Thinking about trying to have a baby? Then now is the time for future moms (and dads) to “spring clean” food and lifestyle habits. Here are our five nutrition tips before pregnancy.
1. Aim for a healthy weight
In your 20s and 30s it’s common to have “weight creep”, an extra kilogram or two gained each year, without realising. Carrying too much weight increases the risk of pregnancy complications, including gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and delivery complications. So, it’s worth trying to shift some of the “extra kilos” before trying to conceive.
A mother’s pre-pregnancy weight also has a direct effect on her baby’s birth weight. Compared with mothers who are in the healthy weight range, mothers who are overweight or obese are 1.5-2 times more likely to have babies with a high birth weight, increasing the risk of birth complications. For these infants, there is an increased risk of developing obesity, heart disease and type 1 diabetes later in life.
2. Improve your food and drink choices
Increasing the variety of food you eat each week across the basic food groups – vegetables, fruit, wholegrains, vegetarian foods (including legumes like baked beans, kidney beans, lentils, eggs, nuts and seeds), lean meats/poultry/fish and dairy foods – also boosts the vitamins and minerals needed from the very beginning of pregnancy.
Getting your nutrients from food in the first instance is recommended, but some nutrients do need extra attention before conception and early in pregnancy.
3. Take a folate supplement
Folate is a B-group vitamin. It is needed to complete the development of the neural tube, which forms the baby’s brain and spinal cord in the first few weeks of pregnancy. This can be before you even know you’re pregnant. If the neural tube doesn’t close it can cause a neural tube defect like spina bifida.
Taking a folate supplement from one month before pregnancy until the end of the first trimester is the best way to make sure you meet folate requirements during early pregnancy.
Choose a supplement with at least 400 micrograms of folic acid. Talk to your doctor if you have a family history of neural tube defects as you will need higher levels of folic acid.
4. Take an iodine supplement
In pregnancy, iodine is needed to support the baby’s developing brain and nervous system. Good food sources of iodine include seafood, dairy foods, eggs and iodine fortified breadmaking flour (except for regular and organic flour).
Although seafood is high in iodine, some types such as shark and swordfish should be avoided before and during pregnancy as they may contain large amounts of mercury.
Take to your doctor or pharmacist about vitamin supplements to meet your needs. For more personal advice on nutrition consult an dietitian.
5. Avoid alcohol
All health authorities agree it is best to avoid alcohol from the time you start thinking about having a baby. There is no known safe level of alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol consumed in moderate-to-large quantities can cause foetal alcohol syndrome and increase the risk of having a baby preterm birth and of low birth weight, which increases the chance of the baby having medical problems. The risks to the baby at lower levels are less clear. The safest option is drinking no alcohol if you are pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Dads-to-be can benefit from eating a variety of nutritious foods, cutting down on alcohol, and dropping a pants size. One study found that overweight men were 1.2 times and obese men were 1.3 times more likely to be infertile. But some good news in our study was that overweight and obese men who shed a few kilograms reported better erectile function.