There is an ongoing intense debate on what to eat, how to eat and when to eat during pregnancy. While quality eating is becoming crucial by the day for everyone, it becomes vital for a pregnant woman. It is a widely known and well-established fact that what a woman eats and drinks during pregnancy is the primary source of nourishment for the baby. So, the experts suggest that a would-be mother should choose a wide array of healthy foods and beverages in order to provide the required nutrients that the baby needs for optimal growth and development.

Foods to eat during pregnancy:
To improve prenatal nutrition, you should eat more fruits, lean protein, vegetables, whole grains and of course, dairy products. You must fill half of your plate with fruits and vegetables, 1/4th of it with lean protein and the remaining 1/4th with whole grains. It is also vital to include dairy products in each meal.

During pregnancy, you should eat more protein, which can be found in dairy products, particularly Greek yogurt. Also, increase your intake of soybean, peanuts, chickpeas, beans, and peas in your daily diet as they are excellent plant-based source of iron, folate, protein, and fiber. Sweet potatoes should always find a place in your diet since they contain copious amounts of beta-carotene, which is converted to Vitamin A in the body. Salmon contains Omega 3-fatty acids such as DHA and EPA, which are required for the development of the baby s brain and the eyes.

Foods to avoid during pregnancy:
To enhance the good effects of these helpful foods, you should also curb down those that can prove to be detrimental to your health. Some of these include:

Alcohol: Alcohol can directly pass to the baby through the umbilical cord, and heavy consumption of alcohol during pregnancy is linked with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders which may cause physical issues along with learning and behavioral problems in the unborn child.
Fishes with high mercury level: Fishes with high levels of methylmercury can prove to be detrimental to the baby. It is a toxic substance which may pass through the placenta and may prove to be harmful to the unborn baby's brain, nervous and renal system.
Raw meat: A mother may pass the Toxoplasma infection to her baby, which may lead to blindness and mental disability in later life of the child by consuming raw meat. So, it is essential to avoid sushi, uncooked poultry, raw cookie dough, homemade ice cream, tiramisu and raw and undercooked sprouts.
Note that even though pregnancy diet is referred to as eating for two, it doesn't mean that you will have to consume twice as much food as you used to consume. You are not eating for two until your second trimester, and the best thing you can do is to add 300 calories more along with the general dietary intake. So, consult with your doctor and frame a proper diet plan along these lines as suggested above to deliver a healthy baby.

Prenatal Care - Know What To Include In Your Diet!

There are a number of conditions that may come to affect the delicate skin of newborn and growing babies. Some of them may be simple to diagnose and treat, while others may be slightly more serious. Intertrigo is an exceptionally normal inflammatory condition influencing those areas of skin that are naturally in contact with each other. For example, the groin, armpits and other skin overlays. These territories of skin that are in contact with each other are in contact to the intertriginous zones.

Infants and babies with intertrigo have red and sore skin in the folds of skin, under the neck, under the arm and in the nappy area. Dissimilar to nappy rash, the rash is most dangerous, if it is found inside the folds of the skin. In a nappy rash, the skin inside a fold is usually protected, but the rash is exceedingly bad in areas touched by the nappy.

In case you or your child has intertrigo, your doctor may propose just keeping the affected range dry and exposed to the air. You may control oozing of certain liquids with moist packs of an astringent called Burow's solution. Then air dry it and let it heal on its own.

The surface of the affected skin is exceptionally sensitive and hard. It should be dealt with delicately. Washing it with water can be difficult. Utilizing sorbolene to clean the skin might be a gentler option. Be careful so as not to rub the skin. Pat it dry softly and regularly. Keeping the skin fold as dry as possible is very helpful.

Creams or balms that shield the skin from dampness such as the ones that are utilized for nappy rash might be useful. Zinc creams, zinc and cod-liver oil creams can be helpful. Check with your doctor (drug specialist) for other valuable creams or salves. In case the rash is not improving or it is spreading, see your specialist as the contamination may require treatment. Thrush infections are normal. Utilizing a defensive cream like the ones used to counteract nappy rash are beneficial and effective.

Top Five Remedies For Intertrigo In Babies

Here are 6 signs to watch out for that could indicate 'You need to get your Ears tested':

1. Your TV is blaring: Do you often find people around you shouting above the TV sound complaining that it's too loud? When you find it hard to hear the TV at the average volume and find yourself turning up the sound, this could signify a hearing loss. Doctors are seeing a growing number of patients visiting them after prolonged exposure to loud music and sounds.

2. You find it hard to hear phone conversations: Do you find yourself asking the person on the other end of the phone line to 'repeat' themselves, or find yourself pressing the phone instrument right into your ear? If you are trying so hard to hear, you might find yourself missing out on bits of the conversation as focussing to clearly hear the conversation is exhausting work. Getting a hearing test might be a good option if this sounds like you.

3. You have trouble hearing in noisy environments: When you are out dining with friends or family at a busy restaurant or accompanying a friend shopping in a busy street, all that background noise makes it difficult to hear what the people are saying. People with hearing loss often have problems masking out background noise.

4. Family members telling 'you're going deaf'?: Trust the views of the people closest to you, they never lie about your health. Family members often are the first to sense signs of hearing loss as they find themselves repeating things to you or calling out louder to get your 'attention'.

5. You find yourself staying away from social occasions, family gatherings or avoid being the first to start conversations

6. You find yourself leaning closer to people to follow the conversation or staring at their lips trying to lip-read what's being said.

6 Signs you Need a Hearing Test

Hearing is one of the five senses that you or anyone else relies on for communication and a whole host of other things. Among the five senses, touch, smell, taste, hearing and sight, it is often hearing, which is the most easily affected. You don't have to be a senior citizen to experience hearing loss as it is quite common among younger people as well. This problem is also getting widespread with each passing day.

Before coping with hearing loss, the first job is to detect it
If you have a hunch that you or any of your loved ones is suffering from hearing loss, it is important that you get it diagnosed. Some of the common symptoms of hearing loss will be:

 Hearing difficulties while talking to someone over the phone
 Straining to hear conversations with family members or friends in household situations 
 People usually need to repeat what they talk to you with a louder voice
 You often hear complaints that you keep the tv too loud.
 In crowded situations, such as family gatherings or a restaurant, you have problems listening to people.

Although this condition tends to affect senior citizens, an increasing trend shows younger people i. E. People mostly in their 40 and 50s and even younger than that suffer from this condition.

How to deal with hearing loss?
Some of the options to deal with hearing loss are mentioned below.

 Once diagnosed with hearing problems, change your ways of communication: if you or your loved ones have been diagnosed with hearing problems, it is important that both adjust your ways to deal with the problem. Rather than getting angry at the other for not being able to communicate effectively, develop and strategize ways to make communication less problematic and erratic.
 Cochlear implants: this is a newer technology, which has gained popularity in the past decade or so. These are directly implanted into the inner ear and are designed to bypass the damaged areas of the ear and directly stimulate the auditory nerve. These have become very popular, although, are not a replacement of natural hearing. It is only prescribed for people who have severe hearing loss or are deaf.
 Hearing aids: although selecting a hearing aid is difficult as the patient needs to be comfortable, once selected it is one of the best solutions for the hearing impaired. The functionality of these devices can be extended with the hearing assistive technology or hat devices that can focus the audio waves depending on the situations and give a more tailored approach for every individual's needs.

Dealing With Hearing Loss

A nutritional disorder, the problem of rickets occurs if your child suffers from a deficiency of calcium, phosphate or Vitamin D. It causes softened and damaged bones, skeletal deformities, impaired development of the bone's growth plate (a spot of growing tissue found near the end of a long bone in adolescents and children) and stunted growth.

Here are few very simple ways you can prevent your child from getting it:

1. Having Vitamin D and calcium rich foods - One of the best ways to prevent this nutritional disorder from affecting your child is by making sure he or she have foods that are high in Vitamin D and calcium. Egg yolks, fish oil or fatty fish like salmon and mackerel are some of the Vitamin D foods that your child can have to strengthen his bones. Even foods that have Vitamin D added to it such as cereals, orange juice, milk and infant formula can also be given to your child. Sources of calcium can be soyabeans, nuts, broccoli, cabbage, cheese and yoghurt.

2. Going out in the sun - Considered to be an excellent source of Vitamin D, getting your child exposed to sunlight is another excellent way of getting most of this nutrient, as well as preventing him or her from developing rickets. Although the exposure time may vary from individual to individual, about 10-15 minutes of sun exposure without sunscreen can help.

3. Having Vitamin D supplements - Even the consumption of Vitamin D supplements can reduce your child's risk of getting rickets. Since mother's milk contains less than the recommended Vitamin D amount, infants too need to be put on Vitamin D supplements of 400 IU each day. For teenagers and young children, the recommended dosage is 600 IU of Vitamin D every day.




What is Rickets? How to Prevent Your CHILD From the Disorder?

Chromosomal abnormality happens when a cell has too many or too few chromosomes. The most common form of chromosomal anomaly is Down s syndrome. If a parent has a chromosomal anomaly, she/he will pass it on to the child. PGD or Pre-implantation Genetic Testing aims to select only the embryos with normal chromosomal count and only these embryos are implanted to achieve a healthy pregnancy and bring down the number of children affected with a chromosomal anomaly.

The risk of Aneuploid pregnancy:

The older a woman is when she tries to conceive (aged 35 or more), the higher the risk of Aneuploid pregnancy (carrying a baby with genetic or chromosomal abnormality). Most of these pregnancies end in miscarriages and the few that come to term produce babies with chromosomal abnormalities.

Causes of Chromosomal Abnormality:

Usually, chromosomal abnormalities occur due to an error in the cell division. Meiosis refers to the cell division, which the sperm and the egg undergo during the development procedure. Normally, meiosis breaks the chromosomal material into two equal halves, so that each of the parents contributes 23 chromosomes to the pregnancy. However, when the number of chromosomes in the cell goes up or down than the normal, it results in genetic/chromosomal anomalies.

PGD Procedure for a Chromosomal Anomaly:

If a couple elects to go for Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis, they have to undergo ICSI Cycle. ICSI cycle initiates a fertilization cycle to produce embryos. When the embryos reach upto day 5 and blastocyst are formed, they are biopsied and further sent to genetic lab for detecting the chromosomal abnormalities. The embryos are incubated for the entire duration of the genetic screening. Only the embryos that the genetic test clears are implanted. PGD never reveals the gender of the embryo.

PGD can help detect the single genetic disorders that may lead to the following ailments:

  Cystic fibrosis
  Muscular dystrophy
  Tay-Sachs
  Sickle cell anaemia
  Thalassemia
  Turner syndrome

PGD is a revolutionary science that can help root out incurable disorders linked to genetics. It ensures that pregnancy is sustained until term and a healthy baby is born.

Suffering From Genetic & Chromosomal Anomalies - Know About PGD!

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