What You Can Do to Alleviate Pregnancy Back Pain

The strain of pregnancy can take its toll on your body, and one of the most common complaints women report in pregnancy is back pain. Although it may not be possible to completely get rid of pregnancy back pain, there are things that you can do that will help minimize the amount of pregnancy back pain that you have.

Because you’re pregnant, you are limited to what you can do to try to alleviate your back pain. Besides Extra Strength Tylenol, there isn’t much that you are allowed to take for pain. For muscle pain, you would usually take an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) such as Ibuprofen, but pregnant women are advised to stay away from them. So you need to look into alternative methods of treatment for your pregnancy back pain.

Using liberal application of heat and ice is a good way to deal with pregnancy back pain without drugs. The heat will relax the muscles while the ice pack will numb the area to relieve pain. Alternate between the two for 20 to 30 minutes, but always be sure not to apply the hot or cold packs directly to your skin, as it can cause irritation. Make sure that you always wrap the packs into a towel.

Another way to apply heat to relieve your pregnancy back pain is to take a bath. Just make sure that the water isn’t too hot; you don’t want to raise your internal body temperature too much. But a warm bath can do wonders to relieve sore and painful muscles. Adding Epsom salts to the bath can help you relax even more.

Many women also find that massage is useful in relieving their pregnancy back pain. You can either get your partner or a friend to do it, or you can also go to a massage therapist that specializes in pregnancy massage. Going to a professional could be very helpful, as they have dealt with pregnancy back pain many times and will know just what to do to help you relax your muscles and much as possible and give you relief from the aches and pains.

Strengthening your core muscles (the ones around your torso, including your abdominals and back muscles) can also help prevent pregnancy back pain in the first place. The stronger your muscles are, the less strain you will feel on them as your pregnancy progresses. Yoga and pilates are both well known types of exercise that can help strengthen your core.

So, although you can’t take the pain reliever you would have normally reached for, there are things that you can do to alleviate your pregnancy back pain. To find out other ways to minimize your pregnancy back pain and other ways to stay healthy during your pregnancy, Click Here Now to Check Out Pregnancy Without Pounds for Yourself.

Pregnancy and Exercise – Some Guidelines

Women want to stay healthy throughout their pregnancy, both for themselves and their babies, but most aren’t exactly sure what they can do when it comes to their pregnancy and exercise. While you want to stay fit, your first priority is still your baby. Here’s a few easy guidelines you can follow to help you figure out how best to combine pregnancy and exercise for you.

With both pregnancy and exercise, it’s important to remember your limitations. This is especially true when it comes to doing any kind of exercise that involves straining or stretching. Examples of this include weight lifting, pilates, or yoga. If,in the later parts of your pregnancy you exercise, you are most likely to strain or pull a muscle or tendon.

This is because of the hormone relaxin, which your body secretes when you’re pregnant to help make your ligaments and tendons more pliable to accommodate the baby. The relaxin also makes all of your muscles, tendons, and ligaments more pliable, which makes it easier for you to push too hard and injure yourself. The number one rule of pregnancy and exercise is to take it easy.

This is not meant to scare you off of combining your pregnancy and exercise. On the contrary, staying active is one of the best ways to stay healthy for you and your baby. What you need to do is remember that your body is going through massive changes, and you may not be able to do all the things that you would before you got pregnant. But with a few modifications, you can do almost all kinds of activity during your pregnancy and exercise.

A great way to accommodate your pregnancy and still exercise is to take it to the water. Any kind of water activity, whether it be swimming or water aerobics, is a great way to take into consideration your pregnancy, and get the exercise that you need. Even if you’re late into your pregnancy and exercise is the last thing on your mind because you feel completely awkward and ungainly on land, you’ll feel graceful and light when you get in the pool.

Walking is another great way to take it a little easy during your pregnancy and still exercise. If you’re pregnant in the winter, take it inside by going to your local mall or walking track at the gym to keep going even if it’s too icy to walk outside.

For more great ways to accommodate your pregnancy and still exercise, Click Here Now to Check Out Pregnancy Without Pounds for Yourself

How to Properly Exercise During Pregnancy

More and more women are concerned with staying fit while they are pregnant, but aren’t sure how to safely exercise during pregnancy. But there are things that any pregnant woman, even if she wasn’t previously active, can do to make sure she gets enough healthy exercise during pregnancy.

Most doctors will tell you that any exercise program you had in place prior to getting pregnant can be continued as long as you feel comfortable with it. There are certain exceptions, of course; you may need to modify your exercise during pregnancy if it could adversely affect the health of the baby.

So that means that rollerblading, rough road mountain biking and white water rafting are out because of the possibility of injuring yourself or the baby, as is hot yoga because it raises your internal temperature too much, which can be harmful to the development of the baby.

But there are lots of other things that you can do safely to get some exercise during your pregnancy. Brisk walking and swimming are two great ways to get healthy aerobic exercise during pregnancy without putting your baby at risk of harm. Swimming, or water aerobics, in particular, can be quite enjoyable in the late stages of pregnancy because the water provides a supportive and buoyant environment that may make you more comfortable.

Running is also an acceptable form of exercise during pregnancy, as long as you feel comfortable doing it (it may get harder to do as your belly gets larger or the baby drops further into your pelvis.) However, doctors only recommend that you run while pregnant if you were a runner before you got pregnant; they do not advise picking this up if your body is not already used to it. Many women, who were runners before, continue to run late into their third trimester.

Yoga and pilates can be great forms of exercise during pregnancy, and both can help strengthen your core muscles, which will help make carrying the baby easier. You do need to exercise caution when participating in any kind of exercise that involves stretching during pregnancy though; the hormone relaxin, which is secreted by the body to help your ligaments stretch to accommodate the baby, can also allow you to overextend your muscles and tendons, which could lead to injury. Look for a class that is specifically geared towards pregnant women.

Whatever form of exercise during pregnancy you choose to participate in, make sure that you try your best to stay active. While it isn’t always easy with your changing body, it is important in helping you to stay as healthy as possible, for both you and your baby. For more information on what is the best kind of exercise during pregnancy for you and how to stay fit, Click Here Now to Check Out Pregnancy Without Pounds for Yourself.

How to Eat a Healthy Diet During Pregnancy

Keeping a healthy diet during your pregnancy can be difficult. Either you are so nauseous that you find it hard to eat anything at all, or you have cravings for everything in sight, and lots of it. Either way, making sure you eat a healthy and balanced diet during pregnancy isn’t easy.

If you suffer from morning sickness, (or, for some women, all-the-time-oh-please-make-it-stop sickness) it can be nearly impossible to keep a healthy diet during pregnancy. But while it may seem counter-intuitive when you want to throw up all the time, what you need to do to help your morning sickness is eat. Having an empty stomach can actually make your nausea worse.

That’s not to say that you should be pulling up a chair to the all-you-can-eat buffet, either. Rather, you should be eating several small meals a day to ensure that your stomach is never completely empty. Since you can’t bring yourself to eat a lot, you have to make sure that your diet during pregnancy has the most nutritional bang for your buck.

Make sure that you are still taking your prenatal vitamin; even if it makes you sick for a little while, the nutritional value it brings your diet during pregnancy is invaluable. Also, in all of your small meals, aim to get both carbohydrates and proteins at the same time. If you cant stomach a full meal, something like an apple and a handful of raw almonds is a great alternative. Other good snacks include an English muffin with cheese, half a turkey sandwich, or yogurt with fresh fruit and granola.

Of course, if you don’t have morning sickness, but instead want to eat everything in sight, that can also be challenging when you are trying to keep to a healthy diet during your pregnancy. You want to eat well, but those French fries or cookies keep calling your name. And no matter how much you eat, you seem to just want more.

To combat this and stick to a balanced diet during pregnancy, follow the 80/20 rule. As long as you eat a healthy and balanced diet with lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins 80% of the time, then the other 20% you can indulge in those treats. This means you can have French fries at lunch, but you need to have a small portion of those along with a healthy grilled chicken sandwich on whole wheat.

And of course, no one is going to judge you if some of those days, your diet during pregnancy is a little more 70/30 or 60/40. Just try to limit the fried, fatty, and sugary foods and make sure you and your baby are getting the nutrients you need.

To find out more about how to maintain a good diet during pregnancy, Click Here Now to Check Out Pregnancy Without Pounds for Yourself

Pregnancy Exercise

One of the best things you can do to prepare for pregnancy is start exercising regularly. You don’t have to join the Boston Marathon, but even walking around the block a few times per week will help tone and condition your body and help you prepare for the journey ahead.

Women who regularly engage in some form of exercise before and during pregnancy are more likely to experience quicker and less problematic labors. That is a good enough reason in and of itself to start exercising as soon as you can.

The other important thing you need to do during your pregnancy is make an appointment to see your healthcare provider. Good prenatal care throughout your pregnancy is essential for maintaining a happy and healthy pregnancy. If you are not yet pregnant but thinking about becoming pregnant, many practitioners recommend scheduling a visit so they can review your health history for you and help overcome any potential barriers to your fertility.

Your healthcare provider can also set you up on a regimen of prenatal vitamins, and help you understand your cycle better so you know the times of the month you are most likely to get pregnant.

Most practitioners will schedule your first visit between 8-11 weeks if you are having a normal, low risk pregnancy. If you aren’t sure when you became pregnant, you should consider scheduling an appointment with your provider right away to ensure that everything is going along as it should and that you have no risk factors for possible complications.

Article by Beverley Brooke, author of “Ensure a healthy safe pregnancy for you and your baby”, visit http://www.pregnancywizard.com for more on pregnancy exercise

Pregnancy Health – Maintaining Yourself

Pregnancy brings in joy with the ever-increasing waistline, pains and aches. The body undergoes a tremendous change due to shifting of hormones. The skin changes, there are stretch marks and dark patches on the facial skin. Weight gain results in sleeping troubles, poor digestion, frequent urination, constipation etc. These are just a few symptoms of pregnancy. Since these changes take place gradually, one starts adjusting to them in anticipation of the joy it will bring after nine months. It is very important to maintain the pregnancy health and go through the process with a relaxed and happy state of mind.

Maintaining Pregnancy Health

With the onset of early signs of pregnancy, prepare yourself for the new changes in your life. Stay happy and comfortable. Consult your doctor for any problems and adjust your lifestyle to surmount the initial irritating body changes with more rest and relaxation. Follow a few tips for better pregnancy health.

Tender breasts: Wear a soft, comfortable maternity or nursing bra with extra support. Apply heavy moisturizing cream to cracked nipples after washing with water only.

Dizziness: Expanding uterus puts pressure on blood vessels, plus the nausea and vomiting can make one feel dizzy or light headed. To overcome this problem, maintain pregnancy health with frequent but small meals. Avoid standing or sitting in one position for long, lay down on your left side to relax, stand up slowly and do not let your body get over heated.

Hemorrhoids: They too are caused due to increasing pressure on the rectal veins and constipation. To prevent hemorrhoids drink lots of fluids, take fiber rich food and do not strain the bowel while evacuating.

Leg cramps: As the body weight increases and change in metabolization takes place, the pressure on legs and feet increases. Eat low-fat calcium rich food, go for short walks, stretch and flex leg and foot muscles, use heating pads to ease the leg cramps.

Swelling: A significant weight gain during pregnancy can result in swelling and puffiness. It could be a sign of high blood pressure or toxemia, consult the doctor immediately. To avoid swelling and to maintain a good pregnancy health, avoid salty foods and caffeine. Rest with your feet elevated and drink at least eight glasses of water to keep your body hydrated.

Teeth and gum problems: Maintain good oral hygiene by brushing your teeth regularly; avoid eating sweets and take high calcium diet. Oral bacteria due to gum disease can harm the fetus and result in either low-birth weight baby or premature delivery.

Similarly take all natural preventive measures to combat the various other changes in the body due to the pregnancy. Feel free to call your doctor in an event of vaginal discharge, bleeding, fever or chills, pain in abdomen or any abnormal discomfort. Good pregnancy health results in a happier you and healthier baby.

Apurva Shree is the online editor of free pregnancy information resource http://www.earlypregnancy-symptom.info She has developed this site to provide valuable information on early pregnancy symptoms and useful methods to enjoy your pregnancy period and the ways in which you welcome your new world of motherhood. http://www.earlypregnancy-symptom.info is your free resource that not only provides information on early pregnancy symptoms but the other aspects of pregnancy too.

Pregnancy Nutrition

Hello New Mom! It’s you and Baby now, so you’ll want to eat what’s best for both of you. Keep in mind that while you are eating for two, only one of you is a full grown adult so you will probably only need to take in an extra 200-300 calories per day while pregnant. The bottom line? Do eat for two, but don’t overeat.

In general, you should eat a healthy, well-balanced diet full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, protein, foods rich in vitamin C, iron and calcium plus plenty of water. While you don’t need to eliminate salt and fat from your diet, you should take care to eat salty foods and high-fat foods only sparingly.

Also, as an expectant mom, you’ll want to make sure to take the prenatal vitamins prescribed by your physician and pay attention to your intake of folic acid in particular. Folic acid is a member of the B vitamin family and occurs naturally in orange juice, green leafy vegetables, beans and lentils. The synthetic form of folic acid, which is more easily absorbed by your body, can be found in fortified breakfast cereals, enriched grain products and vitamins. Folic acid helps prevent and decrease the risk of several common birth defects and supports rapid growth of the placenta and fetus.

There are several things you should avoid during your pregnancy due to the possibilities of bacterial contamination, birth defects, decreased attention and decreased memory. While pregnant, you should steer clear of:

1. alcohol

2. caffeine and artificial coloring

3. cigarette smoke

4. over-the-counter meds and herbal remedies ( unless otherwise directed by your physician)

5. raw meat

6. raw eggs and food containing raw eggs

7. soft cheese

8. fish with accumulated mercury levels or high levels of an industrial pollutant called polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

As you avoid what’s bad and consume adequate amounts of what’s good, you will increase your baby’s chances of being born at a normal birth weight and having good fetal brain development. You will also decrease your risk of having pregnancy complications and severe mood swings and you will help ensure a good post-pregnancy recovery. So eat up!

Jacqueline Courtiol, M.A. Ed. is a teacher, mother and business owner. Jacqueline has authored numerous articles on topics of childcare, natural health, parenting and pregnancy. She is also the co-developer of Colic Calm, a natural homeopathic treatment for baby stomach ache and colic. More information can be found at http://www.coliccalm.com or contact us if you have questions.

The Myths of Fitness During Pregnancy – The Straight Facts on the ACOG Guidelines

The American College of Obstetics and Gynecology (ACOG) guidelines are often misquoted or quoted with outdated information. In fact, two of the myths listed in this article were just printed in a current (Spring 2005), large national publication catering to expectant mothers. The latest and correct information on exercise during pregnancy needs to be widely distributed. Hopefully, this article will help to remedy some of the misinformation.

MYTH:

1. You can’t workout during pregnancy if you were not previously engaged in an exercise program prior to becoming pregnant.

ACTUAL: The 1994 ACOG Guidelines for exercise during pregnancy stated:

During pregnancy, women are permitted to continue to exercise. The current 20032 guideline is stated as, “Healthy pregnant women are encouraged to engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most, if not all, days of the week.” It is important to note that the new recommendation is the same one made to women that are not pregnant.

MYTH:

2. You must keep your HR under 140 bpm.

ACTUAL: Unless your personal physician advices against this and assuming he/she is aware of the latest 2002 ACOG Guidelines, this is not a recommendation on the current guidelines. This was actually an old recommendation from the 1985 guidelines. This number was established as a guideline. Since 1994, the recommendation has been updated to say that people are individuals with varying heart rates. Patients are advised to follow the “talk test” to determine exercise intensity. If one can comfortable speak during exercise, this intensity level is moderate.

3. MYTH: You can NEVER lie on your back after the first trimester of pregnancy.

ACTUAL: Pregnant women should avoid the supine (lying face up on your back) as much as possible. It does NOT state NEVER. Some women experience discomfort in this position. If the mother is comfortable, the baby is comfortable.
You may exercise are your back but in a very limited capacity. Possibly 1-2 minutes, then roll to your side and perform a series of exercises there.

Pregnancy is a wonderful time for positive changes as it relates to one’s health. A great way to begin a fitness program during pregnancy is a solid, commitment to a walding plan. Depending upon your initial fitness level, begin walking even 10-15 minutes a day. Good luck with your program as you embark on being a fitness role model for your children.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Patrea Aeschliman:

patrea@15tofit.com or info@15tofit.com.