Do you have diabetes or high blood pressure during pregnancy and are worried about your baby’s health? You do not have to worry anymore. Even if you have diabetes or high blood pressure, you can still have a healthy pregnancy. We have some crucial tips on having a safe pregnancy and healthy babies.
#1 Diabetes during pregnancy
If you have diabetes, your body has too much sugar in the blood. There are two types of diabetes during pregnancy.
- Pre-existing Diabetes – The first one is pre-existing diabetes. This means that the pregnant lady had diabetes even before pregnancy.
- Gestational Diabetes – Gestational diabetes is diabetes that women may usually get during their pregnancy.
To reduce the risk of other complications during your pregnancy, you should try to manage your diabetes. If not treated or managed properly, diabetes can lead to further complications during pregnancy, such as premature birth, high blood pressure, depression, pregnancy loss, or even congenital disabilities. You will have to control and manage your diabetes both before and during your pregnancy.
#2 Healthy Tips for Diabetes during pregnancy
- You need to control your blood sugar level during your pregnancy to be healthy and have a healthy newborn.
- You should eat about three small meals and about 2 to 3 snacks per day during your pregnancy. If you overeat at once, your blood sugar level could increase and go too high. You should try to consume small meals. Try to have some snacks twice or thrice per day in between your meals to keep your stomach full. You should also take healthy and highly nutritious food during pregnancy to meet the nutritional needs of your baby. You should try to eat a balanced diet every day during your pregnancy.
- Just ensure that you do not consume too much of it. Your meal can consist of a medium-sized cup of cooked rice, potatoes, noodles, grains, or two small pieces of bread in your everyday meal.
- A pregnant lady needs to drink a cup of milk daily during her pregnancy. The sugar present in milk can get absorbed very quickly. But you should also keep in mind that too much milk can also lead to a high increase in your blood sugar level.
- You should eat a small portion of fruits during pregnancy if you have diabetes. Fruits are very nutritious, but they may cause an increase in your blood sugar level. You should not consume fruit juices during your pregnancy if you have diabetes.
- Try to eat more fibre-containing foods. Some of the recommended food items are brown rice, barley, whole oats, whole grain bread, millet, and wild rice. You should also eat lentils, black peas, garbanzo, or split peas. The food that contains fibre will keep a check on your blood sugar level. Refined grains, white rice, and white bread can lead to an increase in your blood sugar level.
- You should also be careful with what you are consuming in your breakfast if you have diabetes during pregnancy. Your breakfast should include protein food plus whole grains. Drinking milk in the morning can increase your blood sugar level. Try to avoid having milk, fruits, and dry cereals in your breakfast if you have diabetes during pregnancy.
- You should avoid consuming fruit juice and other sugary drinks during pregnancy if you have diabetes. Fruit juices have a very high content of natural sugars. Moreover, liquid foods can raise the blood sugar level of your body much faster. You should also stay away from soft drinks, sodas, and other sugary drinks. Nevertheless, you can consume small amounts of diet drinks.
- You should also avoid consuming sweets and other desserts if you have diabetes during pregnancy. No matter how much you crave cakes, pastries, candies, or cookies, you should stay far away from them. These food items have an extremely high content of sugar. Consuming these can lead to a huge increase in the blood sugar level of your body. These food items also contain a lot of fat, which is again very unhealthy for you during your pregnancy.
- You should try to stay away from sugar during your pregnancy if you have diabetes. You should also avoid adding any type of sugar or honey to your meals. But you are free to use some artificial sweeteners that are safe. You can make use of Aspartame, Sucralose, and Acesulfame. These artificial sweeteners are safe to be used during pregnancy.
- Check the ingredients of the “sugar-free” foods properly before consuming them. Sugar-free food items may contain sugar alcohols, such as isomalt, mannitol, sorbitol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysate, xylitol, or maltitol. These may cause gas. They also have a laxative effect.
#3 Blood Pressure during pregnancy
High blood pressure during pregnancy is not very dangerous, but it can cause serious complications in some cases. We will tell you how to take care to be safe if you have high blood pressure during pregnancy.
You may have high blood pressure before pregnancy. But in many cases, women develop high blood pressure during pregnancy. Some of the various types of high blood pressure that may be present or develop during pregnancy are Chronic hypertension, Gestational hypertension, Preeclampsia, and Chronic hypertension with Superimposed Preeclampsia.
These conditions of high blood pressure may lead to complications during pregnancy. The risks include decreased blood flow to the placenta, intrauterine growth restriction, placental abruption, premature delivery, injury to your other organs, and even cardiovascular diseases in the future.
#4 Healthy Tips for Blood Pressure during pregnancy
- You will have to keep a check on your blood pressure and try to stay healthy if you have high blood pressure during pregnancy.
- You should not miss your prenatal appointments. Try to visit your doctor without missing an appointment for regular checkups.
- You should only take blood pressure medications that are prescribed by your doctor during pregnancy.
- You should try to keep your body fit and active. You can go for walks or try some easy physical exercises to keep your body moving. But do not start doing any physical exercise during pregnancy without consulting your doctor.
- You must stay away from alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes if you have high blood pressure during pregnancy.
- You should avoid consuming too much salt or foods with a high content of sodium if you have high blood pressure during pregnancy. Do not add too much salt to your food.
- You should try deep breathing or controlled breathing. It is a natural and very effective technique of relaxation.
- You should try to add food items that are rich in potassium to your diet. Your diet can include tomatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, orange juice, potatoes, peas, kidney beans, cantaloupe, melon, and dry fruits.
- You should listen to music. This will relieve you from stress and provide relaxation.
- You must keep a check on and monitor your weight.
- You should also try to avoid caffeine as much as possible during your pregnancy.
#4 Antidepressants during pregnancy
Taking antidepressants during pregnancy has its own pros and cons. Taking antidepressants during pregnancy might be risky, but it is also important to treat depression during pregnancy. Depression during pregnancy can lead to far more dangerous and serious complications.
Healthy Tips for antidepressants during pregnancy
- You can take antidepressants during pregnancy, but only if it has been prescribed by your health care provider.
- However, you should minimize the intake of antidepressants during pregnancy. This will help you reduce the exposure of your baby to these medications.
- You should ask your health care provider to prescribe low doses of antidepressants during pregnancy.
- You should keep yourself away from things, people, and situations that give you stress. More stress will result in the intake of more medications, which will not have a good effect on the health of your baby. Try to stay out of things that give you stress as much as possible.
- You should also choose to go for counselling. Your mental health is very important during your pregnancy. Depression is very harmful to your baby. Try going to a counsellor. They will help you recover from your stress and depression.
- In most cases, depressed pregnant ladies do not maintain their diet properly. Do not do this. Your baby needs a wholesome and nutritious diet. It is very important for you to eat properly during the period of your pregnancy. You should try to keep your tummy full. Eat only healthy food during your pregnancy. Do not go for fatty and junk foods.
- In some other cases, depressed pregnant ladies take help from cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol to get relief from stress and depression. This is an absolute “NO” for you if you want to be safe and have a healthy baby. Try to stay away from drugs, cigarettes and alcohol during your pregnancy as much as possible.
You do not have to worry about your pregnancy or the health of your baby too much. We have provided some healthy tips for diabetes, blood pressure, and antidepressants during pregnancy. Follow the healthy tips that we have provided to be safe and have a healthy baby.