Maternity Care
When Mainstream Meets Alternative
As more Americans embrace holistic therapies, it’s no surprise that women are increasingly interested in a natural approach when it comes time to have a baby. But pregnant women are often dissuaded from trying complementary medical alternatives mainly because their doctors are not informed how to safely incorporate things like herbal medicine, homeopathy—or even an exercise regimen—into a pregnancy.
In fact, simply paying more attention to diet, lifestyle and mind-body skills can help women achieve therapeutic goals. For example, if you’re motivated to have a low intervention birth, it may be important to emphasis exercise and appropriate weight gain, yoga to help open the pelvis and mind/body skills to help make the pain of labor more tolerable.
Increasingly, a woman’s goals also involve continuing an exercise program. However, because some doctors are not up-to-date on current recommendations regarding exercise in pregnancy, many routinely place excessive limits on the activities enjoyed by highly motivated pregnant women. However, most women can continue to exercise throughout the pregnancy, as long as the most up to date guidelines are followed carefully. As an example, patients who were jogging several miles a day prior to pregnancy may continue to do so as long as their pregnancy is otherwise progressing normally, and they make a few modifications to their exercise program. Women who continue to exercise regularly often gain a more appropriate amount of weight, may reduce their risk of a cesarean birth, may experience less discomfort and will likely fare better in labor. There are many accepted forms of exercise including walking, swimming and prenatal yoga, all of which can have a significant impact on a woman’s pregnancy.
As for nutrition in pregnancy, recent studies looking at the number of toxins found in umbilical cord blood have led many obstetricians to advise patients to pay closer attention to the foods they eat while pregnant. Eliminating additives, preservatives and trace amounts of pesticides by eating foods with fewer of these unnecessary chemicals is a wise decision in pregnancy.
Now is also the time to try to increase your consumption of “whole foods” and organic fruits and vegetables (or carefully washed non-organic produce), and decrease the amount of processed foods and sugars. Your body will respond by functioning more efficiently and providing you with more energy. For example, eat brown rice and whole grain pastas and breads instead of white rice and products made with processed white flour, select fresh produce as opposed to canned or processed foods, and replace red meats with low fat protein choices such as fish, free range chicken and tofu.
In addition, taking supplements beyond the run of the mill, minimal recommendations can address particular pregnancy related symptoms and chronic conditions affecting their pregnancy. Certain supplements such as the omega-3 essential fatty acids have been found to be important for both mother and baby during pregnancy and during the postpartum period. Research has shown that essential fatty acids may play a role in fetal brain and neurological development during both pregnancy and postpartum, so much so that the FDA has recommended adding the acids to baby formula. There’s also evidence that essential fatty acids can help prevent pre-term labor and regulate a woman’s mood, which can fluctuate throughout pregnancy and post-partum.
Recent studies show that having optimal levels of vitamin D while pregnant can be important for both mother and fetus. Vitamin D levels may affect the chances of having a c-section and increase the rate of preeclamsia, a dangerous condition involving elevated blood pressure. Likewise, taking adequate vitamin D while pregnant may be important for fetal development and has been linked to decreased rates of Type 1 Diabetes in children.
Women are taking the lead in choosing the type of childbirth experience they would like. While some doctors still universally advise against a vaginal birth if a woman has already had a C-section, vaginal delivery after C-section remains a safe option for most women—as long as their doctor is skilled at and comfortable with a trial of labor. Of course, a woman’s ideal of what they imagine their pregnancy to be like can vary from scheduling a C-section so they never have to go through labor to the opposite end of the spectrum—a patient who wants as little intervention as possible. What’s important is that women feel as though they have a say in their medical care and can influence the chances that they will have a healthy baby.
