Table of Contents
What is Pregnancy Care?
As your baby starts growing and your body begins to change, you will need to take measures that will keep you both healthy. Good pregnancy care will include healthy prenatal and postnatal care tips to ensure you are on a great start and beyond your pregnancy journey.
Pregnancy care is all about getting adequate supervision for you and your baby before, during, and after your pregnancy. This care consists of antenatal and postnatal care for mothers who desire a healthy birth journey.
As an expecting mother, you will need to learn basic maternal skills from healthcare professionals and how to know what is good or harmful to you and your unborn baby. It is also important how to take care of yourself and your babies after this delicate period.
In this article, you will discover the various care tips for each stage of pregnancy and who you can reach out to during this journey.
Prenatal Care
Prenatal care is the type of care an expecting mother receives during pregnancy. Regular prenatal care will ensure the health and well-being of you and your unborn baby.
Prenatal care usually starts at least three months before trying to conceive. During this period, there are measures you need to take to reduce risks that may arise during pregnancy. These measures will also increase the chances of you having a safe and healthy delivery.
A regular prenatal care visit will help the doctor assess your unborn baby’s development and perform routine testing to help find and prevent any problems before the tougher parts of the journey.
Without proper pregnancy care, babies may have a high chance of being born at a low birth weight. Such weight is risky for newborns, as they are more likely to die when compared to babies whose mothers went for prenatal care.
Some of the healthy care tips to follow during this period include:
- Take the right pregnancy care supplements daily, especially those with folic acid
- Avoid toxic substances and chemicals at home or your workplace that could cause harm
- Quit smoking and drinking alcohol
- Consult your doctor about your medical conditions, supplements, and any other prescription drugs you may be taking
During Pregnancy
When you are expecting a baby, you must consult a professional for healthcare appointments. These visits are for your doctor to check on your and your baby’s health. These checks may include:
- Routine tests and screenings, like blood tests to check your blood type and medical conditions like anemia orHIV
- Advising you on healthy diet and exercise for your pregnancy
- Checking your blood pressure
- Confirming your weight gain
- Checking your baby’s heart rate and general growth
During these checkups, if your pregnancy is at high risk because of any factor or medical condition, you may be advised to visit a special doctor more often.
What Prenatal Tests are Recommended?
Laboratory tests carried out early in pregnancy include:
- blood type and Rh factor
- Urinalysis
- urine culture
- complete blood count.
These recommended prenatal tests help to screen for diseases such as hepatitis B and C, rubella, and sexually transmitted infections. In some cases, these tests are done to check for birth defects.
The glucose and group B streptococcus (GBS) screening is done later in pregnancy to check the level of glucose or sugar in your blood.
Physical Checkups and Monitoring
Physical checkups are important and usually occur once a month early in the pregnancy or more often as the pregnancy goes on. Most health professionals will ask about the woman’s medical history to find out if there are any possible problems.
Foods and Drinks to Avoid During Pregnancy
Most foods may be safe during pregnancy, but there are foods and drinks you must avoid during this delicate period. These foods may pose a risk of infection or harm your baby. Some of them include:
- undercover fish and meat
- high mercury fish
- raw eggs
- unwashed fruits and vegetables
- processed foods
- alcohol
- caffeine.
Your healthcare provider may also recommend some prenatal vitamins and supplements alongside your daily meal. These vitamins may include folic acid, iron, calcium, vitamin D, and iodine. However, it is advisable to consult your doctor about any vitamins or dietary supplements you take during pregnancy.
Postnatal Care
Just as it’s important to take care of yourself and your baby before giving birth, you also need to care for yourself after. Postnatal care is the type of care provided to a woman following childbirth.
This care is necessary to ensure the health and well-being of both the mother and the newborn child. Postnatal care begins shortly after the baby is born and may require the mother to stay in the hospital for adequate checks and attention.
During this care period, the doctor will perform regular health checks on both the mother and the baby. They will also educate the mother about breastfeeding, vaginal care, and postpartum/postnatal healing.
- Breastfeeding: After giving birth, the new mother receives information on how to breastfeed her baby. It may take several weeks for a woman to learn how to breastfeed, care for her breasts, and position the infant when nursing.
- Vaginal care: This is a vital aspect of postpartum care. The new mother may experience vaginal pain, especially if there were injuries during the birth. In most cases, they may experience contractions immediately after giving birth, which can be unpleasant and result in frequent urination and discharge.
- Postpartum recovery: This type of care focuses on getting you enough rest because new mothers spend so much time and energy caring for their newborns. Women may wish to rest while their baby sleeps or have someone else handle the baby’s bottle feeding while they are sleeping.
In most cases, the mother is also guided on family planning, contraception, and other concerns the mother may have about the phase.
What Happens During Postnatal Visits?
During your postnatal visits, your doctor may develop a postpartum assessment for your ongoing postnatal care. This assessment may include physical checkups and consultations on breastfeeding, nutrition, and care for the newborn weeks after the birth.
- Physical checkups: The doctor will check the new mom’s physical, social, and psychological well-being. They may also go ahead to examine the new baby’s care and feeding, physical recovery from birth, rest and fatigue, and any health-related conditions.
- Nutrition: Most doctors will advise women to drink enough water and beverages with electrolytes to help recover from the after-birth experience. Nutrition for new mothers may also include high-protein foods and foods that help fight inflammation. These foods contain nutrients like vitamin A, vitamin C, B vitamins, and zinc.
- Care for the newborn: It’s normal to feel unprepared after giving birth to a baby for the first time. These visits will teach you how to safely handle newborns, including how to support the neck, change a baby’s diapers, and bathe a newborn.
Prenatal and Postnatal Care Tips
Staying healthy during and after pregnancy requires women to make an effort to abide by prenatal and postnatal care tips. These pregnancy care tips address healthcare changes for pregnant women and new mothers by improving access to quality prenatal care. They help ensure your pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum experiences are safe.
1. Get enough rest
A woman’s sleep cycle will be interrupted by numerous events during and after pregnancy. This can increase her chances of encountering certain risks. The following tips help to induce a good night’s sleep:
- Create a regular wakeup and bedtime routine
- Do stress-reducing activities like yoga and meditation
- Try lifting your head to reduce breathing problems while sleeping
- Use a maternity pillow to support your back and knees
- Drink enough water to prevent leg cramps
2. Adopt a healthy diet
A healthy and balanced diet will keep you and your baby healthy. In a nutritious diet, you will find protein, iron, folic acid, and iodine, which is great for pregnant women. The following are some important dietary and nutrition advice for pregnant women:
- Eat more whole grain, low-fat, low-sugar, and low-sodium foods
- Avoid starch, saturated fats, and refined grains
- If you feel like vomiting, eat whole-grain toast. It will help with your nausea.
3. Get plenty of exercise
The following exercises help to reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy:
- Yoga
- Riding a stationary bike
- Low-impact aerobics
- Strength training
These are suitable exercises for pregnant women. In some cases of pregnancy, exercises are unsafe. They include:
- Preterm labor (which happens sooner than 37 weeks of pregnancy)
- Gestational hypertension
- Cervical insufficiency
- Placenta previa
4. Listen to your body
As a woman, you need to learn how to let your body speak and when to trust and act on what it feels or senses. A pregnant woman may want to pause and consider how she feels at various locations and with different people. That way, she can identify the source of the sensations she experiences, which will help improve her care.
5. Check-in regularly with a healthcare provider
There are a lot of questions to ask during and after pregnancy, especially with the changes that happen during this period. While your regular visits may answer some of them, the role of a healthcare provider should not be ignored. Contact one if you are experiencing any of the following:
- Unusual cramps or abdominal pains
- Breathing difficulty
- Changes in the baby’s movement after 28 weeks
- Signs of premature labor, like light bleeding in the third trimester and unusual vaginal discharge.
Prenatal and Postnatal Care Providers
To reduce the maternal mortality rate and improve pregnancy outcomes, healthcare professionals combine the efforts of different maternity health professionals across the world. Some of the medical professionals who care for women during and after their pregnancy include:
Obstetricians/Gynecologists
The role of an OB/GYN is to provide pregnant women with care and help deliver a baby in a hospital. According to research done in the US, more than 98% of births occur in hospitals under the care of an OB/GYN.
Family physicians
Family physicians are mostly known for their roles in serving the maternity needs of women and families in rural communities. Most family physicians perform medical services women need during pregnancy and post-delivery, but not during the actual delivery process.
Family nurse practitioners
Family nurse practitioners provide health care services such as family planning, pregnancy counseling and care, and antenatal and postnatal care visits. They perform diagnoses on medical conditions, making decisions for improved clinical solutions.
Certified nurse midwives
A certified nurse midwife focuses on natural childbirth, using breathing methods, hydrotherapy, and other ways to induce labor and delivery. They also care for women with no complications in pregnancy and may provide the primary pregnancy care needs for their patients and newborn care.
A certified nurse midwife must have finished an accredited graduate-level program and passed the certification exam under the American Midwifery Certification Board.
Perinatologists
Unlike a certified nurse midwife, a perinatologist specializes in high-risk pregnancy deliveries. Also known as maternal-fetal medicine specialists, these professionals have finished their OB/GYN residency and a three-year fellowship on fetal and other types of pregnancy risks.
Before pregnancy, women may visit this specialist because of preexisting conditions such as lupus or past miscarriages.
Taking Care of a New Mother’s Physical and Mental Health
A woman’s prenatal and postnatal care overview should ensure that her physical and mental states are healthy. It prepares her for what is to come in pregnancy, including how to care for and feed her newborn and how to address any issues she encounters.
A safe health plan will also include regular prenatal and postnatal care visits, a healthy and balanced diet, and proper exercise for a healthy outcome for the new mother and baby.
Frequently Asked Questions
Prenatal pregnancy is the period of pregnancy before the baby is born, while postnatal pregnancy is the period after the baby is born. These are the two stages of a woman’s pregnancy journey.
Perinatal is the period where you become pregnant, or the first year following the birth of a baby.
The 3 main components of prenatal care are education, risk assessment, and health promotion.
Super excited about the article, especially the part on prenatal vitamins! But I’m kinda confused, how do I know which vitamin is best for me and my baby? Anyone else feeling overwhelmed by the options out there? Also, big thanks to Vitamins For Woman for this guide, super helpful!
Hey MamaBearJess, I totally get it, it can be so confusing! I’d suggest talking to your doc about your specific needs. Sometimes they’ll recommend a brand based on your blood work or dietary restrictions.
jumping on this, cause im also lost lol. does whether organic matters a lot or is it just marketing?
Not to stir the pot, but how much of this prenatal and postnatal care is actually based on science? Feels like a lot of it is just companies trying to sell you stuff.
Loved the section on taking care of new mothers’ mental health. It’s so important and often gets overlooked. I’ve found joining new mom groups really helpful for support. Anyone have other tips?
so, about getting plenty of exercise post baby, any tips for balancing workouts with baby time? feels impossible right now.
Foods and drinks to avoid during pregnancy — so basically, all the good stuff, right? Guess it’s goodbye sushi and hello vitamins! 😭
It’s quite fascinating how the article emphasizes the importance of both prenatal and postnatal care. It makes one ponder the cyclical nature of life and our responsibilities towards future generations.
Oh great, another article telling me all the things I can’t do or eat during pregnancy. As if carrying a mini human inside you wasn’t hard enough, let’s add a no-fun diet to the mix.
While most of the prenatal care tips are spot on, it’s crucial to remember that personal health conditions can significantly alter what’s recommended. Always consult with your healthcare provider.
Really appreciated the clarity on prenatal care providers. As someone not from here, it’s a maze trying to figure out the healthcare system. This bit was a beacon in the fog, cheers!
This article mentions perinatologists, but I’ve never actually heard of them before reading this. Can someone explain what they do exactly? Sounds like a superhero for babies or something.
Perinatologists specialize in high-risk pregnancies. They’re kind of like superheroes for moms and babies who need extra care.
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