Not only does eating healthy food provide your baby with valuable nutrients, it also helps the baby appreciate healthy foods like broccoli, ginger, garlic, cruciferous vegetables, and more.  Read the article about how babies experience their mother’s foods on npr.org or listen to the 4 minute clip.

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A lot happens in the womb.

So much, in fact, that good nutrition, wellness, and psychological care before birth can help prevent violent tendencies in future adolescents and adults.

A leading researcher in the field of prenatal psychological development, Jianghong Liu, has recently published research showing how violence and other psychosocial problems might be prevented by helping pregnant women make healthier lifestyle choices.

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In preparation for our new baby due the end of May, my wife and I just watched the DVD version of the the popular book The Happiest Baby on the Block.

I highly recommend it

Soothing a crying baby is surprisingly difficult. With our first child, we spent many sleepless nights trying to calm him by rocking him, holding him, walking with him, and countless other failed experiments. I even bounced him for hours on end sitting on an exercise ball, half asleep! He wasn’t colicky or in pain.  We just didn’t know how to make him feel safe and comfortable.  I realize, in retrospect, that I could have read The Happiest Baby On the Block and saved myself all that stress and sleep deprivation.

What The Happiest Baby on the Block is all about

The Happiest Baby on the Block is a very simple book about how to calm a crying baby.  The author, pediatrician Harvey Karp, has many years’ experience soothing crying babies, and he knows exactly how to do it. Learning from him, you won’t have to try and “reinvent the wheel” as you attempt to learn how to get your baby to calm down and sleep. His five steps are:

1. Swaddle (but it must be done in a precise way)
2. Side (hold the baby on its side in a certain way)
3. Swing (this can be gentle jiggling with the hands in a certain position)
4. Shush (loud white noise—he gives examples of what works)
5. Sucking (again, he explains the right and wrong way to use a pacifier)

Why I recommend the DVD more than the book

There are SO many parenting books you could be reading. But who has time to read them all? A picture is worth a thousand words, and in this DVD the author of the book has distilled many hours of reading into a one-hour demonstration that gives you all techniques in vivid detail. After watching once or twice, you’ll be ready to go. And if you have it on hand for later reference, you can review the techniques that are a little more nuanced. Watching this movie was one of the best investments we have ever made in preparing for our baby. I highly recommend it!

Please let me know if you’ve read the book, seen the DVD, or are planning on doing so by commenting below.

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Over the weekend I popped in a pregnancy exercise video and did some salsa moves with my pregnant wife. It’s not my usual exercise routine, but I was happy to support her in such an intimate way.

She told me I was cute to do it with her. And I told her she was cute doing the salsa.

Unfortunately, exercise is one of those things that often gets pushed down the priority list. But exercising during pregnancy is a great way to stay healthy for an easier delivery and healthier baby.  It’s also fun— especially if you’re doing the salsa!

Here are a few of the benefits of exercise during pregnancy:

• Moderate exercise decreases the risk of gestational diabetes and promotes a healthier baby.
• Gentle exercise helps to tone and work the muscles in preparation for an easier labor and delivery.

Pregnancy Exercise Guidelines

Although exercise during pregnancy can be a good thing, overly-strenuous exercise can increase the risk of preeclampsia and other complications, SO DON’T OVERDO IT!   Also, although pregnancy is a time to be healthy, it is NOT a time to try to lose weight. By eating healthy foods (but not usually cutting calories unless told to by a doctor or dietician), exercising moderately, and breastfeeding, you can put yourself in a good position to lose baby weight more quickly after baby is born. If you would like to learn more about exercise during pregnancy, The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has published some in-depth pregnancy exercise guidelines.

My wife (and many other women) are huge fans of the Pregnancy Without Pounds program, which provides resources for staying healthy during and after pregnancy and for losing baby weight.

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1. It’s Never to Late to Have a Healthy Pregnancy and Baby

Just as it’s never too late in life to start eating a heart-healthy diet or begin an exercise routine, it’s also never too late in pregnancy to start living healthy and doing all you can to have a vibrant, healthy baby. The magic of mother nature can start correcting prior slip-ups and imperfections as soon as you begin to make some healthy changes.

Mother nature is amazing at what it does. And there is nothing more miraculous than the development and delivery of a brand new baby. From two tiny cells fusing inside your body, to the beautiful human being you hold in your arms nine months later, a lot of things happen. You don’t consciously build your baby, but you do provide a nurturing environment for him or her to grow in. Your body did the work silently and with precision. Pregnancy is a miracle that unfolds almost by itself.

Even if you start living healthy later in your pregnancy or even afterwards, your body and your baby’s body have an amazing ability to catch up for lost time . Pregnancy nutrition is important for baby’s health, but the breastfeeding period and early childhood are also very important periods in your child’s development that can set up a healthy foundation for the rest of your baby’s life. The sooner you start, the better, but it’s never too late to start eating well and living right!

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You can click on the picture to read the highly condensed article.  The printed magazine has the full (and recommended) version of the article with many more details, exciting facts and research.

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I just saw a video (see below) about how a premature newborn baby was brought back to life after two hours of cuddling skin to skin with his mommy.

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I compiled the best prenatal development / fetal development videos I could find on Youtube. There are about 11 of them. In the bottom left corner of the video screen, you’ll see a box next to the play button that will allow you to scroll through the videos. Many of the videos are short clips from babycenter.

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Yoga is the practice of paying attention, or of emptying the mind. An important aspect of yoga practice is the process of re-connecting with your body and feeling it, experiencing it, listening to it, nurturting it, and caring about it. It’s about no longer neglecting your body, and letting it know that you care deeply about it. Your body is an indispensable part of you, after all.

It is wonderful that yoga practice has gained such popularity,

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1. How and Why to Avoid Carcinogenic Nitrites While Pregnant and Nursing

What are nitrites?

Nitrites are an industrial food additive used to give deli meats and hot dogs a redder, fresher appearance.

Why are nitrites harmful?

Nitrites combine with the protein in meats to form carcinogenic S-Nitroso compounds. When eaten by a pregnant mother, hot dogs have been found to greatly increase a child’s chances of developing brain tumors. Nitrites in foods such as hot dogs, deli meats, and pork products are also linked to leukemia.

How do I avoid nitrites?

Most cured meats contain nitrites. This includes hot dogs, deli meats, bacon, sausage, and industrially-prepared jerky and dried fish, and more. Avoiding nitrites is very simple once you know that fresh meats do not contain nitrites. In order to avoid nitrites, do the following:

• When eating any meat products, use only fresh cuts of meat
• If you decide to buy jerky, make sure the label says it’s nitrite-free

Hot dogs, deli meats and other processed meats are not healthy foods to begin with, and the nitrite content makes them even more damaging. For the sake of your own health, your baby’s health, and the health of the environment, Vibrant Healthy Baby strongly encourages all pregnant women to eat animal foods responsibly by choosing organic, fresh, free range, and local meats as much as possible. Animal food intake should be optimized to your own body’s ideal level, which is generally less than what is found in the average American diet.

Nitrite Journal Articles:

1. Sarasua S, Savitz DA. Cured and broiled meat consumption in relation to childhood cancer: Denver, Colorado (United States). Cancer Causes Control. 1994;5(2):141-148. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8167261 [Accessed August 3, 2010].
2. Bunin GR, Kuijten RR, Boesel CP, Buckley JD, Meadows AT. Maternal diet and risk of astrocytic glioma in children: a report from the Childrens Cancer Group (United States and Canada). Cancer Causes Control. 1994;5(2):177-187. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8167265 [Accessed August 3, 2010].
3. Peters JM, Preston-Martin S, London SJ, et al. Processed meats and risk of childhood leukemia (California, USA). Cancer Causes Control. 1994;5(2):195-202. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8167267 [Accessed August 3, 2010].
4. Ward MH. Too much of a good thing? Nitrate from nitrogen fertilizers and cancer. Rev Environ Health. 2009;24(4):357-363. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20384045 [Accessed August 3, 2010].

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