Now, the question is: Are vitamins included? What are the vitamins recommended for pregnant women? What will be the effects? Here’s the real truth about the vitamins pregnant women can and can’t get away right now.

Vitamins Essential for Moms-To-Be

1. Vitamin C

This vitamin is important in the manufacturing of your baby’s blood vessels, bones, and the whole skeletal system. Vitamin C helps produce collagen, a protein responsible for producing your baby’s skeletal foundation.  Vitamin C is also known as skin food because it feeds your skin as well as your baby’s skin with the right nutrients to help build healthy skin. As an antioxidant, it can also help you and your baby fight free radicals or delay the oxidation process.

Since your body can’t produce vitamin C, unlike most animals, and it can’t store it either, it is important that you get your daily supply of vitamins from supplements and foods rich in vitamin C, such as citrus foods, vegetables, and fruits.

2. Foliate

Foliate, a B vitamin, is another nutrient necessary for the production of healthy red blood cells. And not everybody gets enough.

Foliate is found primarily in fresh fruits and vegetables, and people who eat a lot of canned or pre-packaged foods can become deficient.  Pregnant women who live alone and don’t want to cook for one are especially at risk for anemia caused by foliate deficiency.

Health experts suggest that a few servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day are the best bet for prevention. If you can’t bear Brussels sprouts, consider taking a daily nutritional supplement with 400 micrograms, the Daily Value of folic acid (the supplemental form of foliate).

3. Vitamin A

A daily intake of vitamin A between 10,000 and 15,000 IU (international units) may also provide healthy bones, skin, and eyes to your baby as well as healthy cells needed to build your baby’s internal organs.

However, pregnant women should speak with their doctors before supplementing their diet with vitamin A. Studies show that excessive intake of vitamin A can bring about birth defects, such as ear and eye abnormalities, microcephaly or small head, cleft lip and palate, hydrocephaly or enlargement of the fluid-filled paces in the brain, mental retardation, or heart defects.

Statistics show that pregnant women who consume more than 10,000 IU of vitamin A can lead to birth defects in 1 of every 57 infants. Also, excessive intake of vitamin A during pregnancy can cause higher risks of miscarriage.

4. Vitamin D

When researchers in a certain study measured levels of vitamin D in pregnant women, they saw that the more vitamin D in the blood, the better the insulin was at delivering glucose to the muscles.  So vitamin D is an important nutrient for many other reasons as well, such as helping produce healthy teeth, tissue, and bones for your baby and may help your body derail diabetes. Studies show that diabetes in pregnant women can be very risky and may even cause birth defects or morbidity.

Though vitamin D is produced when your skin is exposed to sunlight, a more reliable year-round source is milk. Four 8-ounce glasses of fat-free milk everyday can get you to the Daily Value of 400 IU. Alternatively, you can supplement your diet with 400 IU of vitamin D.

5. Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 facilitates the formation of hemoglobin, the red blood cell component that carries oxygen through the bloodstream.  During pregnancy, more hemoglobin is required to supply your baby with oxygen. And the fetus also uses this vitamin to build its own blood supply.

Your body needs vitamin B12 to create red blood cells. This vitamin is found in chicken, red meat, dairy products, eggs, and fish, but not in plant foods. Most people get plenty, but super-strict vegetarians who don’t eat any non-vegetable foods are at risk for a deficiency of vitamin B12 and anemia.  The solution is to take a daily nutritional supplement that contains at least double the Daily Value of B12 (six micrograms).

Keep in mind that baby’s health depends on the mothers way of getting the proper amount of vitamins, so pregnant women can’t afford to skimp. Hence, pregnant women should make sure that they get enough of the nutrients every day.

It’s important to keep in mind too,that these well-meaning advice givers don’t know your child as well as you. They aren’t there with your child night and day, watching him grow,learn,explore,play,eat,and sleep.Only you know what’s best for your child,and you know what works best in your household and for your lifestyle.As with anything,figuring things out along the way will involve trial and error.

So when you receive yet another unsolicited piece of advice regarding your child’s napping or nighttime sleeping habits,keep both your and your child’s personal style in mind.You’ve done the legwork, you’ve experimented,and you’ve learned together what works and what doesn’t work.The cues should come from your instincts regarding your child and from your child directly.There’s no such thing as a hard-and-fast rule for sleep habits among children other than it is needed! As your child grows,his cues may change,but as long as you stay in tune with him,his sleep habits shouldn’t have to suffer as a result.And neither should yours.

I am thinking of taking a daily photo of her and post it here… so we all can see the development of her..

2 month baby girl

There are lots of things to learn from our part on the caring and about the baby.

Today, I would like to share you some photo of hers:

Best of luck from me and Family.

btw, just for update, we have our first baby on 8 of December 2008. A very good new year gift for both of us. I will post her photo later on.

Getting started as a baby sitter is very simple.To begin with,you’ll need to decide if this really is a business that you want to pursue.First off,ask yourself if you really love kids?If you are considering baby sitting just because you think it will be an easy job,then it is not right for you.You must enjoy spending time with kids and have at least a little experience in being around them.While most baby sitting jobs involve young children,you may occasionally be asked to care for older kids or teenagers as well.Make sure you are comfortable with teens before accepting assignments involving them.

Start your business by becoming legal.Obtaining a business license doesn’t cost much and will give you a professional edge when getting new clients.You’ll also be able to take advantage of many tax write-offs,including your costs for mileage to and from your customer’s homes and any necessary business supplies.

Speaking of business supplies,all you’ll really need are business cards and an appointment book to keep track of your assignments.Unlike other work at home businesses,the start up necessities for baby sitting are relatively low.

Next,you’ll need to decide on what services you offer and how much you are going to charge.Play detective and find out the going rate for baby sitting services in your area.Try to stay in the same range.Offering lower prices may seem like a way to beat the competition,but it also makes your services appear less valuable to potential clients.You can print your rates on the back of your business cards, or make up a small flyer with prices listed on it.

Getting clients for your baby sitting business may be the most difficult part of running the business. However,with a little effort you can build a client list rather quickly.The best way to get clients and assignments is by word of mouth.Offer to baby sit for neighbors and friends to help build your reputation.Once you’ve done a good job for them,they’ll tell their friends and so on.

You can also use a few free and low cost advertising methods to get the word out about your business.You can distribute your cards at local baby shops,or post a flyer on their bulletin boards. Ask your local pediatrician if they would put some of your business cards on their reception desk,or recommend you to other parents.A small ad in your local paper can really help get the ball rolling for your business.

Once you have clients calling you for baby sitting appointments,make sure to keep them by treating them with great customer service.Always arrive on time and prepared to watch their babies.Respect their home and their property.If they enjoy your service, they’ll be more likely to call you in the future.

Some of the pregnancy tests kits use + or - signs to indicate the result. While some kits indicate positive results only, while in the others faint lines appear, which may cause confusion.

HCG or human chorionic gonadotropin is produced in the placenta, when the embryo attaches to the uterus. So the HCG present in the woman’s urine and blood enables the pregnancy test kit to give positive or negative results.

Beware of cheap home pregnancy test, sold in plastic bags. Modern pregnancy tests check the level of hormone, HCG in the urine and this is the most sensitive indicator of pregnancy and gives you accurate and early results.

Ultimately use the one’s with which you are comfortable with. A test that gives you vague results is bad. There are kits which give you accurate and instant results. So why not opt for those.

Patience is virtue, but not when it comes to pregnancy test. Today women want to know whether they are pregnant or not even before they miss their periods. This is possible too, with some of the early pregnancy test kits available in the market. But there is no other reliable method to test pregnancy other than the HCG test kits. So if your home pregnancy test is positive, then it is better to consult your doctor and follow his advice.

These tests are safe to take as well as very useful. If a woman gets pregnant, it’s good if she knows it from the beginning. In the early years of marriage many couples are shy about discussing this issue with the doctors. But pregnancy is something serious and the person should know about it. Thus before you make up your mind to go to your doctor to discuss your pregnancy issues, thus home made test will help you check if you are pregnant or not. And if you are, this test will help you in making up your mind to go to see a doctor in this regard. Safe pregnancy is very important. Girls who do not understand pregnancy fully may not be able to take care of themselves in such a situation. Especially in such cases, it is important that they know they are pregnant, so they can go ahead and see some doctor about it.

1. Poor weight gain in the baby.

2. Colic in the breast fed baby.

3. Frequent feedings or long feedings.

4. Sore nipples for the mother.

5. Recurrent blocked ducts

6. Feeding the baby who falls asleep quick.

If everything is going well, breast compression may
not be necessary. When all is well, the mother should
allow the baby to finish feeding on the first side,
then if the baby wants more - offer the other side.

How to use breast compression

1. Hold the baby with one arm.

2. Hold the breast with the other arm, thumb
on one side of your breast, your finger on the other
far back from the nipple

3. Keep an eye out for the baby’s drinking,
although there is no need to be obsessive about
catching every suck. The baby will get more milk when
drinking with an open pause type of suck.

4. When the baby is nibbling or no longer
drinking, compress the breast, not so hard that it
hurts though. With the breast compression, the baby
should begin drinking again.

5. Keep up the pressure until the baby no
longer drinks with the compression, then release the
pressure. If the baby doesn’t stop sucking with the
release of compression, wait a bit before compressing
again.
6. The reason for releasing pressure is to
allow your hand to rest, and allow the milk to begin
flowing to the baby again. If the baby stops sucking
when you release the pressure, he’ll start again
once he tastes milk.

7. When the baby starts to suck again, he
may drink. If not, simply compress again.

8. Continue feeding on the first side until
the baby no longer drinks with compression. You
should allow him time to stay on that side until he
starts drinking again, on his own.

9. If the baby is no longer drinking, allow
to come off the breast or take him off.

10. If the baby still wants more, offer the
other side and repeat the process as above.

11. Unless you have sore nipples, you may
want to switch sides like this several times.

12. Always work to improve the baby’s latch.