“How to clean out your unborn baby’s system? How much weight should you gain during pregnancy? What vitamins should you take during pregnancy?”
Pregnancy comes with a million questions, and we’re here to make sure you have the answers to every single one of them. Right away, you might be wondering whether you need to clean out your unborn baby’s system at the start of your pregnancy.
Years and years ago, we might have suggested you eat plenty of healthy foods, drink water, and take vitamins to provide your baby with everything she needs. Yet, now we know that moms-to-be need to do more.
Why’s that? Recent studies suggest that more and more babies are born with autoimmune diseases caused by chemicals, contaminants, and damaging substances that somehow manage to enter the baby’s environment.
Rather than worrying whether there’s something wrong with the baby, mothers are advised to avoid alcohol, nicotine, narcotics, and a few other things to ensure the baby’s safety.
We’re bringing you everything you need to know about how to clean out your unborn baby’s system down below!
Why do you need to clean out your unborn baby’s system?
Firstly, we have to address that cleaning out your baby’s system sounds extreme even though we’re referring to putting your and your baby’s health first.
Next, it means keeping away from anything that might harm you or your baby, from addictive substances to mercury-packed seafood and cheeses made with unprocessed milk.
When you don’t do these things, you’re putting your baby on the line. On one hand, babies that are exposed to chemicals, contaminants, and damaging substances throughout pregnancy are more likely to be born prematurely.
Of course, they’re more susceptible to birth defects, diseases, and health problems that might follow them even when they’re older.
On the other hand, we can’t forget about the fact that they’ve got a higher chance to be born with something known as Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS). And, NAS stands for numerous conditions that a baby might develop, with symptoms such as breathing, feeding, and weight problems, as well as tremors and convulsions.
Babies born with NAS are susceptible to developmental delays, behavior problems, and even mental illness.
Before you become more stressed out and anxious than you need to be, keep on reading to find out more about this whole process.
How to clean out your unborn baby’s system?
1. Avoid alcohol
When you’re pregnant, everything you do, eat, or drink affects your baby more than you might think.
While some women might think that there’s nothing wrong with drinking a little bit of wine after dinner every now and then, studies suggest that the concentration of alcohol within the mother’s and the baby’s systems are roughly the same.
At the end of the day, you might not have a tough time processing that wine, but your baby doesn’t possess the enzymes necessary to break down and metabolize alcohol.
Alcohol can cause your baby to develop a group of conditions known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). Babies with FASDs suffer from a myriad of medical problems such as speech delays, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, and hyperactive behaviors.
2. Stop smoking
Nowadays, we’re well aware of the danger of smoking. Smoking causes an array of dangerous diseases, from cancer, heart problems, respiratory problems, and diabetes to diseases related to problems of the immune system. Smoking throughout the pregnancy can affect your unborn baby, too.
Some studies have shown that smoking throughout pregnancy affects the baby more than the mother which should be reason enough for everyone to keep away from nicotine.
Complications you might experience due to smoking during pregnancy are premature birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, cleft lip, and cleft palate. Needless to say, the best way to clean out your baby’s system would be to stop smoking.
3. Quit recreational and non-recreational narcotics
Some of the most dangerous, damaging substances for your unborn baby are recreational and non-recreational narcotics.
Narcotics can enter the baby’s system through the placenta and affect the baby’s growth and development. Not only that, but substances can make the baby addicted and cause withdrawal symptoms once the baby’s born.
Moreover, substances can cause premature birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, anxiety, and aggressive behavior. Overcoming an addiction before pregnancy would be better for you and your baby, but we understand that not all pregnancies are planned.
When you find out that you’re pregnant, make sure you schedule an appointment with a doctor, get the treatment you need, and work toward recovery. Quitting narcotics abruptly might not be the best choice because you might experience severe withdrawal symptoms that could still harm the baby.
4. Focus on eating clean, healthy, and healing foods
Other than keeping away from addictive substances, you can clean out your unborn baby’s system by eating clean, healthy, and healing foods during pregnancy. Oh, you thought you could succumb to your cravings and munch on Mcdonald’s nuggets and fries every moment of your waking hour?
We understand that you might want to devour something greasy and nasty every now and then, but you should focus on eating nutritious, vitamin and mineral-packed foods for the sake of your baby’s growth and development.
Healthy fats, fruits and veggies, complex carbs, and foods packed with folic acid, iron, calcium, vitamin D, DHA, and iodine should be on the menu every single day.
5. Supplement with vitamins, minerals, and folic acid
When you’re wondering how to clean out your unborn baby’s system, you can also focus on things you can add to your diet, rather than the ones you can remove. We suggest opting for supplements recommended by your doctor based on what your body needs the most throughout pregnancy.
However, you can’t go wrong with vitamins, minerals, and folic acid that tend to be recommended to every pregnant woman out there. Supplements play a huge part when we’re talking about keeping your unborn baby happy and healthy because you need more nutrients when you’re pregnant than you do when you’re not.
6. Drink water
Water should become your BFF throughout pregnancy for a million reasons. Water is responsible for flushing out the chemicals, contaminants, and damaging substances you might have consumed beforehand.
Moreover, drinking plenty of water during pregnancy supports fetal circulation, secures amniotic fluid, and encourages a higher blood volume. Not to mention that dehydration during pregnancy can cause serious problems for you and your baby.
Premature birth, birth defects, neural tube defects, problems with amniotic fluid, and decreased breast milk production are some of the complications you might be dealing with after you give birth.
7. Limit mercury consumption
During your pregnancy, you might not want to eat seafood. While seafood might be packed with protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and a bunch of other nutrients, some seafood contains high levels of mercury which can cause damage to your baby’s health.
When you consume seafood over a period of time, mercury can accumulate within your bloodstream and damage your baby’s brain and nervous system. According to the FDA, pregnant women can consume salmon, catfish, trout, sardines, tuna, and tilapia, but can’t consume predatory fish (shark, swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish) or uncooked fish.
8. Try meditation, yoga, and light physical activities
What do meditation, yoga, and physical activity have to do with cleaning out your baby’s system? More than you might think, to be honest.
Physical activities throughout pregnancy play a huge part because they’re a great way to boost your physical and mental health and keep you on the right track regarding the addictive substances we mentioned beforehand.
Physical activities reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy and birth, boost your mood, better your heart health, and lower your blood pressure. Need we say more?!
9. Reduce the risk of viral and bacterial infections
When you become pregnant, your body weakens your immune system to ensure you don’t fight off the fetus. But, because of your weakened immune system, you become more susceptible to viral and bacterial infections which can cause damage to your unborn baby.
Other than avoiding addictive substances that can weaken your immune system even more, get your vaccinations going, wash your hands, and keep away from people that are suffering from viral and bacterial infections such as COVID-19 and Cytomegalovirus (CMV).
10. Make your health and the health of your unborn baby a priority
We come to the end of the article with a suggestion that might change the way you view your pregnancy. Make your health and the health of your unborn baby a priority by focusing on your own needs, thinking positive thoughts, and doing everything you can to have a happy and healthy pregnancy.
When you do that, you’re guaranteed to notice a change! Positive thinking affects your hormones, cardiovascular health, and GI health, as well as ensures better sleep, faster recovery, and quality of life. With all those benefits, you’re bound to clean out your unborn baby’s system perfectly well.
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