Preconception Care

[ibrualfi]

My first & only son is born with clefts. Me, my husband & even my son's chromosomal analysis was done, by God's grace everything was normal. Some say it might be because of medicine which you took while pregnancy, but all i took was folic acid, vitamins & calcium. Now I'm concern on what precautions should I take while pregnancy in order to avoid the same.

[5Homebirths4Kate]

Hi ibrualfi,

Often times birth defects are due to the egg and/or sperm being of lower quality. I have 5 children, and my 3rd child was born with a congenital heart defect and had to have open heart surgery when he was 2 months old. When I conceived him, I had been eating more sugar, and eating more chemicals (low fat foods that are made to taste good by the addition of chemical laden ingredients). What I should have been doing was eating a healthy diet which included lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, some healthy carbohydrates like brown rice, eating high quality protein, and healthy fats like avocado, coconut oil and olive oil, and taking essential fatty acids because in our diet (where we live) we don't get enough cold water fish that have good levels of essential fatty acids. I should also have been avoiding sugar and simple carbohydrates like white rice, muffins, cookies, crackers, pies, candy, etc.

So... lesson learned and I don't feel guilty for what happened to my son because I didn't understand, at that time, what a huge role preconception care plays.

I would encourage both you and your husband to have at least 4 months of preconception care before you start trying for another baby. You'll want to be sure you include some good essential fatty acids in your diet and/or take a supplement like a high quality cod liver oil. Essential Fatty Acids play a vital role in egg quality. Folic acid before pregnancy is super important as well. After the birth of my 3rd baby, my doctor put me on 5,000 mcg of folic acid, and when I got pregnant, we lowered that to 1 mcg. of folic acid during pregnancy. Baby #4 and Baby #5 were healthy, even though I gave birth to the last one just before my 41st birthday.

We know it takes about 4 months for an egg to become fully mature and ready to be fertilized, and it takes about 4 months for sperm to be created. So if you start your preconception care AT LEAST 4 months before you conceive, you'll be producing eggs that are healthier.

Your husband may benefit from taking a zinc supplement each day or by eating more foods that are high in zinc and from some essential fatty acids as well.

I would also highly recommend that you search for a practitioner that can guide you. Midwives can give good guidance on how to prepare for pregnancy as can naturopaths and other holistic practitioners.

Warm regards,

Kate

[ibrualfi]

Hi Kate,


Thank you for the guidance on preconception care. Now I understand how important is preconception care is.I'll definitely take care on this & consult a good practitioner

Thanks
Alfanan