Top 5 Tips For Your First Trimester

The first trimester can be both an exciting and scary time for any newly pregnant woman. It’s an important time and critical time in the pregnancy when the mother’s job is to focus on her health and the health of her growing child.

Our list of tips will help new moms get through these first 3 months and pave the way for a smooth rest of the pregnancy.

1. Find your healthcare provider

Finding the right healthcare provider, be it an OB/Gyn or a midwife, is vital to ensure you and your growing baby are healthy throughout your entire pregnancy. It is recommended that pregnant mothers see a healthcare provider once a month the first six months of pregnancy for prenatal care, so make sure you trust your doctor and he or she makes you feel comfortable. If you don’t have an OB/Gyn or pregnancy health care provider, ask your primary care physician, family, friends, or colleagues to recommend one.

2. Eat healthy and stay hydrated

According to the American Pregnancy Association, pregnant mothers must keep their bodies well hydrated as your blood volume increases to support two bodies. Consuming quality fluids is essential for both you and your baby’s health. It also helps prevent fatigue, constipation, and preterm labor. Pregnant mothers should eat healthy, nutrient-rich food throughout pregnancy. That’s not to say you shouldn’t give in to the occasional ice cream craving, but keep the leafy greens close by as well.

3. Budget for baby

Buying each and every fun and new thing for baby sounds great…and those tiny clothes are definitely adorable and tempting. But it’s important to set a budget for your maternity and baby needs. Borrowing items such as strollers or cribs, or accepting the generosity of friends and family, is a wonderful option. Try to stick to a budget – there can be plenty of surprise costs down the road.

4. Prenatal health

Without effective prenatal care, mothers face higher risk of encountering prenatal, childbirth and postpartum complications. Mothers who receive late or no prenatal care are more likely to give birth to babies with health ailments. In addition, be sure to ask your doctor or healthcare provider about what the right prenatal vitamin is for you. This is also time to think about your baby’s cognitive development. A safe, simple curriculum like BabyPlus Prenatal Education System has been shown to help your baby’s chances of being self-soothing, attentive, curious, and of reaching important infant development milestones in the strongest way.

5. REST

It is normal for newly pregnant mothers to feel fatigued. Go to bed early, take naps when you need them. You need more rest and sleep as your body changes to accommodate your growing child. Your energy is being used elsewhere – let your partner, close friends and family pamper you! You won’t have much time for sleep, peace, and quiet later on.

If you have questions on how BabyPlus can be a wonderful prenatal tool to encourage healthy prenatal cognitive development, let us know!

Why It Is Important To Talk To Your Baby When Pregnant

By Dorinne Davis – Audiologist

Parents can often read and react to their child’s emotional states. Parents often understand a baby’s cry or laugh as illness, fear, hunger, or more. A study reported on ABC news in 2005[1], shared that Allan Schore, a leading neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for Culture, Brain, and Development pointed out that the connection between parent and child during the first year of life affects a child’s psychological state and plays a role in physically shaping the brain. His own research concluded that the parent-child interaction plays a key role in baby brain development on the right side.

The right side of the brain is stimulated when interacting with others, especially care-givers. When a care-giver interacts with an infant, the child’s brain and prenatal health is being affected, shaping emotional responses. This interaction appears to help the child’s ability to handle stress and feel emotionally secure.

 

screen-shot-2016-08-22-at-3-12-37-pm

Shore also shares that the child’s brain is not only shaped by ‘genetics but also the experience of the last trimester of pregnancy through the child’s first year and a half of life’. At 7 months in utero, the ear’s neurological system is developed, supporting the stimulation both to the left hemisphere of the brain, important for speech and language development, and the right hemisphere of the brain, important for this emotional connection. The child’s brain will be shaped by prenatal brain stimulation and personal attachments.

As the parent, you do not need to wait until your child is born to talk, sing or interact with them. Start interacting while you are pregnant with prenatal sound. Singing lays the underlying tonal and rhythm patterns of the world, but talking provides the smaller, subtler sound changes that can also support your child’s emotional well-being. Prenatal sound systems like BabyPlus can also provide Have fun with your baby. Chat, talk, sing and interact with them. Enjoy the experience!

©Davis 2014

A prenatal sound system like BabyPlus can also provide desirable prenatal cognitive development. If you want to be kept in the know on BabyPlus developments, let us know!

[1] http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/print?id=1362076