The following pregnancy information is very important to your child’s health, so read this carefully to get the most important pregnancy tips.
Pregnancy Don'ts
Essential to Avoid Pregnancy Complications
Pregnancy Information for Foods
- Pregnancy information on food recommends to not eat (or limit intake of) fish that contain high levels of mercury,which can cause nervous system damage to your fetus. Pregnancy tips for fish are:
- canned albacore (or white) tuna and tuna steaks. Eat no more than 6 oz. per week.
- Don’t eat these at all: shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish.
- Only eat fish that lives in deep, coldwater, such as off the coast of Alaska.
- Pregnancy information recommends to heat deli meats or hot dogs until they are steaming.They also contain nitrates, which are preservatives, and should be eaten sparingly.
· Turkey is the only meat that doesn't contain the preservative nitrates.
- Don’t drink any unpastuerized milk or juices.
- Don’t eat unpasteurized cheeses such as feta, goat, Brie, Camembert and blue cheese
- Don’t drink more than one cup of coffee a day. Pregnancy information reveals caffeine constricts blood vessels, which is not good for blood flow to your fetus.
For more important pregnancy information on Food Safety and how to prevent Food Poisoning,click here.
Pregnancy Information and Tips for Chemicals
Don’t use chemicals: paints, pesticides and cleaning solutions. Use vinegar as a natural cleansing agent. Bleach is OK if you wear a mask. You don't want to inhale any chemicals. Only organic pesticides should be used, or nothing at all.
Don't use cream hair removers or laser treatment. Neither have been proven safe for pregnancy. Shaving your legs is the best while pregnant.
Pregnancy Complications From Exposure to Animals
- This is common pregnancy information, but very important: Don’t touch a cat’s litter box. You could catch toxoplasmosis, which is a parasite in cats’ feces. It can harm your fetus.THe same principle applies to digging in the yard or gardening where cats may have deposited their feces.
- Don’t have contact with farm animals or their living areas. If you must, wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water following any contact.
- Don’t have contact with the feces of these pets: lizards,iguanas, turtles, frogs, snakes or other reptiles. Pregnancy information reveals they can transmit salmonella bacteria.
What about a nice hot bath to soothe my aching back and feet?
- Don’t go in a hot tub, sauna or steam room, nor take very hot baths. High temperatures can be harmful to your unborn child.
- Pregnancy inforamtion given by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) states that becoming overheated in a hot tub is not recommended during pregnancy. ACOG also recommends that pregnant women never let their core body temperature rise above 102.2º F. Doing so can result in severe pregnancy complications.
How Else Do I have to Change My Everyday Lifestyle?
More important pregnancy information
- Don’t smoke cigarettes. It passes all the harmful chemicals and nicotine to your baby. The pregnancy information on smoking reveals it also raises the risk significantly of have a “low birth weight” baby, weighing under 5 lbs, and considered to be a medical risk. Premature birth is another pregnancy complication that may occur. For more detailed information on smoking during pregnancy, click here.
- Don’t use scented feminine hygiene products. Even bubble bath might irritate your vaginal area and cause a yeast or urinary tract infection.
- Don’t douche. It can irritate the vagina and also force air into the birth canal,which can cause pregnancy complications and be very dangerous.
- Don’t use nicotine patches. They contain nicotine, which is a harmful drug.
- Don’t live heavy objects or stand for long periods of time. I remember not even being able to stand in the “speedy” grocery line towards the end of my pregnancy! Some women have no problems standing and often work right up until delivery, but most do, and may get swollen ankles or legs from standing for periods of time.
- Don’t use alpha-hydroxy acids on your face.
- Don’t use cream hair removers because the chemicals seep into your skin.
- Don’t use hair dyes that touch your scalp and could be absorbed into your body.
- Highlighting that doesn’t touch your scalp is ok.
- Don’t drink well water unless it’s filtered.
- Don’t drink distilled water, as it has no minerals. Tap water with a filter is best.
- Here is one of the most unusual of the pregnancy information, but one of the most dangerous: Never have your partner blow air into your vagina (I know it sounds strange, but just in case it ever comes up!) as it can cause an air embolism, which can cause pregnancy complications so serious that the baby can get permanent brain damage and the mom and the baby can even die.
- Don’t have x-rays. Unless it is very important,and the doctor can shield your mid-section, steer clear until after baby is born!
- Don’t have unnecessary ultrasounds.
- Don't fly in an airplane after 36 weeks.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
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The picture to the left shows the smaller brain of a child exposed to alcohol in the womb. The picture on the right shows a boy with the facial characteristics of a Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. 
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- Don’t drink alcohol. This is one of the worst things you can do, even more so than drugs.There is documented pregnancy information from women who drank every day during their pregnancy, mainly studies done with Indians.
- They found that their offspring had an irreversible condition, which was named: FAS, which stands for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome”, which is a combination of mental retardation and facial deformities. Maybe one glass of wine after your sixth month wouldn’t do anything, but don’t even think about having one drink a week!
I've Got a Splitting Headache!
Pregnancy Tips of What Not to Take When you Ache
- Don’t take ibuprofen (Advl, Motrin, naproxen (Aleve) or aspirin (acetylsalicylate). Pregnancy information reveals they can cause serious blood flow in the baby and pregnancy complications if used during the last trimester.
- Don’t use any over the counter drugs at all, even an aspirin. Check with your doctor first. Try hot compresses for the headaches, followed by cold compresses.
- Pregnancy information indicates some prescription drugs have been used safely during pregnancy. They are:
Levothyroxine (thyroid hormone medication)
Amoxicillan antibiotics
Zofran® (ondansetron) for nausea
Glucophage® (metformin) for diabetes
Some insulins used to treat diabetes such as regular and NPH insulin
If you are on anti-depressants, or other medicine that you feel you need, discuss it with your doctor and he/she can give you the needed pregnancy information for your particular situation. Sometimes the good outweighs the possible harm. That will need to be decided on a case-by-case basis.
- Don’t EVER take the following drugs: Thalidomide or Accutane.They have been used and they definitely have caused horrible deformities in the past.
In the mid 1900’s, Thalidomide was used to treat nausea and there were hundred of babies born with no arms and/or no legs, or flippers for their appendages.
As far as pregnancy tips go, it's far better if you don't take a chance with ANY drug, as doctors haven't been able to really experiment with pregnant humans, so they don't know which drugs are completely safe.
- Don’t use illegal drugs. Marijuana, cocaine,heroine, speed, barbiturates, LSD, Ecstacy,etc. are all very harmful for your baby and can cause differing pregnancy complications and/or lifetime abnormalities in your child.
- If you need help call:
- National Drug Help Hotline 1-800-662-4357
- National Alcohol and Drug Dependence Hopeline 1-800-622-2255
- Don’t take oral antibiotics prescribed for acne, according to pregnancy information. If you have a severe case, oral erythromycin is considered the safest during pregnancy.
- Don’t use benzoyll peroxide and salicylic acid for acne.
- Don’t use Retin-A or any products that contain retinals or vitamin A (on yuor skin). Vitamin A in a prenatal vitamin is fine, but pregnancy information reveals that too much (in addition to your prenantal vitamin) can be harmful.
Other Don'ts
- Don’t get a tattoo. There is a small risk of contracting Hepatitis B or HIV. Why take a risk of having pregnancy complications with your unborn child?
There is a small risk of contracting Hepatitis B or HIV. Why take a risk of having pregnancy complications with your unborn child?
- Don’t take the following vaccinations:
HPV (Human Papillomavirus) 1
“Live” influenza vaccine 2
MMR (measles-mumps-rubella) 3
Polio 4
Sources:
1- CDC. Quadrivalent human papillomaviruns vaccine: recommendations of the Advistoy Committee on Immunizations Practices(ACIP) MMWR 2007;56 (no.RR-2): 18.
2- CDC. Prevention and control of influenza: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR 2006; 55 (No. RR-10): 11-12.
3- CDC. Prevention and control of meningococcal disease: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR 2006; 55 (No. RR-10): 11-12.
4- CDC. Poliomyelitis prevention in the United States: recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). MMWR 2000; 49(No.RR-5): 14.
Natural Medicines Database www.naturaldatabas.com
http://www.fda.gov/womens/registries/default.htm
http://cerhr.niehs.nih.gov
