According to statistics, 15-20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriages. Most of these miscarriages occur before the pregnancy gets to the 12th week. Nothing can be more devastating than experiencing a miscarriage after all the thrilling stories of one's pregnancy. Yet about one in every five pregnancies end up this way. About 60% of these miscarriages are due to some unavoidable genetic changes such as the tripling of a chromosome. However, there are certain techniques you can adopt to help you reduce the risks of going through a miscarriage, a stillbirth, or death of your infant. Taking some of the following steps can go a long way to reduce your risks and at the same time increase your chances of having a very healthy and successful pregnancy and child birth.
How to Prevent Miscarriage: 7 Instructions You Must Follow
Exercise Moderately
Inasmuch as you need to engage in some physical exercises during pregnancy, the strenuous ones will have to wait until after your delivery.
According to doctors' speculations, engaging in excess physical activities such as marathon may lead to miscarriages because such exercises raises the temperature of the pregnant mother and reduces the flow of blood to the unborn child. For safety purposes, engage in moderate physical exercises and avoid things like riding on horseback, skiing, jumping, heavy running, etc. These strenuous exercises have the ability to make you lose your balance, or sustain some abdominal injuries.
Insist On Well-Balanced Diets
If you are already on any kind of prenatal vitamin, do not think it is some kind of magic bullet. The best way to supply your body with the much needed natural vitamins to sustain the health of your unborn baby is through healthy, balanced diets. This is also crucial for how to prevent miscarriage.
According to studies, eating lots of fruits and veggies daily can go a long way to lower your risks of having a miscarriage. Do not patronize raw meats and unpasteurized dairy products. Some of the infections that have been linked to such products include toxoplasmosis and listeria, which have been found to increase one's risks of having a miscarriage. Though these infections are quite rare, but it is still important to make sure all your meats are well cooked and that you do not take any unpasteurized dairy products. This may mean saying bye to all kinds of raw sushis.
Say No to Drugs, Tobacco, Alcohol and Even Caffeine
Stay away from any kind of illegal drugs, tobacco or alcohol intake no matter the temptation. It is important to shun all hard drugs while trying to conceive and most importantly, after conception. Apart from being quite unhealthy for both mother and child, it increases your risk of having a miscarriage greatly.
According to some medical experts, expectant mums must not take more than 200mg of caffeine daily. It is also advised that they must not exceed 6 oz cups of tea, coffee, or any other caffeine-containing beverage. But it is always safer to ask your doctor what is best for your case.
Take a Look at Your Vaccination Records
Some diseases can heighten your risk of miscarriage. If you missed those routine immunization as an infant, speak to your doctor, she can carry out a blood analysis to ascertain your immunity. The right time for immunization is before you get pregnant.
Reduce Your Stress Level
This seems to be unrelated with how to prevent miscarriage, but this is quite significant for pregnancy. When you come under very heavy stress, your body experiences some difficulties trying to fight off diseases to keep you healthy. Make sure you engage in activities that help you stay calm while you are pregnant such as meditation, deep breathing, yoga, visualization, gardening or even painting.
Take Your Medicines
Severe health conditions such as diabetes, lupus, high BP, etc have all been linked to cases of increased risks of losing one's pregnancy. If you suffer a known severe disease, keeping the condition under good medical control during pregnancy will help you avoid miscarriages. If you have any chronic disease while pregnant or trying to get pregnant, talk to your health practitioner on how best to keep the condition under control. It is also important that you adhere to all prescribed medication or take some over-the-counter drugs during your pregnancy. If you wish to get pregnant again, you should start taking some prenatal vitamins even before the pregnancy comes. It has been found that drugs like folic acid play very important roles during the early stages of pregnancy, even before you find out about that a baby is on the way. Taking folic acid in adequate amount helps prevent neural tube defects in unborn babies. These defects can be very fatal when they become very severe.
Have Safe Sex
It may not sound right to recommend that pregnant women or women who are trying to get pregnant should go for safe sex, but in reality, STDs such as syphilis or chlamydia can lead to miscarriages, stillbirths, infertility, neonatal death, as well as ectopic pregnancy. Every sexually active individual stands the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. You will definitely get screened when you begin your prenatal care, but you should still get screened before trying to get pregnant, especially if either you or your spouse keeps more than one sex mate. If you have more than one sex mate, always use a condom, even while you are pregnant, and when you get a new sex mate, insist on using a condom until the two of you have been screened for sexually transmitted diseases.
View All Comments /Add Comment