Having a Hard Time Eating Healthy
QUESTION
Dear Midwife,
I'm almost 6 weeks pregnant. I'm very excited and doing everything possible to ensure a healthy baby and pregnancy. My problem is that home cooked, healthy foods are very hard to stomach right now. I've been taking prenatal pills for almost 2 weeks but I'm nervous my baby isn't getting the nutrients he or she needs to develop properly.
Even though take-out has been my best friend these past couple of weeks, I still try to make sure it is something that has protein to say the least. I do try to eat at least one or two fruits a day, as well as a glass of skim milk.
Am I harming my baby? Do you have any advice?
ANSWER
I'm not sure what you are saying about home-cooked meals; are you saying you can keep fast food down but throw up healthy food? That would be really weird! But if that is what you mean, then you do the best you can through the first trimester, when morning sickness ends.
If you mean that you just don't like it, then yes, I'd say ditch the fast food, it really is not good for you and will make you gain lots of weight you don't need, as you metabolize differently during pregnancy.
-- Cynthia, CNM. PhD.
Cynthia Flynn
Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, is the General Director of the Family Health and Birth Center which provides prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to underserved women and their families in Washington, D.C. Recently Cynthia served as Associate Professor of Nursing at Seattle University. There she not only taught, but remained in full scope clinical midwifery practice at Valley Medical Center where she cared for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.
