Posts Tagged ‘healthy pregnancy’
What is Toxoplasmosis? How Can You Avoid It During Pregnancy?
Toxoplasmosis is an infection that can threaten the health of a child not yet born. Toxoplasmosis is an infection caused by a unicellular parasite called Toxoplasma gondii that, when it affects a pregnant woman, may endanger the health of her unborn child.
The parasite presents three different forms: trophozoite (before tachyzoite), tissue cysts and oocysts. The latter only occur in the intestines of the definitive hosts.
The life cycle of Toxoplasma definitive host is the cat, or family members who, after ingesting any of the forms of the parasite undergoes in the epithelial cells of the intestine an asexual cycle and then a sexual cycle, eliminated in their feces million oocysts. When these become infective sporulate being able to infect other animals through ingestion. Below 4 degrees C or above 37, no sporulation occurs and oocysts are not infectious
Toxoplasmosis can be acute or chronic, symptomatic or asymptomatic. The newly acquired acute infection is usually asymptomatic in older children and adults, and if you have signs and symptoms (acute disease), these are usually of short duration and self-limiting. In most cases persists as tissue cysts but the person usually has no clinical manifestations (chronic infection), but in other cases presented with persistent or recurrent clinical forms (chronic).
Here are some tips to help you avoid exposure to toxoplasma during your pregnancy:
- Do not let your cat go outside your home where it can come intocontact with toxoplasma. If possible, have someone else take care of your cat while you are pregnant.
- Have another family member clean the cat litter box and then disinfect it with boiling water for five minutes.
- If you must handle the chore of cleaning the cat litter box use rubber gloves (rubber) to avoid contact with the stool and then wash hands thoroughly.
- Use work gloves when gardening and wash hands afterwards. Cover sandboxes children when not in use because the cats like to use them as litter boxes.
- As much as possible to control fleas and cockroaches. They can spread to food or soil contaminated cat feces.
- Avoid eating raw meat or poultry or undercooked and unwashed fruits or vegetables.
- Wash hands thoroughly before eating and after contact with raw meat, soil, sand or cats.
- Avoid rubbing your eyes or face when preparing food and clean the area where he worked when finished.
- Avoid eating raw eggs and unpasteurized milk.
First visit to the obstetrician
Suspecting be pregnant, check with your doctor. It is important that pregnancy is controlled from the beginning. You see, in most cases, you need only follow the directions of your doctor to carry a pregnancy to term without risk. At your first visit to the doctor, being pregnant, do not forget to mention if you are taking any medication.
Surely the specialist you’ll be sorry, you take blood pressure, your heart rate and hear you perform a pelvic exam by vaginal similar to that makes you gynecologist. Because many problems of pregnancy can be inherited your doctor will ask you questions about your family history.
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When the pregnancy goes beyond 35
Spending more time alone with the couple to settle or to travel economically, for example, performed professionally and many other reasons cause more women today are mothers in that age range, at one time belonged to the “mothers years.”
The term mother, who applied to women over 35 years, has fallen into disuse, because on the one hand, it is increasingly common for women to postpone motherhood and, secondly, because in vitro fertilization ovodonation today and are very common and can resolve problems that once seemed insurmountable. However, we must not ignore that, after 35 years with the aging of the egg, it becomes increasingly difficult to get pregnant and also increase the likelihood of occurrence of spontaneous abortions and births of children with Down syndrome.
So if a woman decides to become a mother after 35 years should, first performed a general check up and implement the necessary precautions to minimize risk and carry a healthy pregnancy: for example, stopping smoking, if it ago, lose, or gain weight, if needed, begin a fitness routine-if it has not yet started, control blood pressure and tendency to diabetes, stop drinking and supplement their diet with folic acid and with all the supplements as directed by the obstetrician.
If pregnancy is not achieved naturally and is used assisted fertilization, we study the couple and ova and embryos prior to the procedure “and this is because it is scientifically proved that the possibility of conceiving a baby with birth defects, especially Down syndrome, is accentuated with age: if a 25 year old woman has 1 chance in 1250 of having a baby with abnormalities chromosome as Down Syndrome, that probability rises to 1 in 400 to 35 and 1 in 100 at 40.
That’s why after 35 years indicate amniotic fluid analysis to determine if the embryo has any chromosomal abnormalities. Genetic counseling and ultrasound are studies that give more information on baby health and the proper progression of pregnancy.
In addition, another set of diseases that occur more commonly in mothers over 35 years, such as hypertension, which can be caused by pregnancy and is called preeclampsia – and gestational diabetes, pregnancy-product also . The more complicated deliveries, which often derive from or are scheduled as caesarean sections, and even premature babies with low birth weight are also more common in mothers than 35 than in those who are in the range of 20 to 30
But motherhood after 35 is possible and is a very special experience, because the baby is mature and experienced parents in many ways. With proper controls and care, a pregnancy at this stage may take quite normally.
How much calcium per day is recommended to consume during pregnancy?
Calcium is a mineral widely distributed in foods. The problem during pregnancy and lactation requirement is the high biological situations they represent. Some organizations still differ on the recommendation of calcium during pregnancy on the grounds that even with smaller amounts of calcium are successful pregnancies. But we should remember that probably the effects of a low calcium intake is expected in the long term.
The best way to consume the amount of calcium you need is eating 3 servings of foods from the milk group (remember that this group does not include butter or cream).
When it comes to consuming milk does not necessarily refer to a glass of whole milk. When you cook any food that has milk for their preparation, without realizing you are consuming milk. Clear examples are the mashed potatoes, pudding or pancakes. Any other preparation you want to enrich with milk also going to provide an increased supply of calcium. If you like milk shakes are an excellent choice!
Other foods rich in calcium include yogurt and cultured milk, but certainly higher values are found in cheese, especially hard cheeses. The more mature the cheese more calcium.
A concept to consider is the amount of fat as these foods provide. Those with better calcium / fat are milk and nonfat yogurt, and on the other side of the spectrum are hard cheeses. If you’re not having problems with excessive weight gain do not worry too much and you have to eat hard cheeses podes.
Remember to eat 3 servings of dairy products.
One serving equals:
* A glass of milk (200 cc)
* A pot of yogurt (200 grams)
* 3 slices of cheese machine
* 2 tablespoons grated cheese
* 1 ½ cups ice cream
Final advice: foods mentioned differ greatly in how much calcium they have depending on the brand. It is good to learn to read the nutritional information on the label of the products we consume. Any food that will supply 100 mg of calcium per 100 grams of food podes regarded as an acceptable source of calcium.
Diet in pregnancy
Ideally, the mother is prepared several months before conception folic acid supplements, you eat twice as nutrients but without duplicating their caloric intake and, at most, increase your intake by 300 calories a day to compensate for increased organic demand is pregnant.
Weight gain in pregnancy should not exceed 13 kilos, but neither should be obsessed with it, because pregnancy is not the best time to lose weight.
“Healthy food equals healthy pregnancy. If you are expecting a baby does not “eat” two, “Eat for two.” These are two of the key messages that doctors and nutritionists try to transfer pregnant women to ensure their quality of life and the future of girl or boy.
A pregnant woman should control the food you eat to make sure that your child is healthy and she will not win too many “extra kilos, so hard that after removing the body and belly.
It is vital to begin healthy pregnancy, so experts recommend taking folic acid supplements from the very moment when one thinks of having children.
“During pregnancy, food can not miss the bread, cereals and potatoes-the best in his grain varieties, which should represent 70 percent of our diet,” explains Dr. Ignacio Ferrando, Director of Medical Programs Sanitas medical insurance company.
He is an expert stresses the importance of fruits and vegetables, remember to be taken at least five servings a day and fruit juice only counts as one serving, and explains that the key to keeping a perfect pregnancy is to make as balanced a diet possible.
These are the dietary advice of Dr. Ferrando to get along in pregnancy:
• Bring a complete and balanced diet. You have to eat everything: meat, fish, eggs, nuts and legumes, which are food sources of protein, vitamins and minerals. We recommend that you regularly consume milk and fresh dairy products, which provide calcium and protein, although their versions can be picked low in calories or fat.
• Watch out for sugar. Although “nobody minds a sweet”, if you are expecting a child will be better to wait to have the baby because, like fats, sweets should be minimally consumed during pregnancy. Though a couple of chocolates as an occasional reward nor do any harm.
• Control weight. What that during pregnancy “should be eating for two” is not entirely an urban legend. Yes, instead of two chocolates, a woman eats four wins that overweight by then so hard to discard. As a rule, the weight gain in pregnancy should not exceed 13 kilos, but neither should be obsessed with it. Pregnancy is not the best time to lose weight, unless the physician indicates otherwise. The recommended calorie intake is around 2,000 to the last three months of pregnancy.