Your lifestyle and wellbeing during pregnancy

Promoting smoke free pregnancies and homes

You are 4 times more likely to stop smoking with your local NHS stop smoking service.
It is important that you have all the information you need to make decisions about your health, your family’s health, and the health of your new baby
Carbon monoxide (a gas from smoking) passes into the baby’s blood. This lowers the amount of oxygen that gets to your baby. This can stop your baby from growing properly. It can cause you to give birth too early.
Some babies have sadly died from the effects of smoking in pregnancy.
If you stop smoking, you are more likely to have a full-term healthy baby.

Your midwife understands how difficult this can be. They will talk to you about how they can help. They can arrange specialist support, along with free nicotine replacement therapy, to help you quit.

You can refer yourself or your midwife can refer you to the local Stop Smoking Service. This includes a team of specialist advisors who will visit you at home or wherever is best for you. They are also very happy to help your partner, family and friends, as this can be very important for the success of your quit attempt. They can find the right nicotine replacement products for you.

If you live in Leicester City – contact Live Well Leicester on 0116 454 4000 or visit the website Stopping Smoking – Live Well Leicester

If you live in Leicestershire – contact Quit Ready Leicestershire on 0345 646 6666 or visit the Quit Ready website

Working during pregnancy

For most people it is safe to carry on working during pregnancy.

There is no set guidance about when you should let your employer know you are pregnant. Depending on your job, you may need to check if there is any health and safety advice you want to think about. Click here to find more information from the Health and Safety Executive.

From around 20 weeks, your employer will ask you for a MAT B 1 form that your midwife will fill out for you. Your midwife will give this to you at your routine appointment. You will need to keep this safe.

Nutritional supplements

You should take folic acid when you are planning to have a baby and up until 12 weeks of pregnancy. This reduces the risk of your baby having a problem with their spine (spina bifida/neural tube defect). The recommended dose is 400 micrograms per day. If your BMI is 30 or above, you should take 5 milligrams per day.

You do not need to take any iron tablets unless you have been told to do so by your midwife or doctor. They may suggest iron supplements if your iron levels drop too low.

Taking vitamin A supplements (intake above 700 micrograms) might be harmful to your baby’s development so do not take these. Liver and liver products may also contain high levels of vitamin A, so these should also not be taken.

It is important for your own and your baby’s health to keep up vitamin D stores during pregnancy and during breastfeeding. You may choose to take 400-800iud per day. This is recommended for everyone who is pregnant. If your BMI is more than 30, you should take 1000iud per day of Vitamin D.

There are some people at more risk including:

If you are of South Asian, African, Caribbean, or Middle Eastern family origin
If you have reduced exposure to sunlight (if you are mainly housebound, or usually stay covered when outdoors)
If you eat a diet low in vitamin D (have no oily fish, eggs, meat, vitamin D-fortified margarine or breakfast cereal)
If you had a BMI above 30 before pregnancy

Click here to find out more about vitamins, minerals and supplements during pregnancy.

Taking vitamin D in pregnancy

Most people are advised to take 10 micrograms/ 400 units per day of vitamin D in pregnancy.

Vitamin D can help you have a healthy pregnancy and your baby’s health.

It can lower your chances of getting:

Diabetes
High blood pressure in pregnancy called pre-eclampsia
A bacterial infection in the vagina called bacterial vaginosis

It can also lower the chances of your baby:

Being born small
Being wheezy and having breathing problems
Having fits (seizures)

During your pregnancy, you may be entitled to FREE bottles of vitamins containing vitamin D. This can help you and your baby grow healthy and strong.

Please speak to your community midwife and click here to find out more about vitamins, minerals and supplements in pregnancy on the NHS website.

Food-acquired infections

There are some foods which are best to avoid during your pregnancy as they can cause listeriosis (serious bacterial infection):

Unpasteurised or UHT milk.
Ripened soft cheese such as camembert, brie, and blue-veined cheese. There is no risk with hard cheeses, such as cheddar, or cottage cheese and processed cheese.
Pâté (of any sort, along with vegetable pâté).
Uncooked or undercooked ready-prepared meals.

You can reduce the risk of salmonella infection by:

avoiding raw or partially cooked eggs or food that may contain them (such as mayonnaise)
avoiding raw or partially cooked meat, especially poultry.

Click here for more information on foods to avoid during pregnancy.

Having sex

If your pregnancy is progressing normally, there is no reason to worry about continuing a normal sexual relationship. If you have any complications, such as bleeding or discharge, please consult a health professional.

Exercise

Being active in pregnancy is important and has many benefits. Activity can include walking, yoga and swimming. It is recommended that you do pelvic floor exercises during pregnancy to help strengthen this group of muscles.

How to do pelvic floor exercises:

Make yourself comfortable by sitting or lying down with your knees bent
Squeeze in and tighten the muscles around your back passage, as if you were trying to stop yourself from peeing
Breathe in as you squeeze in and tighten the muscles, and then breathe out while relaxing the muscles
At first, try to do this exercise quickly
Then do it slowly, holding the squeezes for as long as you can before you relax. Try to count to 10
Try to do three sets of eight squeezes every day. To help you remember, you could do a set at each meal

The Active Mums Club host a great website where you can find activities available in Leicester and Leicestershire to help you be active and look after your wellbeing during pregnancy and after you have had your baby.

Sleeping

The advice if you are pregnant is to go to sleep on your side for any episode of sleep in the third trimester, including:

going to sleep at night
going back to sleep after waking up in the night
daytime naps

As the going-to-sleep position is the one held longest during the night, you should not be concerned if you wake up on your back. Simply roll back onto your side.

Tips for going to sleep on your side in the last 3 months of pregnancy

Put a pillow or pillows behind your back to help with side-sleeping.
If you wake during the night, check your position, and go back to sleep on your side.
Pay the same attention to sleep position during the day as you would during the night.

Click here to find more sleep advice during pregnancy.

This video was not produced by Health for Under 5s and may contain adverts.

Health and Wellbeing Clinic

It is known that pregnant people who are obese have a bigger risk of problems in pregnancy, like diabetes, pre-eclampsia and blood clotting events. There is also a bigger risk of caesarean birth and problems with anaesthetic (having an epidural or being put to sleep).

Those who have a Body Mass Index of 40 or more or have had Bariatric Surgery will be referred to University of Hospitals Leicester’s Health and Wellbeing Clinic. At the clinic, plans for your pregnancy will be made to reduce any risks to you and your baby.

The Health & Wellbeing Care Team will offer you the following additional care:

You will have a telephone appointment around 14 to 16 weeks of pregnancy. This is to discuss
- healthy eating
- exercise
- check recommended vitamins or medications have been started
If you live in Leicestershire, you will be referred to the Weight Management Programme. You will also be given information about screening tests for gestational diabetes and high blood pressure. You will have a review for your risk of blood clots.
You will get an appointment to see an Anaesthetist and will have extra growth scans for your baby.
A Consultant Obstetrician in the General Obstetric Clinic will see you.
You will have another appointment around 36 weeks with the Health and Wellbeing Team to discuss plans for birth. This will include a Bariatric Assessment if you have a BMI of 50 or more

Reducing your risk of blood clots in pregnancy

Thrombosis is a blood clot in a blood vessel (a vein or an artery). A deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot that has formed in a deep vein, usually in the leg. If a DVT is left untreated, all or part of the clot can break off and travel in the bloodstream through the circulation to block all or part of the blood supply to the lungs.

DVT is not common but blood clots can occur at any time during pregnancy, the highest risk being up to six weeks after giving birth.

Click here to find out more about thrombosis along with the signs and symptoms to look out for.