Diets During Pregnancy

Motherhood is a wonderful experience of a woman. Nature ensures the continuance of living beings through their progenies, human beings being no exception to this universal rule. The development of human consciousness and scientific advancement though has put some restrictions or exceptions to the very purpose and end of a man woman relationship, it is the nature’s design for obtaining progeny and thereby ensuring the continuance of the human race.

Diet is an important factor to be taken care of during the pregnancy. One has to bear mind that one has to eat for two during pregnancy though overeating is not the remedy for this. One has to take sufficient quantity of proteins, vitamins and minerals since the mother is the only source of al these essential items for the baby.

Pre natal diet do not recommend complete non carbohydrate diet since it may result in production of ketones in the blood stream in the absence of carbohydrates, that may result in the risk of brain damage for the baby. Besides this also may lead to constipation in pregnant women since they are supplied with additional doses of iron required for the baby.

The pre natal food need include enough fruits to ensure vitamins in required quantity. One need be careful not to over eat that may lead to obesity especially those who suffer from diabetics or low B.P. or over weight.

Normally low carbohydrate diet includes whole grains and fruits with minimum white rice and pasta. If one take high carbohydrate diet it is better to go for frequent meals. One may avoid processed meat as it contains less nutrients and more calories. Sufficient quantity of nuts salads and fruits   are to be taken.  Large doses of salt and sauces are to be avoided. One is best advised to consult the gynecologist to get a balanced diet prescribed. There is definitely a connection with the pre natal food and the baby’s health.

One has to prepare oneself to be a good mother by enriching the knowledge of baby care, and the post delivery health care. One needs to be emotionally prepared to keep adjusted with the physical, and emotional  changes one is subject to during this period. The role of a loving husband during the period cannot be over emphasized. It is he who has to give her the care, comfort, and the confidence to prepare herself to become a matured, healthy and loving mother.

This article is to be used for informational purposes only.  The information contained herein is not intended to be used in place of, or in conjunction with, professional medical advice regarding pregnancy.  Prior to beginning any diet or taking any medication, the patient must consult a licensed medical doctor for advice and/or to determine the best course of action for his/her individual situation.

Conjoined Twins

Twins are a kind of multiple births, i.e., when a woman gives birth to more than one baby at the same time. Twins occur when more than one egg is fertilized or when the same egg is fertilized more than once by one or two sperm, leading to formation of more than one fetus.

Conjoined twins are identical twins who are joined together somewhere in the body. Conjoined twins are monozygotic twins, in the sense that they share the same zygote.  Sometimes, they also share some vital internal organs. Formation of conjoined twins is believed to be the result of late twinning. When the twinning occurs more than twelve days after fertilization of the egg, it may lead to formation of conjoined twins because the embryo may not split completely. This may be due to genetic or environmental factors.

Conjoined twins are also known as Siamese twins, named after the famous conjoined twins, Eng and Chang Bunker from Siam. Conjoined twin births are very rare, amounting to around one birth in every 1,00,000 births. Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, famously referred to as the biddenden maids, are one of the earliest known set of conjoined twins. The ratio of male and female sets of conjoined twins was found to be three to one, and they are found more in certain countries like India or Africa.

Conjoined twins rarely survive because of the complexity of the bodies. Most of them are stillborn or die within twenty-four hours after birth. Conjoined twins can be separated surgically if none of the vital organs are involved. There are different kinds of conjoined twins, depending on the part of the body where they are joined. These are cephalopagus, craniopagus, craniothoracopagus, dicephalus, iscopagus, omphalopagus, parapagus, pygopagus and thoracopagus. There are also some rare kinds of conjoined twins, such as parasitic twins (where one twin is not completely formed and depends on the other twin to sustain life), and fetus in fetu (where one twin’s fetus is present inside the body of the other twin).

Some people consider separation of conjoined twins as unethical if it involves death or disability of one of the twins. Conjoined twins, if they survive, can lead healthy lives. There are instances where conjoined twins have even married and become parents. The famous Siamese twins, Chang and Eng Bunker, fathered twenty-one children in thirty-one years.

Childbirth and the Athletic Woman

Athletic women come in all sizes and enjoy different sports or fitness programs. Athletic women enjoy being toned and fit. Through personal fitness, many women have developed determination, commitment to their task, and an ability to hit the wall and go beyond. Often they consider themselves tough and rigorous. Women who enjoy fitness as a way of Life rather than being ‘athletic’ also admire their shape, sense of being in ‘tone’, flexibility and strength. So why would an athletic woman (including women who just stay fit) need to know anything about childbirth? Isn’t the goal of preparing for childbirth about ‘getting in shape?’

One famous woman athlete made a public comment that if she had gone through labour before her competitive event she would have done better in the competitions. Obviously, childbirth gave her insights that would have improved her performance. Many athletic women may not know that you are more likely to have a caesarean than most women. We’ve all heard stories that dancers and horsewomen are more likely to have a caesarean; however, it’s true for many athletic women. Yet, somehow this seems paradoxical. How can being in shape lead to more medically assisted births?

Childbirth at it’s simplest is an exercise in plumbing.

 An object (baby) has to come out of a container (woman). In order to do that the object must come through a tube (pelvis), open a diaphragm (cervix) and aperture (vagina). The container has a Mind and if the process of the object coming through is perceived of as painful, then the Mind can respond to those sensations by tensing up the body. Tension in the body can interfere with the need of the container to relax and open in order for the object to come out. Being ‘toned’ is a form of tension. This means that there is entirely different preparation for giving birth than staying in shape or being in training. One husband of an athletic woman said after her caesarean: ‘I thought childbirth was about muscles pushing a baby out. Now I understand it’s about creating space so the baby can move through her body.’

Each sport or fitness program uses different muscles, yet it is not just the muscles that can produce tension. Connective tissue or fascia can hold tension as well. In our plumbing analogy, the tube (pelvis) is surrounded by connective tissue which is part of our body’s soft tissue. Soft tissue is anything other than bone. For example, tension in the connections between the bones in the pelvic girdle (tube) can prevent the bones from being mobile. Our baby’s bones in their head are designed to mold and over lap; however, we can create more space inside this tube when we know how to keep our pelvis mobile. In childbirth, the sacrum is the bone that needs the most mobility. It’s also the bone that is used to stabilize our bodies as we weight bear and tends to being immobile. We can also reduce ‘back labour’ by learning how to create sacral mobility. One ice skater said after 3 caesareans: ‘Once I learned to mobilize my sacrum in labour, I had no trouble giving birth to my fourth child naturally. No one told me I had to do that. No one told me I had to do the Internal Work (birth canal or aperture) either.

The soft tissue in our birth canal may also be quite tight. Many women are told to do ‘pelvic floor’ exercises. These certainly are good to strengthen our insides; however, they are not appropriate birth preparation exercises. Instead pregnant women need to learn how to relax inside the pelvis and the muscles of the birth canal.

For many athletic, relaxing is not in alignment with their personal self perception.

One competitive cyclist said: ‘I considered myself very, very tough and I was. I had developed skills and management skills for my chosen event; however, without a whole new set of skills for the event of giving birth I didn’t have a clue and ended up with a caesarean and sense of personal failure. When I discovered The Pink Kit Method for birthing better™ I learned the necessary birthing skills and my husband learned how to coach me.’

The Pelvic Clock exercise from The Pink Kit is one of the many you can teach yourself at home to prepare for childbirth. When used in labour, the Pelvic Clock technique helps you to focus on relaxing where your cervix attaches inside the pelvis. This assists in dilating the cervix. You can use the same concept to mentally relax around the cervix directly which also assists cervical dilation. NOTE: If you are pregnant now, you can do the Pelvic Clock exercise below, but only do the cervical relaxation the last two weeks of your pregnancy as specific preparation for birth and then feel free to do it throughout labour.

1) Do this exercise in a number of positions: standing, sitting, lying down or partially kneeling. As you know, different postures engage different muscles and aspects of the connective tissue.
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3) Draw a line around your body, starting midway down your pubic bone, around to the top of where your legs meet your hips and then to your sacrum. This will be about 1 ½ inches above where the little bumps are, at the beginning of your bottom crack. You have drawn a circle around your pelvis. Inside this circle, inside the pelvis is approximately where the top of your vagina (the soft tissue around the cervix) meets the inside of your pelvis. In labour the contractions draw this tissue into the pelvis, opening the cervix which is in the middle of the tissue. Where the tissue meets the pelvis is like the rim of a clock face and the cervix is like the area where the hands of the clock join. Uterine contractions open the cervix so that there is no longer a clock face, rather a large opening for your baby to come down and into your birth canal. The tugging open of the cervix is what is ‘painful’ in labour.

4) Give your clock face names. Name the pubic bone 12:00, one hip 3:00, the sacrum 6:00 and the other hip 9:00. Now go around the clock and soften (inside) at each o’clock (you can always include 1:30 etc). It’s helpful to say to yourself while you lightly touch that place: ‘Soften inside my pubic bone.’ Pause before you go on to the next place in order to let your mind find that place in your body and for your body to respond. This is yoking your mind to your body.


5) After you have gone around the outside of the Pelvic Clock and if you are two weeks away from your due date, then you can do the same softening around the cervix which is in closed and in the center. The cervix is made up of 50% muscle cells and the rest connective tissue, so it does respond to intentional relaxation.

6) Doing both of these things in labour between contractions and even during contractions has been one of the great focus tools that women who have prepared with The Pink Kit have used. It’s an ideal tool for husbands/partners to know. They can feel it in their own bodies and can remind us to ‘relax at 6:00’ if we have back labour, for example.

Notice this difference, just tense up inside, hold the tension while you go around the clock again. You can feel the difference.

Over the past 30 years, The Pink Kit Method for birthing better™ has helped many women athletes to have a positive birth. The information originated in the United States in the 1970s and came to New Zealand with the founder of the Trust, Common Knowledge, in 1995. Since then the multi-media kit The Pink Kit: Essential Preparations for your birthing body through the website.

A number of New Zealand athletic women have used The Pink Kit and found it incredibly helpful. They have been body builders, aerobic competitors, rowers, horsewomen, dancers etc. Each has a different experience and different story of their birth. Some found that their sport had prepared them for the challenge of labour while others were surprised at how challenged they were by labour.

Often athletic women have athletic partners.

When both expectant parents have prepared for birth using The Pink Kit, having a skilled partner as birth coach has been wonderful for the woman. Men do have the same bodies and can feel inner tension in the same manner than women can. When these women found labour challenging, they relied on their partners to help them work through each contractions with the common knowledge skills they had taught themselves. One woman athlete said: ‘when labour got intense, my husband reminded me that I had put in the effort to my sport and that I could do this. He inspired me to keep going instead of using pain relief and he was there every contraction, doing the work with me.’

With the new skills, you can find in The Pink Kit, athletic women and their partners can meet the challenge, achieving a positive birth experience in all situations. Learning new skills become fascinating rather than conflictive. In fact, you’ll get back into shape sooner after birth when you have learned to relax to give birth. There will be less trauma for you and your baby.

Breastfeeding and Mastitis

Mastitis is perhaps the most distressing problem you may encounter when attempting to breastfeed. You have been making it through the sleepless nights, the relentless feeding schedule, the diapers, the leaking... when all of a sudden you want to stop breastfeeding. Why?

Mastitis is the answer. One of your breasts is engorged. There is a slightly red patch which is painful to touch. When the baby feeds it's extremely uncomfortable. After the feed your breast feels sore. You dread the next feed... and then you begin shivering. You think you have the flu. You have hot and cold sweats. You have a thumping headache. You retire to your bed and feel utterly miserable. Visitors encourage you to give the baby a bottle so you feel like you've failed... but there is a solution.

In most cases mastitis affects only one breast at a time. So what causes it?

Most often a new mum, whether or not she has previously breastfed, will suffer mastitis as a result of incorrect positioning or latching on of the baby. Consequently the milk is not properly drained from the breast and a milk duct becomes blocked. Other reasons include skipping feeds because you don't want to feed in public or in front of visitors, or the baby is sleeping and you do not want to disturb him.

If you recognise the sensation of a blocked milk duct you may be able to avoid it progressing into mastitis by gently massaging your breast in the bath or shower. Massage downwards towards the nipple. You may feel a small lump which disappears as the duct becomes unblocked. You can also try feeding the baby more often and again massaging the sore area towards the nipple as the baby drinks. Another effective technique is to try expressing milk with the aid of an electric or hand pump. However, if all your efforts are in vain and the duct does not unblock mastitis will often follow. Mastitis is simply when the blocked duct becomes inflamed and possibly infected.

Current medical advice is to continue feeding from the affected breast even if it is infected. The infection will not harm the baby. However, the last thing you may want to do is to feed from the affected side at all as it is so painful. This will only make things worse and you may end up with an abscess. If this happens you will need to have the abscess drained by a doctor.

If you are worried about your baby drinking milk from the affected breast a good alternative is to express and dispose of the milk and to feed only from the unaffected side. Your body will adapt. It will continue to supply enough milk for your baby from the unaffected breast. And as long as you express regularly from the affected breast the milk supply will be maintained. You produce breastmilk on a supply and demand basis so there will always be enough. When the infection clears up you can simply return to your usual feeding pattern.

If you do get mastitis and it does not clear up within a few hours you will probably require an antibiotic so speak to your GP. Make sure to tell him you are breastfeeding so a suitable antibiotic can be prescribed.

To avoid a recurrence make sure you position the baby properly. Ensure he is not sucking on just the nipple but that he has a good mouthful of the areola also. Try to sit upright or if lying down do not lie on the breast. Make sure the baby is tummy-to-tummy with you, his nose and mouth facing the breast and that he is not creating a blockage with his chin or a hand or arms.

Mastitis usually clears up completely within a couple of days so put it in perspective. Don't give up breastfeeding because you have mastitis. Instead ensure you don't get it again; position your baby correctly, feed on demand and avoid skipping breastfeeds.

Breast Feeding Tips and Guidelines

Breastfeeding has many advantages for both the baby and the mother. There are many substances in breast milk that can’t be found in cow’s milk. More so, there are fewer complications associated with breast milk than with cow’s milk.

It has been advertised time and again that it is best for the babies if they are breastfed for the first six months even up to two years. So why is breast milk so beneficial for the baby? First of all, only breast milk contains colostrums which are essential for the baby to take. Commercially-made milks cannot simulate the colostrums made by a mother. The colostrums contain natural antibodies and immune globulins that are responsible for keeping the baby free from illness for the first few months of its life.

Another advantage breast milk has over cow’s milk is that it allows the mother to save as cow’s milk can be expensive. The baby can better adapt to breast milk. Their feces are not smelly and they don’t have any difficulty defecating compared to cow’s milk. Breastfeeding has also been approved to be one of the family planning methods that a family can observe.

Since breastfeeding has been given so much importance, many women have been made aware. However, despite the awareness, many mothers still report of breast problems associated with lactation. These problems are most often than not, associated with improper breast feeding techniques. In order to lower down the incidence of breast related problems due to lactation, it is important that mothers observe the proper techniques of breast feeding. Ultimately, both the mother as well as the baby will benefit from the proper observance of these techniques.

First of all, you need to prepare your breast for milk-production. There are various nipple exercises to perform in order to prepare your nipple to deliver the breast milk to your baby. One of these exercises would involve routinely pinching the nipple.

Second and what most mothers fail to realize is how to keep the nipple clean before the baby latches on to it for feeding. When you plan to breast feed, you should avoid using soap on your nipple. If this cannot be avoided, your nipple should be wiped using a soft cloth soaked in clean water to make sure your nipple is clean before your baby feeds from it.

Third and perhaps the most important step is to allow your baby to properly latch on to your nipple. You will know when your baby is latched on properly when your baby’s mouth covers the entire areola and not just the nipples. It is essential that your baby should latch on properly so that he or she can properly stimulate the “let-down reflex” of your breasts wherein the milk will go down the ducts and out your nipple.

To aid your baby in latching on properly, you should make use of their rooting reflex. This is manifested in the first few months of life. You stimulate your baby’s cheek, near their mouth using your nipple and their head will automatically turn towards the stimulation. Their mouth will open and be ready for receiving your nipple. Once you’re done, you can aid your baby to stop latching on by inserting a clean pinky finger into the side of their mouth and propping it slightly open. Your baby will stop sucking and you can remove your nipple.

To prevent sore nipples and breast engorgement you have to monitor the amount of time your baby sucks with each nipple. It is usually advisable to spend 10-15 minutes each breast to make sure that the breasts are completely emptied of milk. This will prevent breast engorgement. The next time your baby feeds on your breast, let your baby feed from the last breast he or she fed on. This will completely empty the milk on that breast before you move on to the other breast.