, where it’s digested and broken down into glucose, fat, and other vital nutrients.
Then these, broken food absorbed into your blood and passed through the placenta.
The placenta is a very effective filter that absorbs nutrients and blocks viruses and bacteria in to get inside.
Where is passed onto the baby through the umbilical cord (connect the baby to the mother it’s like a lifeline to the baby)
What is Placenta?
The placenta is an organ that develops outer your baby and connects to your baby through the umbilical cord.
- It is necessary to deliver oxygen and nutrients to the baby
- Prevent bacteria and viruses to absorb
- produce hormones that help your baby grow and develop
- Allow antibodies to pass through your blood to the baby, until after your baby is born and old enough to get their first vaccination.
However, there are many factors that affect the placenta during pregnancy including:
- Age, especially after 40 year
- smoking
- abdominal trauma
- uterine surgery
- blood clotting disorder
- high blood pressure
- twins babies
- previous placental problems
How do babies get nutrients before the placenta?
Until the placenta is developed enough to provide nutrients, your baby receives nutrients from the lining of the uterus called the endometrium.
Uterus (is a hollow, pear-shaped organ located in the lower abdomen, between the bladder and the rectum).
In the early week of pregnancy, the uterus lining secretes glucose, which it stores as glycogen and (it is the only source of nourishment for your baby.
At about 8 to 12 weeks into pregnancy, the placenta is developed enough that handles the further journey of your baby.
Now, at this point, the uterus stops secreting glucose.
How Long Does It Take Food To Reach Baby?
As we know that food is broken down into glucose, fat, and other vital nutrients.
When the glucose hit your blood, the baby reacts to it you can feel it by movement or heartbeat, they will affect it within a few minutes.
How long does food reach the baby? it depends on how quickly your food is digested and enters your bloodstream.
For example – liquid food takes less time include – juice, and caffeine can directly enter your blood and then the placenta.
On the other hand, hard food, rice, roti, etc takes several hours, where it’s first digested, then goes into the blood, and then crosses the placenta.
It’s also necessary to eat healthy food, and take more precautions during pregnancy.
What To Eat And What Not To?
Several studies revealed that red meat is allied with cancer risk, and may raise concerns during pregnancy.
But there is less evidence, that supports this diet can negatively impact a child’s health (34).
Food to avoid
Some harmful food that should be avoided during pregnancy include:
- Alcohol
- tobacco intake like nicotine, smoking
- illegal drugs or medication
- junk food
- Pregnant women should avoid consuming unpasteurized items like:
- milk
- dairy products
- soft cheeses
- smoked fish owing to the potential risk of listeriosis
- Avoid consuming raw and undercooked eggs
Pregnant women should be aware of consuming raw fish, shellfish, or oysters, increases the risk of covid-19 and other food-borne infections (6).
Check – Monkeypox And Pregnancy: Relation, Symptoms, Risk, And More
Food to eat
Food that contains several nutrients pregnant women should be consumed (8) includes:
- vitamin B-12, and D, folic acid, iodine, iron, vitamin B12, and zinc, and, in cases of a fish-free diet, DHA in sufficient amount (4)
- fiber
- fat-like omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for brain development
- carbs
Micronutrients that should be added to your diet such as:
- Iron
- Calcium and vitamin D
- Iodine
- Folates
Diet rich in saturated fat, carbs, and food that has been allied with poor asthma, during pregnancy (6)
Do babies poop in the womb?
Babies don’t usually poop until they’ve exited your stomach, then they then emit a form of newborn poop called meconium.
Meconium is a sticky greenish-black substance that starts to build up in your baby’s intestine, and this is the poop (7).
Your baby produces this waste product in their intestines shortly before birth, so what about the mess?
The baby’s outer layer called the placenta also helps in removing some waste naturally.
BOTTOM LINE
When food is digested it’s broken down into glucose, fat, and other vital nutrients.
Then this, broken food is absorbed into your blood and passed through the placenta.
However, food absorption also depends on how quickly your food is digested and enters your bloodstream.
