Janelle McAlpine MMRes BA (Human Bioscience) BMid
Registered Midwife
If you decide that you are ready for a baby in your life, then it is worth taking the time to plan your pregnancy properly. When you have time to make a plan, you have time to put it in motion. That way you are in the best of health. This maximises your chances of getting pregnant and gives your baby the best possible start. If you are embarking on this journey with a partner it important that the both of you are the healthiest versions of you possible, even if your partner is not the baby’s biological parent.
From a conception standpoint, if the baby’s biological parents are both healthy then you are ensuring that baby has a head start; from an environmental view regardless of where the embryo comes from the mother it grows inside is affected by the people and world around her. These factors have the ability to influence baby’s growth, development and future health (1).
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (2)
Remember……physical health is just one aspect of the holistic health picture. If you plan your pregnancy well, you can ensure that your family starts with a clean a bill of health. Don’t panic! If you find that your pregnancy happens before you expect anything you do now will still make a big difference.
References:
- International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) https://dohadsoc.org/
- Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.