First 10000 Days Of Life Planning For Parenthood

The choices you make regarding food, lifestyle and pregnancy vitamins, prior to conception and during your baby’s first thousand days are instrumental in establishing the groundwork for their growth, health and ongoing development. It is crucial you seek out a longevity and integrative medicine doctor who can provide valuable support in developing healthy habits that promote the wellbeing of both you and your family.

What Can I Do Before I Fall Pregnant?

Providing your baby with the best possible start to life is the greatest gift a parent can give. The time couples spend optimising their health before conception goes a long way towards achieving a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby.

Did you Know?

• The health of both parents is equally important when preparing for conception
• The quality of parental health impacts the health of the following three generations of their family
• Prenatal wellness determines the quality of genetic material contained within the egg and sperm, which influences the quality of the genes that your baby will inherit.
• The key reasons include: • Ensuring the best start to life in the First 2000 Days, has been shown to improve overall health, social and educational outcomes and reduces the healthcare burden across the lifetime of our population.
• For children growing up with exposure to homelessness, domestic and family violence, and the child protection system in poverty or other disadvantages, their development is at critical risk. Exposure to homelessness exacerbates any other difficulties and results in negative direct (cognitive, social, emotional and biologically) and indirect (parent’s caregiving capacity) outcomes for families and children.
• Housing instability and homelessness are highly stressful events for parents:
  • Parenting capacity is impaired
  • Mental illness is increased
  • Parents face increased risk of chronic stress, depression and partner conflict. Exposure to family violence negatively impacts development, mental and physical health and wellbeing.
  • Poor parental mental health can negatively impact on the wellbeing and mental health of their children.
  • Parental addiction to alcohol and other drugs negatively impacts children whether exposure occurs during pregnancy or during childhood. Parents who misuse alcohol and drugs are typically less responsive to their children and display less warmth, encouragement and engagement. During pregnancy, stressors are keenly felt by the unborn child. A growing body of evidence is revealing that maternal gestation stress can impact health and development outcomes for the child.

Optimal Habits for a Healthy Pregnancy

Ensuring parents prioritise their health prior to conception significantly lowers the risk of various pregnancy complications. Moreover, this approach also fosters positive health outcomes for the child throughout their lifespan. To achieve these goals, implementing effective strategies to improve body composition, enhance resilience to stress, and mitigate toxin exposure are essential.

• Healthy Weight Management: Maintaining healthy body composition with diet and exercise can improve the likelihood of conception and reduce the risk of your child developing certain health issues (such as allergies, ear infections or eczema). 
• Stress Management: Stress can be a major underlying factor affecting fertility and the health of your child, and leave you feeling flat and exhausted. Seeking supported from a healthcare practitioner that supports your health literacy with stress management strategies, alongside specific pregnancy vitamins and other supplement recommendations to improve overall wellbeing.
• Managing Exposure to Environmental Toxins: Every day we are exposed to increasing levels of environmental toxins (e.g. plastics, heavy metals, pesticides, mould, etc), which can impact the fertility status of both parents. It is crucial you see an integrative longevity doctor with experience in environmental medicine before conception to ensure you are not being exposed occupationally to toxins or chemics or understanding the environment you live in and how to achieve healthy pregnancy outcomes.

Diet and Exercise Strategies

Maintaining a healthy diet before and during pregnancy is crucial for meeting the needs of your body and the developing baby. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet consisting of:

• High fibre foods to nourish beneficial bacteria and support digestion, such as green vegetables that are organic and not sprayed with chemicals
• Good quality protein-rich foods such as fish, chicken, free-range eggs, and some bush tucker (please see a qualified traditional medicine doctor to ensure what you are eating is not contraindicated in pregnancy) 
• High quality essential fatty acids from avocado, nuts and seeds (if not allergic) and cold-pressed oils

Improving your fitness before pregnancy and maintaining an active lifestyle during pregnancy and afterwards, offers numerous physical and emotional benefits including:1

• Less back and pelvic pain
• Muscle support for labour and faster recuperation after pregnancy
• Lower risk of incontinence
• Reduced pregnancy-related constipation
• Enhanced energy levels
• Stress relief and support for mental wellbeing
• Increased ability to cope with the physical demands of parenthood

Prioritise activities that bring you happiness so you’ll be more likely to engage in them regularly. Water-based exercises are generally considered safe during all three trimesters of pregnancy, and can help to alleviate the weight-induced aches and pains due to the buoyancy of water. Talk to your integrative doctor about other enjoyable and safe activities during pregnancy.

How to Optimise your Health Before and During Pregnancy with Supplemental Support

Pregnancy increases the demands for certain nutrients due to the additional life your body is developing and supporting. Yet, overcoming the challenges of daily life can sometimes make it difficult to meet all your nutritional needs solely through diet. That’s where supplemental support can play a vital role. By combining dietary strategies with the use of pregnancy supplements, you can support optimal nutrient levels to ensure your body has all the resources it needs for a thriving pregnancy.

Your Practitioner can recommend specific supplements to address your health concerns and provide support during preconception, pregnancy and postpartum. Let’s explore some ingredients that have been shown to support a healthy pregnancy and foetal development:

• Folic acid and 5-MTHF: Supports genetic development of your baby and reduces the incidence of neural tube defects.
• Iodine: Supports foetal growth and brain development and maternal thyroid function for energy
• Lutein and choline: Assists growth and development of the brain and central nervous system in the foetus through pregnancy and early life.
• Vitamin D and vitamin K2: Supports baby’s bone development and immune function.
• Iron: Supports increased iron demands of pregnancy, assists maternal energy production and foetal brain development.
• Zinc: Essential for foetal growth and development
• B vitamins: Supports maternal energy production and baby’s brain development and growth.

It is crucial you consult with a qualified medical doctor regarding what is best in pregnancy and ensure you can select a scientifically formulated combination of ingredients that have researched benefits in supporting a healthy pregnancy. Please do not self prescribe supplements and always ensure you have a full biochemical work up before, during and after conception and during and after your pregnancy. If you’re trying to conceive, already pregnant or in the postpartum haze, chat to your integrative doctor to see if what is suitable for you and to discuss a personalised pregnancy care plan to help you in your journey to parenthood. 

References:

1. Department of Health and Aged Care. For Pregnancy. Australian Government. Updated May 20, 2021. Accessed July 12, 2024. https://www.health.gov.au/topics/physical-activity-and-exercise/pregnancy