Pre-Conception Care: A Guide to Optimising Your Journey to Parenthood
Fertility, reproduction, and all things baby related may feature in this blog!
Who can resist a cuddle with a sleepy baby? Or their super cute wee faces? Those kissable cheeks!
For some folks, they are still under the impression the stork brings the baby! While this may seem like a joyful image, sometimes the conception and arrival of said bundle is more complex than that.
Pre-conception care is not a new-fangled craze but more of a preparatory stage in maximising your chances of having a healthy baby.
Ultimately you are preparing your body to host the creation of a human being! This little creature, whoever they become, deserves the best start in life as inevitably all of the precious building you do at this stage may play a huge role in the future of their health and life.
Consider a health clean-up if necessary. Ideally cutting out alcohol, removing caffeine, no smoking, reducing and removing processed foods, sugars and other undesirable toxins. Take an in-depth look at the products you are using on your body and around your home. Are these toxin-free? Do you have any patches of mould in your house? What other risk factors could you minimise to ensure a more viable environment to support your health? Can you improve your sleep hygiene?
Ideally, you and your partner, assuming a female and male couple, take at least a 3-month window of time to address your own current health profiles, with the view of supporting and optimising the quality of egg and sperm production. The 3-month window is relevant as new sperm are being produced daily, however, the full cycle of sperm cells maturing takes between 2-3 months. A woman is born with all the eggs she will ever have and will usually release one per each menstrual cycle, however, it can take one egg between 90-120 days to awaken from being dormant and into a maturation phase before being released. Thus, giving both the female and male counterparts some time to influence this process by their health and lifestyle choices. Disclaimer, do not give yourself a hard time if you have already had your children and did not know any of this! This body and all it can do are truly mind-blowing miracles.
Stress can often play a big role in preventing a viable pregnancy. If the body is perceived to be in a high or continuous period of stress it is likely to refrain from allowing a pregnancy to occur. We can all think of someone who has perhaps struggled to get pregnant, a stress in itself, to then go on holiday, away from work and typical life pressures, then bingo they are pregnant. If only it were that easy for some.
Nutrition can play a big role in the likelihood and success of a pregnancy. A diet high in processed foods, high sugar, high alcohol can be detrimental to the development of a healthy baby. It takes a lot of cellular energy to grow a baby and sustain a pregnancy. We are thankfully moving away from the days where the attitude of ‘eating for two’ was a green light to go nuts for eating all the junk food under the sun in the sense of putting on weight anyway may as well gorge on pizza and cakes. This is an even more crucial time to be eating an abundance of nutrient-dense, whole, real foods to provide your body and your reproductive system the tools to support this miraculous process. There are extra requirements at different stages in pregnancy such as an extra 100-330 calories a day from 2nd trimester onwards to extra protein requirements.
Ideally, in a ‘perfect world’ we would meet all our nutritional needs through some clean living and whole foods, however, that is not always possible these days. There are many pre-conception, pregnancy and post-birth multi-nutrient products that you can supplement with if you feel you are not eating a balanced diet.
Alongside consuming a nutritionally dense diet, men may also benefit from taking a good quality multi-nutrient including nutrients such as zinc, selenium and Co-enzyme Q10 to help improve sperm count and motility. Please check with a professional if unsure.
Some key nutrients to pay attention to:
- A diet high in antioxidants-fresh fruits and vegetables.
- Increase quality healthy fat sources - oil, avocado, oily fish.
- Protein. Ideally rich in plant protein, low in animal protein. Protein is literally the building blocks of our bodies and is required for development, repair and more.
- High fibre and low GI-supporting detoxification pathways and balanced blood sugar.
- Zinc has many roles including being involved in DNA transcription and protein synthesis-found in eggs, nuts, seeds, meat.
- Folate is the advised nutrient to supplement with a recommended 400mcg daily dose. Some women may require methyl-folate instead depending on their genes. Your healthcare provider should be able to advise on this. Found in green leafy vegetables, eggs, some citrus fruits.
- Caution regards supplemental Vitamin A, avoid high doses. Instead choose natural foods containing pro-vitamin A carotenoids-green leafy veg, orange and yellow veg like pumpkin, squash, carrots. Required for foetal tissue growth and maintenance. Important in cell differentiation.
- Magnesium, this is a firm favourite of mine! It plays a role in regulating body temperature, protein synthesis and so much more. Found in seeds, green veggies, beans and dark chocolate!
As always, I encourage you to speak to a qualified healthcare provider rather than our friend Google who might leave you feeling more confused than when you started!
**Sidenote, there are many different combinations of parents these days with same-sex couples and so on, and different means of becoming pregnant whether naturally or assisted. For the purposes of this blog, we are assuming to begin with a female and a male and a conventional conception. Future blogs may require a more detailed approach, yet the nutritional and lifestyle information will still be relevant.
Sally Munro is a Registered Naturopathic Nutritional Therapist, Yoga Teacher and Director of Simply Swim Aberdeen swim school. Working with clients of all ages and stages of life, Sally focuses on the simple steps you can take towards improving your health and wellbeing.
website: www.sallymunro.co.uk
email: hello@sallymunro.co.uk
Instagram: @salthewellnesswarrior
Facebook: Simply Swim Aberdeen