What is pregnancy.

Pregnancy is the term used to describe when a woman is carrying one or more offspring, known as a fetus, inside of her. In most cases, the fetus grows in the uterus. In a pregnancy there can be more than one gestations like in twins or triplets.

One of the most exciting times in a women life is becoming a mother.  Whether you’re considering motherhood, trying to conceive or already pregnant, expectant mothers must be concerned not only with their developing babies health, but also they have to be concerned about their own health.

Even though pregnancy can be a fun and joyous time it can also be a time of uncertainty and in some cases worry in the up coming weeks.

You should prepare yourself for your pregnancy with some good preconception planning.  Finding the latest information on child health care is important.

The first step is to get the knowledge you need to keep yourself and your baby healthy from the beginning.  There’s a lot to learn especially if it’s your first pregnancy.

There are also a number of areas of interest to describe the things you need to learn about from fertilization to the day your baby is born.

Things such as:

• Getting Pregnant
• Pregnancy Test
• Labor and Delivery
• Pregnancy Signs and Symptoms
• Pregnancy Stages
• Pregnancy Types
• Preconception
• Breastfeeding
• Pregnancy Tools
• After Pregnancy
• Cord Blood Banking
• and mush, mush more…

The next thing we recommend is to find a health care professional that you are comfortable with to care for you and your child throughout your pregnancy.  There are many changes your body will go through, like hormonal changes, emotional changes, physical changes and many more.  Your body must change its physiological and homeostatic mechanisms in pregnancy to ensure the fetus is provided for.

The most important two things is to plan from the beginning (even before you get pregnant if you are planning to conceive)  and find your health care professional.  Your health care professional will help to determine your due date and what month or months you are in if you are pregnant.

This website is to help you explore the research in this field and to help answer the questions you have about your pregnancy.  I am not a medical doctor and this information is solely for informational purposes. It is not intended to provide medical advice.

INTRODUCTION

Breastfeeding is the feeding of an newborn baby or young child with breast milk directly from human breasts. You can breast feed your baby directly at your breast or you can also bump your breasts and put the milk in a bottle.  This benefit you when you are not there to feed your baby.

Newborns have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is possible for most mothers to nourish their infant by breastfeeding for the first six months to a year if not longer, without the supplement of infant formula milk or solid food.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommens extended breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends at least one year of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of the infant’s life.

The WHO and AAP both stress the value of breastfeeding for mothers and children while recognizing the superiority of breastfeeding, regulating authorities work to make artificial feeding safer when it is not used.

In most situations human breast milk is the best source of nourishment for human infants. Breast-feeding lowers your child’s risk for some illnesses and diseases.  Breastfed baby’s have fewer bouts of diarrhea than babies who are not breast-fed as well as less ear infections, less urinary tract infections.  Breastfeeding can also help later on in life with problems like asthma, diabetes, obesity, eczema, and high blood pressure.

Breast milk is easy to digest and contains antibodies that can protect infants from bacterial and viral infections. Research indicates that women who breastfeed may have lower rates of certain breast and ovarian cancers.

Breastfeeding is also great for the mom as well.  Did you know that you may recover from your pregnancy, labor, and delivery sooner when you breast-feed?  Oxytocin is a hormone released from the pituitary gland in the brain. This hormone is released when a women’s breast is stimulated by the baby suckling or pumping, causing milk to move form the ducts and out the tiny holes in the nipple.  Oxytocin helps your uterus bleed less and return to its normal size after pregnancy.

I think the most important point I’m trying to make is the importance of breastfeeding babies.  Each year more and more scientific evidence is gathered to prove what many people already intuitively know: that a mother’s milk is the best food for her baby.