Back-to-Back Pregnancies

Are you expanding your family a little sooner than expected? Having another pregnancy before you have fully recovered from the last pregnancy , can be hard enough without adding stress. Although closely spaced pregnancies can take a physical toll on a mom-to-be who has just became a mom, there are a lot of things you can do to help your body be up to the challenge of back-to back- pregnancies.

Prenatal Care

Start as soon as you think you’re pregnant. Pregnancies when less than 12 months between them, increases the risk for preterm birth. Getting good prenatal care from the beginning can help reduce the risk.

Eating as Well as You Can

Your body probably hasn’t had a chance to rebuild the stores of vitamins and nutrients that were tapped to make your last baby, and that can put you at a nutritional disadvantage, particularly if you’re still breastfeeding. You may need to overcompensate nutritionally to be sure both you and the baby you’re currently carrying don’t get shortchanged. Continue or start your prenatal vitamins, but don’t stop there. Healthy grazing may help you fit those much-needed nutrients into your busy schedule, so stock up on wholesome, ready-to-grab snacks like cheese stick, almonds, freeze-dried fruit, and bags of baby carrots with dip like hummus.

Gaining the Right amount of Weight

Your brand new baby doesn’t care whether or not you’ve had time to shed the extra pounds his or her sibling just finished putting on you. Talk over a sensible weight gain goal with your practitioner. Focus on the quality of the food you eat, but also keep an eye on the scale.

Fair-share feeding

If you are breastfeeding your newborn, you can continue as long as you want to and feel up to it.

Resting up

You need more rest than may be humanly (and new motherly) possible. Getting the required amount of sleep will require the help of your spouse, your determination, and others. Let less important chores or work go undone, and force yourself to nap, or at least put your feet up when your baby is sleeping. If you’re not breastfeeding, dad can take over night feedings. If you are, he can do the baby-fetching in the middle of the night.

Exercising

Getting through a day and even the night with a newborn might seem like enough of a workout, especially now that you’ve added the around-the-clock demands of a growing baby to your exhausted body’s to-do list. The right amount and the right kind of exercise can boost your energy level when you need that boost most. Plus it boost your odds of a healthier and more comfortable pregnancy. If you can’t seem to find the time for a regular pregnancy workout routine, build physical activity into your day with your baby. A couple 15 minute walks will do the trick. Enroll in a pregnancy exercise class or swim at a club or community center that offers babysitting services. You can also let your baby watch from the infant seat while you exercise to a workout video.

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How Much Weight Should You Gain While Pregnant

Feb 14, 2022 Shopify API

Your pregnancy BMI (Body Mass Index) determines your weight gain recommendations. Your BMI is calculated by multiplying your weight in pounds by 703, then dividing by your height in inches squared. Or you can download a BMI app and do the calculations. You can search "adult BMI calculator" at cdc.gov, or use the chart below. 

Your Pregnancy Mood Swings

Jan 31, 2022 Shopify API

Expectant dads share a lot more than the birth of their bundle of joy with their partner. Long before that bundle arrives, you may share in many of the symptoms, including pregnancy mood slumps, which are surprisingly common for expectant dads. Fluctuations in your hormones can play a role, but feelings factor in as well. Almost every dad-to-be, just like most moms-to-be, experiences a host of conflicted feelings in the months leading up to life’s most major changes, from anxiety to fear to ambivalence to a crumbling of confidence. 

If You Get Sick

Nov 30, 2021 Shopify API

Maybe you were expecting some of the usual pregnancy symptoms while you’re pregnant. Like morning sickness, heartburn, and fatigue. Maybe you weren’t expecting to come down with a cold. Since your normal suppression of your immune system (so your body doesn’t reject your baby as “foreign”), makes you an easier target for germs. Not to mention it can be twice as uncomfortable when you’re sick for two, and so many of your regular remedies may need to stay on the shelf for now.

Back-to-Back Pregnancies

Jul 28, 2021 Osric Neal

Are you expanding your family a little sooner than expected? Having another pregnancy before you have fully recovered from the last pregnancy , can be hard enough without adding stress. Although closely spaced pregnancies can take a physical toll on a mom-to-be who has just became a mom, there are a lot of things you can do to help your body be up to the challenge of back-to back- pregnancies.

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