Best Way to Plan for a Healthy Family

Becoming a parent for the first time alters the balance of your existing lifestyle dramatically. It makes good sense to look after yourselves especially well so that you can take the best possible care of your totally dependent baby.

You can start this caring process even before your baby is conceived. Like all parents, you want your baby to be born healthy. While there is still much to be learned about pre­conception care, making sure that you and your partner are as fit, physically and emotionally, as possible in the months leading up to conception can do nothing but good. Your doctor can advise you on general health matters, and some health centres, family planning clinics or well woman clinics now offer pre-conception advice, so find out what is available in your area. Diet is especially important-you may need extra vitamins and minerals – and you and your partner should consider the effects that drinking alcohol and smoking might have on your planned baby.

Genetic counselling

If there is any history of genetic disorder in either of your families, genetic counselling is available from your family doctor, paediatrician or specialist genetic counsellor. Some­times the person who counsels you will recommend tests to show whether or not you or your partner is carrying abnormal genetic material, which could affect the baby even though you yourselves may be quite healthy. The counsellor can also help parents who have an affected child to decide whether or not to have another baby.

Some parents decide that the risk of having an affected baby is small enough for them to take a chance. They may opt for special tests during pregnancy to discover whether their baby is affected or not. This sort of test is only really worth having if you would be prepared to have your pregnancy terminated if the baby were found to be affected. If you wouldn’t consider an abortion, the only benefit of having an antenatal test is the relief from worry that a negative result brings.

Antenatal care

Antenatal care is available to every pregnant woman in the UK. It aims to detect any problems as soon as possible, so that the health of the mother and baby can be even more carefully monitored.

When you go to the clinic, you’ll be asked to supply a sample of urine which is then tested for protein. Protein in the urine is one of the first signs of pre-eclamptic toxaemia, a condition that can lead to problems for baby and mother. Your blood pressure and weight will also be measured for the same reason.

Another part of each clinic visit is the assessment of the size and shape of your growing womb. This gives a good idea of how well the baby is growing and, later in pregnancy, of the position in which the baby is lying. Ultrasound scans are widely used today. A scan can detect certain abnormalities in the baby and repeated scans give an indication as to whether the baby is growing at a healthy rate.