The journey and the emotional feeling of motherhood start even before the child is born. Pregnant mothers will love, care for, support, and protect their unborn child. A journey only mothers can understand, a long journey that concludes with much joy. As a mother, you provide nutrients to your unborn child; hence you need to optimally replenish your body nutrients to ensure you and your child are safe and healthy.
Moreover, giving birth comes with joy and a feeling of fulfillment, but another journey of self-care and caring for the born child begins. Keep yourself in good shape by fulfilling your nutrition needs and producing liquid gold for your baby. Mother Nutrient prepares you with nutrition for your first, or next child, enabling you and your child to live a happy, fruitful life before and after birth. Here we look at the importance of quality nutrition when becoming a new mum.
Iron for Healthy Blood Cells and Pregnancy
During pregnancy, your body produces more blood cells for you and your unborn baby. Your body requires iron to produce red blood cells. However, the human body cannot make iron; hence you must supply iron to your body through foods you eat or by taking nutritional supplements.
Foods rich in iron include meat, chicken, beans, fish, and eggs. However, it sometimes becomes difficult for your body to absorb iron from these foods; hence you can consider using iron supplements such as chewable iron.
Note that poor nutrition may lead to anemia which will affect you and your unborn baby. Calcium for Development of Bones, Heart, Muscles, Nerves for The Unborn Child
An unborn child requires calcium to develop healthy bones and teeth. Your unborn baby obtains calcium directly from the mother’s placenta together with other nutrients. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure you take calcium-rich foods for the fetal development of healthy bones and teeth.
Examples of foods rich in calcium include green leafy vegetables, dairy products, and soy products. However, if the mother does not feed on enough calcium, the fetus draws calcium from the mother’s bone reserves. When the fetus obtains calcium from the mother’s bones, they become weak, and the mother remains vulnerable. You can use calcium supplements to ensure you achieve the calcium requirements of 1000mg daily. Note that it’s important to space intake of calcium to increase the rate of absorption.
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Foliate and Other Vitamins for Healthy Fetal Growth
The growth of a baby takes a lot of effort nutrition-wise. You need to consume foods with the proper nutrients and quantities to meet nutritional needs for you and the baby. Vitamins are essential for the optimal functioning of the body.
Folate is also known as vitamin B and helps in cell formation and cell function. Folate also helps in the development of your unborn baby’s brain, spine, and skull. Hence, folate deficiency may cause defects in your unborn baby. Natural sources of folate include broccoli, spinach, cabbage, and kidney beans.
Folic acid is a supplement of folates. Once you consume folic acid supplements, the body converts them to folate and helps maintain adequate folate levels in your body.
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Iodine for Bone and Brain Development
Iodine is a trace element critical for fetal health and development. Consumption of iodine is necessary before pregnancy, during pregnancy, and after pregnancy. Iodine helps the body in the production of thyroid hormones. On the other hand, thyroid hormones are crucial in protein synthesis and bone and brain development. You can obtain iodine from iodized salt, seafood such as tuna, and dairy products such as milk. WHO recommends 250mcg per day for pregnant women.
Conclusion
Motherhood makes everyone proud; hence pregnant mothers and breastfeeding mothers should receive quality health care in nutritional support and emotional support. Taking foods and drinks with high nutritional value will protect you and your child from deficiencies and health complications such as anemia in both mothers and babies and growth defects in babies. However, your body may not be able to digest and absorb nutrients from your gut. Therefore it’s essential to consider using quality supplements to meet daily nutritional needs for you and your child.
