Planning For Pregnancy Negative And Positive Lifestyle Factors

If you are planning to start a family, there are certain things you should do, and certain things you should stop doing, to ensure you have a happy and safe pregnancy. Pay attention to your lifestyle, and make the necessary changes, and the healthier you and your baby will be.

There are also steps you can take to prepare your body and give it the best chance of conceiving. Here is some top pregnancy advice to follow as you start on this new path in your life...

Alcohol:

While it is always a good idea to stay relaxed when you are trying to conceive, and alcohol is certainly good at doing this, it is important that you don't let it get in the way of your chances of conceiving. If you are trying for a baby, keep the amount you consume to a minimum as it can affect fertility. When expecting, the pregnancy advice is to avoid alcohol altogether as excessive drinking can increase the risk of miscarriage and lead to severe development of abnormalities in the baby.

Smoking:

Stub it out now. Not only does smoking affect fertility, making it harder to conceive, but it can harm the health of your baby. Children born to maternal smokers are known to have weakened immune systems and be more susceptible to illness.

Diet:

Following a good pregnancy diet is vital as it helps to keep your hormone levels balanced and provides your body with all its nutritional needs. Eating healthily during pregnancy will help your baby to develop and grow, and will keep you fit and well.

It is important to eat a variety of different foods every day to get the right balance of nutrients. You should always have a healthy breakfast and avoid snacking on foods that are high in fat and sugar.

There are also certain foods you need to avoid in your pregnancy diet. These include mould-ripened soft cheese such as brie, camembert, goat's cheese, soft blue-veined cheeses, pate, raw or partially cooked eggs, raw or undercooked meat, liver products, raw shellfish, shark, marlin and swordfish. You should limit the amount of tuna you have and reduce the amount of caffeine, found not only in coffee but tea, dark and milk chocolate, regular and diet colas.

Exercise:

One of the best pieces of pregnancy advice is to stay in shape. As long as you are within a weight range for your build and height and eat a balanced diet, you should be fine. Staying fit and active during pregnancy will help you to cope with labour and return to shape following the birth.

Keep up your normal daily physical activity for as long as you feel comfortable although if you weren't active before you got pregnant, don't suddenly take up strenuous exercise, just try gentle workouts. As a general rule, you should be able to hold a conversation as you exercise when pregnant.

Debra Aspinall is an experienced journalist and the editor and leading writer for the Emma's Diary website, one of the UKs foremost pregnancy and baby websites. Debra writes on pregnancy related topics such as getting pregnant , mum to be, pregnancy, conception advice and etc. She also writes on women's health and beauty issues and contributes travel articles to glossy magazines in London and the Home Counties.