vegetarian diet in pregnancy?

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im vegetarian and i am about 7 wks pregnant. i know that protein is very important in pregnancy, but the idea of eating any type of meat or fish makes me feel ill. i also have developed a dislike for cheese, which i loved before i was pregnant. any suggestions?

Answer
Id make a journal of every bit of food your eating, the size portions etc for a few days get into the Dr and see if hes ok or wants to send you to a nutritionist about it. The first trimester is the time of alots of major growth in the fetus. Make sure your taking the prenatal vitamins to get the folic acid the fetus needs, all pregnant women need the folic acid. Anyhow, you could write down yesterdays foods, look online for a vitamin chart and see what those foods provided, and adjust anything that needs adjusting. At this point its about the fetus and about you since your bodies now designating things to the baby and some to you. If babies robbed of certain nutrition during growth now, the outcome can show in teeth that rot out as they start growing in, etc etc. And you too hun, later down the road in your life problems can start emerging so protect both of you. Many countries around the world are and have always been vegetarians and their populations are still growing. So do your homework, incorporate more calcuim rich foods since cheese is a casualty of the pregnancy. Good luck and congradulations, I am not vegetarian, but I do care about people and if something I mentioned does some help, thats all hope for.

Losing weight during pregnancy?

liv mom

I'm 15 weeks pregnant. At 9 week checkup I weighed 158. When I went for my 13 week checkup I weighed 151 and they gave me a hard time about the weight loss. I am slightly overweight from my first pregnancy from not gaining a lot of weight and the doctor yelling at me to eat more and then gaing too much weight. I am keeping a food journal to make sure I'm eating the right amount of calories which is around 2100 a day for the last two weeks and I lost two more lbs. My question is anyone else having this problem or had this problem?? Has long as the baby is healthy and I'm eating healthy why is it a problem? I just don't want to end up gaining too much weight and have trouble after losing it. Any advice or comments are appreciated. Thanks in advance!!
I haven't had any morning sickness so the weight loss isn't from that.

Answer
With my 1st 2 pregnancies I lost weight in the 1st trimester everytime and my OB/GYN said that is perfectly normal. Oh and then bam...wait till you have a 9 lb gain one month! As long as you are eating healthy and not purposely trying to diet I would say you are fine. Make sure you are taking you prenatal vitamins as well. Im pregnant with twins this time around and am 35 weeks and have only gained 34 pounds...only gained around 5 pounds total in the 1st trimester.

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Is Carbonated water ok to drink during pregnancy?

Annelise S

Hi Everyone,

I am currently going through a miscarriage. I hate drinking normal water so I drink carbonated water. I recently read that the carbonated water that is in soda can bind with calcium which your baby really needs. Could this have caused my miscarriage? I just want to know for next time so I don't make the same mistake again. Thank you.

Annie

Answer
Yes, perfectly safe, and no, this definitely didn't cause your miscarriage. It isn't the carbonation in fizzy drinks that causes calcium loss. It's the phosphoric acid that's added. And they only add this to pop. Check the label for your water: if you're drinking Perrier or something like that, it doesn't contain phosphoric acid. What makes it fizzy is carbon dioxide, something trees and our bodies make anyway. Absolutely, positively, safe. So there is no reason to worry! Drink up! I have been my whole pregnancy. In fact, if it means we're getting more water, it's good for us!

I'm really sorry about what happened. It wasn't your fault, at all though. It wasn't anything you did. Sometimes there is nobody at fault, it just happens.

Biological effects on bone calcium and kidney health
Phosphoric acid, used in many soft drinks (primarily cola), has been linked to lower bone density in epidemiological studies. For example, a study[2] using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry rather than a questionnaire about breakage, provides reasonable evidence to support the theory that drinking cola results in lower bone density. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. A total of 1672 women and 1148 men were studied between 1996 and 2001. Dietary information was collected using a food frequency questionnaire that had specific questions about the number of servings of cola and other carbonated beverages and that also made a differentiation between regular, caffeine-free, and diet drinks. The paper cites significant statistical evidence to show that women who consume cola daily have lower bone density. Total phosphorus intake was not significantly higher in daily cola consumers than in nonconsumers; however, the calcium-to-phosphorus ratios were lower. The study also suggests that further research is needed to confirm the findings.
On the other hand, a study funded by Pepsi suggests that low intake of phosphorus leads to lower bone density. The study does not examine the effect of phosphoric acid, which binds with magnesium and calcium in the digestive tract to form salts that are not absorbed, but, rather, it studies general phosphorus intake.[3]
However, a well-controlled clinical study by Heaney and Rafferty using calcium-balance methods found no impact of carbonated soft drinks containing phosphoric acid on calcium excretion.[4] The study compared the impact of water, milk, and various soft drinks (two with caffeine and two without; two with phosphoric acid and two with citric acid) on the calcium balance of 20- to 40-year-old women who customarily consumed ~3 or more cups (680 ml) of a carbonated soft drink per day. They found that, relative to water, only milk and the two caffeine-containing soft drinks increased urinary calcium, and that the calcium loss associated with the caffeinated soft drink consumption was about equal to that previously found for caffeine alone. Phosphoric acid without caffeine had no impact on urine calcium, nor did it augment the urinary calcium loss related to caffeine. Because studies have shown that the effect of caffeine is compensated for by reduced calcium losses later in the day,[5] Heaney and Rafferty concluded that the net effect of carbonated beverages â including those with caffeine and phosphoric acid - is negligible, and that the skeletal effects of carbonated soft drink consumption are likely due primarily to milk displacement.
Other chemicals such as caffeine (also a significant component of popular common cola drinks) were also suspected as possible contributors to low bone density, due to the known effect of caffeine on calciuria. One other study, comprised of 30 women over the course of a week, suggests that phosphoric acid in colas has no such effect, and postulates that caffeine has only a temporary effect, which is later reversed. The authors of this study conclude that the skeletal effects of carbonated beverage consumption are likely due primarily to milk displacement.[4] (Another possible confounding factor may be an association between high soft drink consumption and sedentary lifestyle.)
Cola consumption has also been linked to chronic kidney disease and kidney stones through medical research.[6] This study differentiated between the effects of cola (generally contains phosphoric acid), non-cola carbonated beverages (substitute citric acid) and coffee (control for caffeine), and found that drinking 2 or more colas per day more than doubled the incidence of kidney disease.

congratulations on the pregnancy!

pregnancy scrapbooking?

Lauren

I have been keeping everything from this pregnancy in a plastic box, which is now overfilling with weekly pictures, ultrasounds, and any thing i get from the doctor. Does anyone have any creative ideas of what i could do with them to kinda make it into an album? or what have you done with yours if you decided to keep them? i feel kinda bad just keeping them in a box, and i want to be able to show my daughter one day how excited we were to meet her.. I've been keeping a journal that i plan to give to her one day, about the things we are doing to prepare for her arrival and how excited we are to meet her, but i need help of thinking of how to be creative with ultrasounds and such! THANKS

Answer
When I was pregnant, I chose not to buy one of those pre-made, fill-in-the blank type baby books. Instead, I took pictures, wrote notes, and collected mementos that I used to make a scrapbook. You can buy all sorts of stickers, papers, stamps, buttons, etc that are pregnancy themed at craft stores- hobby lobby, michael's, joann's. You can also order online (check Ebay) or buy from a scrapbook store.

You can do a couple of pages for each month... What you looked like, what foods you craved or hated, anything special that happened that month, things you decided on (like names, room decor). You can make a page of names you considered during the pregnancy- what each one meant, if you liked it or daddy liked it, what made you stop liking it or why you chose not to use it, what made you choose the name that you actually give your child, family's reactions when you told them the name you chose, names your family suggested. You can do pages about the baby shower- pictures of your shower, who threw it, theme, where it was, who all attended, the gifts you recieved, which gifts you thought you'd use the most or would be most helpful (so you can look back and see if you were right). Keep all the cards you recieved and you can make a 'pocket' on the back page for all the cards. You can either do a few pages of ultrasounds to see how the baby has changed over the months, or you can just add them to that month's page.

it's a good idea to buy a baby book from the store, take it home and write down all of the stuff you find interesting that you'd like in your book. You can return the book to the store and get your money back, and you'll have an idea of what to include in your scrapbook.

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Raspberry leaf tea. How to drink during pregnancy?

Margarita

Hi girls! I am 33 weeks pregnant and started to drink raspberry leaf tea. I live in Netherlands and i could find only Clipper brand in which only 50% is RL, the rest is apple and some another herbs.
My question is how many cups i have to drink? I drink 2 cups a day, but as there is only 50 % maybe i have to take it more? And is it smart to collect some leaves myself and make tea when i am 37 weeks for example?
Thanks in advance for your time and answers!

Answer
Honey, I did some research, and this is what I came up with I hope you find it useful as I did also. Here is what I found:

While raspberry tea made from raspberry fruit is perfectly safe, raspberry leaf tea -- recommended by some midwives for use during pregnancy -- isn't as well studied. Some sources suggest that the tea is safe during pregnancy on the basis of the limited studies that have been done, explains the American Pregnancy Association. Other sources are more cautious, suggesting that there isn't enough research to say for sure, according to a 2002 article in the "British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology."

Tea Effects
Midwives suggest raspberry leaf tea for use during pregnancy because it supposedly "tones" the uterus for labor, helping decrease the duration of labor and increase the efficiency of pushing. A 2001 study reported in the "Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health" notes, however, that using raspberry leaf tea didn't affect the duration of the first stage of labor, dilation, and only minimally decreased the duration of the pushing stage.

General Guidelines
In general, it's best to avoid teas that contain herbs not ordinarily used as foods when you're pregnant. The FDA regulates dietary supplements, including non-food herbs, differently than it regulates foods and pharmaceuticals. Manufacturers of herbal supplements aren't required to provide proof that herbs are safe or effective prior to marketing them to the public. Talk to your obstetrician if you're unsure whether a particular tea is safe during pregnancy.

Pregnancy symptoms slowin down?

Yeahh

Is it normal for morning sickness to come on quick around about the fifth week and slowly back off around the ninth week? First time being pregnant so I'm not sure how this is supposed to work! Thanks in advance! God bless!

Answer
That is totally normal and also very fortunate, do not be surprised though if the morning sickness has abated, it may rear it's head again, if it is only slight, a piece of toast or a cracker can do wonders! Enjoy all the wonderful changes that take place, all pregnancies are different, however equally as beautiful! Sometimes during a pregnancy it's a good idea to keep a journal, of how you are progressing, like any aches or pains(especially if you are getting regular aches which can worry you, but can be quite normal), a log of when you are ill, what foods are good or bad, just little things, so that for your next pregnancy, you can look through it and go, "O ok I did that with my first one too!!!", lol....A big Congratulations, this is an awfully exciting time, Good Luck with everything, we will look forward to hearing about the birth of your beautiful baby!!!! :0)

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