What to eat? How to sleep?

What to eat? What not to eat?… and why?.

There are a lot of yummy things you can safely eat during pregnancy. Lean meat, fish, diary, hard cheeses, grains, nuts, fruit and vegetables. Even the odd treat is fine.

But please, eat a well-balanced diet. Eat until you are just full, don’t eat for two.

Two or three cups of coffee are most unlikely to cause harm, so this is fine. But avoid alcohol (sorry).

Unfortunately, there are some nasty infections that can cause mischief if you swallow them. Because of this, we suggest you watch out for certain things while you are pregnant.

Listeria is a bacteria found in the environment and can be present in unpasteurized milk products (so don’t drink milk straight from daisy at the farm), raw vegetables, meat and seafoods.

Listeria dies at 100 degrees – boiling temperature. So that is how you get rid of it - cook food well before you eat it. If you reheat something, do it properly.

It is also best to avoid any unpasteurized dairy products (most diary products in Australia are pastuerized). And avoid the following foods as they can be fertile ground for listeria - soft cheeses, soft serve ice cream, cold salads (especially the sad salads sitting idle at the buffet for hours on end), and raw or partially cooked meats.

Toxoplasmosisis a nasty parasite found in soil. Weirdly, it likes to hang about in animal faeces (such as cats). So that you don’t ingest it yourself, wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly, ensure meats are cooked all the way through, wear gloves whilst gardening, and give your hands a good wash after patting animals.

Get someone else to change the cat litter, a chore you probably won’t miss anyway.

Pregnancy is not the time to get a new cat. But you can most definitely keep pet cats you currently have.

Gastroenteritis is caused by a number of bugs that take hold in the gut. They can cause tummy cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea. To avoid catching gastro, you should thoroughly cook raw animal products including eggs, ensure re-heated food is steaming hot throughout and make sure you wash your hands prior to eating. Pretty similar stuff you should be doing to avoid listeria and toxo anyway.

If you develop gastroenteritis in pregnancy don’t panic since in most cases, the unborn baby will just do its own thing, oblivious to mum’s suffering (mum is likely keeping quite close to a handy toilet).

Keep your fluids up and if vomiting or diarrhea goes on for quite a while, use rehydration sachets. If you are getting really pretty crook and unable to keep anything down for too long, contact the Mercy Emergency Department to be checked out.

Avoid deep sea fish. You should restrict your intake of fish that contain high amounts of mercury. There is a concern that ingesting mercury (a heavy metal that hangs around) could harm a baby’s developing nervous system.

Fish that can contain mercury include shark (ie Flake, so choose another cut when you indulge in fish and chips) swordfish, marlin, catfish (yuck) or orange roughy (deep sea perch) and you should limit your intake of such fish to no more than 1 serve per week/fortnight (if at all).

Salmon is plump full of good fats and has far less in the way of mercury, so you can eat more of it (well-cooked of course). You can eat prawns and shellfish.

Here are links to more resources on safe foods in pregnancy.

Resources

• Healthy eating during pregnancy
• www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au

How to sleep?

After 26 weeks of pregnancy it is best to lie on your side to sleep. Either side is fine.

This is because the uterus is pretty big by this stage in pregnancy. If you sleep flat on your back, there is a concern that doing this might squish a large vessel (called the inferior vena cava) that runs right underneath the uterus (and along the top of your spine). If this blood vessel is compressed by the uterus, it could reduce the blood supply to the uterus and baby.

There have been some recent studies that have reported falling to sleep on your side compared to sleeping straight on your back may reduce the risk of stillbirth. But don’t worry if you have found yourself sleeping on your back when you wake up – the absolute risk of stillbirth will still be very low. Don’t panic, you baby will be fine. Just roll over onto your side again.

Here is a tip for those who really can only sleep on their backs. As long as you are leaning at least 30 degree to the left (left lateral tilt), this should be enough to flop the uterus off the underlying blood vessel. This is done by placing the pillow under the right side of your back (your left arm should then be lower than your right arm).