There is a lot of information about what you should and shouldn’t do during pregnancy and here is our definitive guide to ensure Mum, Dad and Baby have an enjoyable and trouble-free pregnancy with the end result a healthy and beautiful bouncing baby!

1. Eat a healthy diet based around fruit, veg, wholegrains, nuts, seeds, beans, pulses, fish and eggs.  Download the Purehealth Wellbeing Diet Sheet if you need more ideas, and/or buy my How To Eat Well book for lots of ideas.
2. Avoid cows milk products, liver, cod liver oil, meat pates, peanuts, unpasteurised soft or blue cheese, raw eggs including mayonnaise, raw meat or fish, ready to eat salads, sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks, too much undiluted fruit juice.
3. Eat little and often to maintain your blood sugar.
4. Do not be tempted to diet – as long as you eat a healthy diet, your weight will regulate naturally. A healthy increase in weight should be between 11-33lb.
5. Develop a non-toxic lifestyle. It is crucial you reduce your exposure to toxins at this time to protect your developing baby. Buy organic as much as possible and swap to non-toxic toiletries and home cleaning products. Follow my free Non-Toxic House & Home guidelines. Avoid toxins as much as possible at work. See here for non-toxic toiletries.
6. Drink plenty of pure water – filtered or Reverse Osmosis filtered.
7. Stop smoking (both Mum & Dad!) and avoid passive smoking. Avoid alcohol, recreational drugs and any unnecessary medications (talk to your GP first.) If you need help with these addictions, talking to a hypnotherapist can really help.
8. Take a supplement programme designed for pregnancy. This should include a pregnancy formula, a good omega oil and a good probiotic per day. To see why the latter is important for baby, see here. Linseed or omega oils and probiotics are particularly crucial in the last 3 months for brain development and immunity. If you have suffered pre-eclampsia before, ensure Vit E at 300iu and Vitamin C at 500mg per day.
9. Drink raspberry tea regularly from the 34^th week to help strengthen the womb and increase milk flow.
10. Relax and take plenty of rest when you need it. Use a relaxation tape or get a regular massage or facial (using only organic, non-toxic products) to keep stress levels down. And get plenty of exercise like a walk in the fresh air most days.

Here is a list of remedies that can help during pregnancy……

• Take note of any cravings. If you want pickles, you may need extra sodium or calcium, if ice-cream, you may need extra fat, protein or calcium. If you crave sweet things, try increasing your amount of protein and go only for healthier sweet stuff like organic un-coated raisins or fruit.
• Morning sickness can be an indicator of poor blood sugar so eat regularly and choose complex carbs such as rice cakes, wholemeal bread, rice salad etc. Ensure you have enough B6 as this helps to clear oestrogens which can be high in the mornings, try Nux Vom or Ipecac homeopathics, drink ginger tea.
• Constipation, drink plenty of pure water, eat a tablespoon of linseeds in porridge, soups etc per day and use Nux Vom as above. Change to organic iron eg Iron Gluconate if iron sulphates are recommended by your health professionals.
• Piles – use a homeopathic cream and try using cold compresses or organic witch-hazel to shrink them.
• Spots sometimes happen as your zinc is used up by your growing baby – take your pregnancy formula as directed and try a homeopathic cream such as Calendula.
• Heartburn – avoid large meals, especially before you plan to lie down. Eat little and often. Drink peppermint or ginger tea or take a digestive enzyme supplement with meals.
• Thrush – get any discharge checked out as some infections can be harmful to your baby. If it is thrush, do not insert yogurt or creams, but take a probiotic daily as above.
• Varicose Veins – use the same cream as above.
• Stretchmarks – massage calendula baby oil into your skin to avoid stretchmarks (Weleda do a good one, see here)

During labour, massage with organic aromatherapy oils can be very relaxing for both Mum, Dad and the midwife! Put a few drops of clary sage on a tissue and inhale throughout labour and massage feet in-between contractions with a blend made up of 20ml base oil or lotion and 2 drops each of roman chamomile, mandarin and ylang ylang. A drop of cypress and lavender in a bath after the birth will stop excessive blood flow and promote healing of any trauma to the tissues. Hypnotherapy can also be wonderful for labour pain.

Important

Remember – always check out with your health practitioner or GP before starting anything new especially if you are taking any other medicines, are pregnant or trying to conceive or have high blood pressure. See here for more advice on interactions with meds and general cautions.