What should I eat when I am older and preparing for pregnancy? How should I adjust my body when I am older and preparing for pregnancy?

Many women, due to work or other reasons, eventually start preparing for pregnancy at an advanced age. So, what should women pay attention to in their diet when preparing for pregnancy at an advanced age? How can they successfully conceive?

What should you eat when preparing for pregnancy at an advanced age?

Many women have missed the best age for conception because they have not gotten pregnant due to work reasons. Medically, first-time mothers over 35 years old are considered elderly mothers. Since women's bodies are in a downward trend after the age of 35, the incidence of fetal malformations increases, and the risk of complications for elderly mothers also increases. If you choose to be an elderly mother, you should take better care of your body before pregnancy.

Increasing age can make conception more difficult. What changes need to be made in diet to help conceive successfully?

(1) Eat small and frequent meals, eat light meals, and shorten the intervals between meals. Use cooking methods such as steaming, boiling, stewing, and mixing more often, and avoid eating overly greasy and spicy foods such as fried meatballs and large amounts of chili peppers.

(2) Avoid coffee, strong tea, alcohol, cola, carbonated drinks, and active or passive smoking.

(3) Avoid eating foods high in salt, and eat less instant noodles and processed foods containing preservatives, artificial colors, and chicken essence.

(4) Avoid eating raw or cold food, balance work and rest, and avoid fatigue.

(5) Before pregnancy, you need to supplement folic acid, calcium, iron, zinc and multiple vitamins.

5 things you must do to prepare for pregnancy at an advanced age

1. Pre-pregnancy check-up

Premarital checkups, pregnancy checkups, and antenatal checkups are important means to ensure good birth and upbringing. Women should do pregnancy checkups first when preparing for pregnancy. Pregnancy checkups can timely rule out some genetic diseases, understand the physical condition of women preparing for pregnancy, and provide guidance for scientific pregnancy preparation. Pregnancy checkups are even more important for older women preparing for pregnancy. For example, B-ultrasound can check whether the uterus and ovaries have any abnormalities; reproductive system examinations can rule out organic lesions such as inflammation and tumors, all to ensure the best state for conception.

2. Supplement folic acid

The importance of folic acid to pregnancy is increasingly recognized, and women are advised to start taking folic acid supplements three months before pregnancy. Folic acid plays an important role in human metabolism and helps prevent congenital heart disease, cleft lip and palate, neural tube defects, Down syndrome and other diseases in the fetus.

Folic acid is a type of vitamin, mostly found in green fruits and vegetables. Urban diets often lack green vegetables and fruits, resulting in insufficient folic acid intake for many women. Therefore, during the period of preparing for pregnancy, in addition to eating more fruits and vegetables, it is recommended to supplement 0.4 mg of folic acid every day. For women with low folic acid utilization, they need to supplement 0.8 mg every day.

3. Get rid of bad living habits

① Staying up late

Men who often stay up late will significantly reduce the quality of their sperm. Especially after men reach the age of 35, the integrity of sperm DNA deteriorates, which can easily lead to chromosomal abnormalities. Women who stay up late for a long time will also affect the quality of their eggs.

②Long-term smoking and drinking

Long-term smoking and drinking will also increase the rate of fetal malformations and affect the development of the embryo. Therefore, if you want to have a healthy baby, you must prepare to quit smoking and drinking at least half a year in advance.

4. Pay attention to your diet

① Don't take a lot of supplements. Diet therapy is a lifestyle that Guangdong people attach great importance to. For men and women preparing for pregnancy, some large hospitals also have special medicated diets for pregnancy preparation to recommend, and adjust the physical constitution in the form of diet therapy. Especially for people with weak or deficient constitutions, they can adjust their physical constitution for a period of time to achieve a better state of preparation for pregnancy. However, it should be reminded that there is no need to take a lot of supplements before pregnancy, such as eating ginseng, angelica, etc., unless you are a person with a weak constitution.

②In addition to eating more vegetables and fruits to supplement folic acid, you should also supplement protein and collagen appropriately and eat more foods rich in vitamin E.

③ Eat light food. Eat less spicy and overly warm food. Women's constitutions tend to become warm during pregnancy, so it is better to eat light food to avoid negative effects on the body. In addition, foods such as longan and coix seed can easily cause miscarriage, so it is best not to eat them during pregnancy preparation and pregnancy.

5. Exercise

During the period of preparing for pregnancy at an advanced age, exercise is also essential. Appropriate and regular physical exercise can not only promote the rational allocation of hormones in women's bodies, but also avoid miscarriage in early pregnancy.

Whether it is the man or the woman, three to six months before pregnancy, they should start to strengthen their exercise and improve their physical fitness to prepare for having a baby.

It is best to choose some exercises that are not too intense, especially for people who do not have the habit of exercising, to avoid physical discomfort or injury caused by intense exercise. Slow exercises such as jogging, brisk walking, swimming, etc. are more suitable. Women can also do more yoga movements that are not too difficult to enhance body flexibility.

Seven important things to note to teach older mothers how to prepare for pregnancy scientifically

1. Have a physical examination before pregnancy. This is an examination that both husband and wife should undergo. Especially for women who are preparing to get pregnant, in addition to routine examinations of the heart, liver, kidneys, etc., they should also focus on the examination of the reproductive system. If you have a sexually transmitted disease, you must wait until you are cured before you can get pregnant.

2. Take folic acid orally one month before pregnancy. Taking folic acid can prevent neurodevelopmental diseases. If you do not take folic acid in time before pregnancy, you should continue to take it after pregnancy until the 12th week of pregnancy.

3. Pay special attention to health care during pregnancy and ensure regular prenatal checkups.

4. Down syndrome screening is performed at 16-20 weeks of pregnancy. This test involves extracting blood from pregnant women and testing the amount and concentration of various substances in the blood to determine possible symptoms of the fetus.

5. Amniocentesis is required after 20 weeks of pregnancy. This test is not necessary for normal young pregnant women. Studies have shown that the older the pregnant woman is, the higher the incidence of congenital idiocy and malformed babies. This is because as women age, their ovaries gradually age and degenerate, and the eggs produced naturally age, and the chance of chromosomal abnormalities increases. This test can directly obtain the number of chromosomes, and based on the test results, it can be determined whether the fetus is abnormal. There is a 0.5% chance that this test will lead to miscarriage.

6. Pay more attention to blood sugar, blood pressure and other indicators. Older pregnant women are more likely to suffer from pregnancy-related heart disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension syndrome and gestational diabetes. Because the blood volume in pregnant women is significantly higher than that in non-pregnant women, the heart burden is heavier. Pregnant women who already have heart disease may have to terminate their pregnancy early because they cannot tolerate it.

7. Natural childbirth is more difficult for older women, so they need to be prepared in advance. Older pregnant women have a higher indication for cesarean section, and usually 90% of them choose cesarean section. The pelvis of older pregnant women is relatively hard, the ligaments and soft birth canal tissues are less elastic, and the uterine contraction force is correspondingly weakened, which can easily lead to prolonged labor, even dystocia, fetal birth injury and asphyxia.

Women who have had two or more miscarriages or premature births should postpone their pregnancy by more than 12 months. In addition, women who have received X-rays of their abdomens before pregnancy should also conceive 2 to 3 months later. If you have been exposed to harmful substances such as pesticides, insecticides, sulfur dioxide, copper, cadmium, mercury, and zinc for too long, the residual amount in your body will generally not be eliminated until 6 months to 1 year after you stop contacting them. It is also not advisable to conceive during this period. Of course, women who are addicted to smoking should wait 3 to 6 months after quitting smoking and drinking before getting pregnant.

"No. 5 Parenting" (:yuer5h)