Eat right during Pregnancy and beyond

While it is natural to divest some irrepressible cravings during pregnancy, your baby does not justify all excesses. Pounds made during these nine months are sometimes difficult to lose... Watching your diet is essential. By following these recommendations you give yourself the chance of having the most beautiful 9 months of your life.

Being pregnant produce many changes in the body. The nutritional needs have increased, to feed the baby future... but also the mother! Should you change your diet?

In your stomach, the future baby eats the same things as you! It is therefore essential to avoid deficiencies. But the meals of the mother not only cover needs. They are the source of tastes of the fetus and may even influence the sex of the child! What products are at risk What is the influence of diet during pregnancy?

It is important to provide baby everything it needs during these nine months, eating balanced and varied. But there are also foods to avoid during these nine months, if not they threaten the health of babies, starting with alcohol!

Alcohol is certainly with tobacco the sworn enemy of pregnant women. Today, we know that even one drink of alcohol can be harmful to the baby, especially if taken during certain development milestones. So remember: total abstinence for 9 months.

Some foodborne illness can have serious consequences in pregnant women: among the food-borne diseases, toxoplasmosis and listeriosis are particularly serious. Some tips:


- Eat very well cooked meat.

- Avoid consuming raw foods (smoked fish, and raw milk cheese from raw milk).

- Avoid deli-like rillettes, pies and frozen products Remove the cheese rind.

In all cases, try to take strict hygiene precautions for the preservation and handling of food.

During pregnancy, avoid excess calorie foods too. Indeed, maternal obesity increases the risks for mother and child: hypertension, toxaemia, diabetes, urinary tract infections, thromboembolic accidents.

The risks of childbirth are also increased, with a high percentage of Caesarean sections. Weight gain during pregnancy should be limited and warrants a very regular medical monitoring.

You're in the family history of food allergy? If the father or the mother had a history of reaction to food, the baby allergic may be multiplied by two or three. And it is multiplied by 5 if both parents have experienced the problem.


Above all, always ask advice from your doctor to confirm the risk of allergy for your baby and what foods to avoid, for the mother and the baby. Keep baby in as long as possible prior to diversify food: six months before introducing the first food.

Do not give your baby eggs, wheat, fish, chocolate and citrus fruits before the age of one year (the doctor then to compose menus tailored to baby to avoid deficiencies). In case of 'Allergic to cow's milk, of course, avoid dairy products, but also those that contain lactose. In some cases, it should also outlaw beef and veal. Do not give the baby peanuts before the age of three.

Finally, in teenage pregnancy requires increased surveillance on nutrition: the specific needs of this age are combined with being pregnant.

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Choosing the sex of your baby:Chinese Way

The Chinese pregnancy calendar is best known as the Chinese conception chart and it is used to predict the baby gender. Many women would like to know right from the beginning whether they have a baby-girl or a baby-boy. It is said that the Chinese pregnancy calendar was buried in a tomb one thousand years ago, and it is now exhibited at the Beijing Institute of Science. What does this Chinese pregnancy calendar look like?

There are just two main elements that are taken into consideration to determine baby gender in the Chinese pregnancy calendar. They are mother age on a column and the month of conception in a row. The rest of the calendar consists of blue and pink squares. Though simple, it has been successfully used in ancient China for thousands of years. All the more appreciation for the ancient Chinese.

Those that have seen the Chinese pregnancy calendar have declared that it is very easy to use. When you find the pregnancy line equal to your age, you follow it to reach to the month when you conceived. A square pink indicates you will have a girl and a blue square a boy. Of course it is a bit of fun, but there are people that confessed their prediction being right in their case and in that of their friends.

If you try the Chinese pregnancy calendar, it is better to calculate your age according to the lunar calendar, a lunar month is twenty-nine days long. The basis for the Chinese pregnancy calendar is the lunar calendar, the one the ancient Chinese used a lot. There have been attempts to transform the Chinese pregnancy calendar / chart into a Chinese astrology calendar.

The regular Chinese pregnancy calendar has been changed to reflect also the combination of the five elements air, fire, water, earth and wood in its role in determining the gender of the unborn baby. Other factors analyzed by this modified Chinese pregnancy calendar, are the astrological sign, the five major elements relationship as well as animal relationship ? the Chinese astrological signs correspond to animals.

Regardless of whether you use the Chinese pregnancy calendar for fun or for sheer curiosity, I should tell you that it has only fifty percent chances of accuracy. Don?t repaint the baby room just because of a prediction with the Chinese pregnancy calendar. It is better to wait till the baby has grown enough to be able to find out its gender at the doctor.

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Finding out Pregnant

I started to feel weak and a bit nausea 3 weeks after my last period on June (2007). I thought i was catching cold and that time the work load quite high (the resort where i used to work was having a big event). I did went to the clinic at my workplace but the doctor said it was too early to know so they gave me a pill to ease my stomachache. Then me and hubby went to Jakarta for a short holiday, we were busy with family gathering and i didn't suspect anything even few times i experienced headache and uncomfortable stomach pain which i just ignore. That was the time when my period due and i got some slight brown spot, so i assume that i had my menstruation.


On the way back to Batam, on the aeroplane, I constantly felt really bad stomach pain. Then the sympthom getting worse the next day and a day after (i was still enjoying my days off). Then i text my 2nd sister and one of my bestfriend and tell them about my concern. They suggest me to go to a lab and get an urine test. So i went with my hubby to Prodia and get the result some hours after. I still thought that maybe i got a stomach problem caused by bacteria or something. But when the result came, the lab assistant explained and congratulated us as i was positively pregnant. We were surprise and just stare then grin at each other. Then we rush to go to hospital to get advice from doctor (i was already 5 weeks pregnant and she told me to have bed rest for a while because i experienced brown spot) inform our parents at Jakarta by phone. Everyone were happy and delighted of the good news :) even my mom plan to come to Batam as soon as possible.

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Lazy Sunday Afternoon

This morning i feel like cooking something. So i went to a nearest store and bought tofu and some vegies. But when i came back home, took a shower, watch some gossip news @ infotainment program then started to cook, i felt a little bit dizzy. Not really a headache like i used to had but the feeling made me uneasy and weak.

When my 'teriyaki tofu' (i invented myself hehehe...) still being cooked, i have to sit down then lay down a little bit. My hubby said "Just relax and enjoy your weekend, why have to bother to cook lunch (but didn't suggest to eat outside either :p)!" Soon after i regain my strength i continue to be busy at the kitchen. Still the odd feeling come and go and i have to have quick rest about 3 times.

I dunno what was happening to me, perhaps i catch a flue coz last night we went to movie and i forgot to bring my jacket.

*Later i found out that i was already 5 weeks pregnant at that time! :)

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