Pregnant women get a lot advice from their doctors: lists of vitamins to take, how to exercise, how not to gain too much weight. It's all to protect the baby's growth and development. But there's something else every mother should do. It's very important. They must eat right to avoid infections and to get the right nutrients to the fetus.
"Soft cheeses should be avoided, because soft cheeses can carry a debacteria called Listeria"
OB doctor Samantha Fader is advising 18 weeks pregnant Rama Diallo on how to eat during the rest of her pregnancy. It's not just unpasteurized cheeses to avoid, it's also undercooked meat and chicken. Ms Diallo knows a lot of this, she is careful too.
"Make sure that my eggs or meat, anything that I eat is well cooked, so you know, to avoid the germs and stuff. "
Bacteria can lurk in undercooked eggs or as Ms Diallo does make them hard boiled or dry scrambled during the pregnancy. These are some of the don'ts that needed to protect mother of most of all the developing babies. Some others, don't need tuna, sword,tilefish more than once a week. They contain high amounts of mercury which can damage babies' development.
"If you start eating healthy when you know you are pregnant, you are already a month late. Because usually a woman won't know she's pregnant until one month later, when she misses her next period."
And that month is one of the fetus's heart and brain they begin to develop. So we'd better assure begin to attempt pregnancy. The do's of pregnancy, eat a balanced diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, get calcium as lowfat products or servings per day as babies' bones are growing,drink lots of water.
"I do drink a lot of water, I say, it's very healthy, you know,to drink a lot of fluid during your pregnancy.
And watch coffeine, which may slow fetal growth and increase miscarriage risk.
"If you were having one cup of regular coffee a day, that is okay, that's not excessive, or one cup of regular tea a day, that would be okay."
And avoid alcohol, which can also upset a baby's growth. And wash salad vegetables very well, perhaps even with diluted soap. Unwashed vegetables can conceal amoebas and other germs that can be very upsetting to a woman's digestive system at any time and especially during pregnancy.
