Parents need to weigh up health risks associated with pregnancy
Nurture Mum midwife KATHY WHITE explains how potential new mums can benefit from the expert advice given on their free E-event seminar
The first 1,000 days of a baby’s life are crucial for mother and child and a free online health event is set to help parents navigate this whole new world.
Step up Nurture Mum where experts in all things from breastfeeding to minding mum’s mind will deliver online seminars.
The free E-event commencing on July 13 is the brainchild of midwife and nutritionist Kathy White who wanted to help mothers struggling to do it all in the first 1,000 days.
Tipperary native Kathy, 50, told the Irish Mirror: “Preconception is so important.
“There are two pillars we need to focus on, two key aspects to it.
“The first is it’s so important to build folic acid up in your system which reduces your baby’s chance of neural tube defects by 70%.
“The second pillar is being a healthy weight before pregnancy. We know that one in two mums currently would benefit from being a lighter weight before they start their pregnancy.
“It’s a subject that Ireland is really dancing around.
“We need to be more verbal about it, in terms of the burden of health it would be the biggest thing we could do for women.
“It’s massive, we need to focus women on being that healthy weight before getting pregnant because it reduces complications, gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced hypertension, complications in labour with an increased risk of section.
“Even those three elements, let alone the impact and footprint it can have on the baby.
“We are not verbalising the fact many women are clinically obese when they become pregnant. One in two pregnancies are planned, so we have a 50% chance of getting this right.
“More and more we’re seeing that genetic coding is transferring from the dad too, in terms of his weight being a healthy weight is now so important too.”
Kathy admits that it’s often assumed that in pregnancy you can eat what you like and not bother exercising.
She said: “People assume they can eat for two but I try to explain to women that it’s thinking for two, thinking about your baby.”
The second seminar focuses on
exercising while pregnant with
Aileen Convery.
Kathy said: “Aileen is amazing, she’s a physiotherapist and a former Olympian and she explains how you should be doing at least 150 minutes per week as per the recommendation.
“We know that the baby’s heart health journey starts in pregnancy so the more variance in the maternal heart rate, the better it is for the developing foetal heart.
“We don’t want to overburden people but when you break it down, be a healthy weight, move more and watch what you eat.
“Be mindful of healthy foods, exercising, managing stress and anxiety during pregnancy. They’re the key things.”
Covid-19 has proven that we need to mind our mum’s more, Kathy heeds.
She said: “The University Maternity Hospital in Limerick had a 73% reduction in pre-term births in the first four months of this year.
“So that means the number of preterm births was way down.
“They don’t know why but they’re putting it down to reduction in maternal stress, no commuting, maybe mums having more support from their partners.
“It just highlights that we need to mind our mums more and not expect them to just continue their commute.”
The importance of breastfeeding takes centre stage with lactation consultant Liselotte Hill.
Kathy said: “One thing we need to do is to tell the why of breastfeeding. The evidence is getting stronger in terms of maternal health and I think sometimes, that’s also the forgotten piece. But it does reduce ovarian and breast cancer and every feed matters.
“In Ireland we have very high levels of obesity and low levels of breastfeeding and we know they are interconnected, they’re not in isolation.
“People don’t understand the why or the how, you have to pay for a lactation consultant here, but the HSE online resource is now really good.”
The online series is full to the brim with expert advice but Kathy insists the village mentality of rearing a child is still the most important.
She said: “My advice to mum’s is to find out who their support network is before they leave the hospital – is that their mum, their good friend? Have one to two people you can really trust and put your heart and soul into.
“Will they mind your baby if you have to go out the door? That infrastructure is so important.”
The second pillar is being a healthy weight before pregnancy. We know that one in two mums currently would benefit from being a lighter weight before they start their pregnancy