Advice

Nutritional advice
During pregnancy it is important to eat a healthy and varied diet. Eating for two is not necessary. If you are extra hungry, make a healthy choice. Dieting in pregnancy is not recommended. Weight gain during pregnancy is a natural process. On average, there is a weight gain of 10-15 kg in 9 months. Some pregnant women gain a little more weight in the first trimester and others only towards the end of the pregnancy. The number of pounds that is healthy for a woman to gain in her pregnancy depends on her Body Mass Index (BMI). This is an index for weight in relation to your height. If a pregnant woman is underweight or a healthy weight at the start of the pregnancy, she may gain more weight than if she is already overweight.

General nutritional advice pregnancy:
  • Take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day up to and including 10 weeks of pregnancy and 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the pregnancy. A consideration could be to take multivitamins especially for pregnant women throughout pregnancy, folic acid and vitamin D have been added to this.
  • Do not eat raw meat or raw meat products, for example filet amercain and carpaccio.
  • Do not eat raw fish or prepackaged ready-to-eat fish from the refrigerator, such as smoked salmon.
  • Eat oily fish no more than twice a week, as the fish can contain harmful substances due to environmental pollution.
  • Do not eat predatory fish or eel from the Dutch rivers.
  • Do not eat cheeses made from raw milk (au lait cru). You can have most cheeses that you can get in the supermarket in the Netherlands, because they are pasteurized. Therefore, take a good look at the packaging.
  • Be careful with vitamin A. Vitamin A is mainly found in organ meats, but also in products such as liver pate. Pregnant women should not consume more than 3000mg of vitamin A per day. This is equivalent to one sandwich with a liver product per day. Liver sausage, liver pate, pâté, Berliner, liver cheese and liver are products that are meant by this. Do not eat organ meats such as liver
  • Wash fruits and vegetables well.
  • Be careful with caffeine. The advice is not to consume more than 200 mg of caffeine per day, which is equivalent to two cups of coffee per day. Don't take energy drinks.
  • Using raw eggs is not harmful to the unborn child. However, there is a greater chance that you will become ill as a pregnant because of a lower resistance during the pregnancy.
Detailed nutritional advice can be found at: www.voedingscentrum.nl
If necessary, also install the app: PregnantHap

Alcohol
Alcohol passes through the placenta and is therefore not blocked, so it can pose risks to an unborn baby.

The dangers of alcohol are: an increased risk of miscarriage, growth retardation and birth defects. If you consume a lot of alcohol during your pregnancy, your baby can develop abnormalities of the face, hands and legs, and neurological abnormalities. These abnormalities are collectively referred to as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). After birth, a baby also has to get rid of the alcohol that he/she has ingested through the placenta so far.

Moderate use of alcohol can also have consequences. It is therefore recommended not to drink at all during pregnancy.

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To smoke
Smoking during pregnancy is dangerous for your baby. Smoking reduces blood flow to the placenta, reducing oxygen and nutrients to your baby. Mothers who smoke a lot during pregnancy therefore have a greater chance of miscarriage, a premature child or even a stillborn child. Babies born to mothers who smoke also have a lower birth weight than those born to mothers who do not smoke. Babies with stunted growth are more likely to have problems with their breathing and feeding.
Smoking can affect not only the growth, but also the intellectual development of a child. It is therefore unwise to smoke after the birth of the baby. In addition, smoking increases the risk of cot death.

From the above it appears that it is important that you stop smoking. But this does not only apply to the pregnant woman, but also to those around you and therefore your partner.
So put your shoulders together and stop smoking!

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drugs
The use of all drugs (hard or soft) drugs can have consequences for your pregnancy. Hard drugs such as heroin, cocaine, LSD, speed and other stimulants are very dangerous for an unborn baby. Babies born to mothers who use hard drugs during pregnancy are usually born addicted. These babies often experience withdrawal symptoms after birth. Some hard drugs also cause chromosome abnormalities, heart defects, blood disorders and miscarriages.

Soft drugs such as marijuana and hashish are also probably dangerous for the unborn baby. And presumably they have an adverse effect on brain development.

If you use drugs during pregnancy, please report this to us so that we can adjust our obstetric care accordingly and help you as well as possible.

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If you need help to stop smoking, alcohol or drug use, please report this to us.

Medicines
It is not known whether many medicines are harmful or harmless to the unborn baby.
In the first three months of pregnancy, all the important organs of the baby are formed. During that time, drugs can inhibit or severely disrupt the development of organs. However, medicines can also have a harmful effect in the last months of pregnancy. For example, aspirin can cause bleeding. The child's brain grows throughout pregnancy and even after birth. Medications can therefore also have a harmful effect on brain development in the last months of pregnancy.

If you do need medication, always consult your doctor and pharmacist about whether you can use it during pregnancy. In some cases it is better to keep taking the medicines. Never suddenly stop taking medicines that you are taking, but always do this in consultation with a doctor. Medicines that are available at the drugstore without a prescription and homeopathic remedies are not always harmless. Check the package insert to see if they are safe while you are pregnant.
If you use medication, please report this to us, so that we can adjust our obstetric care (if necessary) accordingly.
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