What you do and what you eat during your pregnancy can directly affect your baby's brain development. So if you want to boost your baby's brain during your pregnancy, make sure to follow these tips!
1. Folic acid is important
Folic acid is a very important supplement that all pregnant mums should take. Folic acid helps with the formation of healthy brain cells, and helps prevent autism as well as prevents birth defects in babies.
You can get folic acid from food supplements, fish, dark green leafy vegetables, liver, beans, and red meat.
2. Exercise!
Keeping fit during your pregnancy helps keep you strong for your labor and delivery, and also helps strengthen your baby.
That's because cortisol, a stress hormone that's secreted when you exercise, can help promote the growth and development of your baby's brain and other organs.
Generally, you should get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day during your pregnancy.
3. Monitor your thyroid levels
During pregnancy, some women tend to develop problems with their thyroid. Too little or too much thyroid hormone can cause problems for the fetus, and lower levels of thyroid hormone during pregnancy has been found to cause subtle IQ deficits in childhood.
Thyroid hormone screening isn't a regular part of pregnancy health tests yet, but mums can opt to have their blood checked in order to make sure that their thyroid is functioning normally.
Eating food rich in iodine such as yogurt, milk, and iodized salt can help regulate your thyroid.
4. Talk to your unborn baby
You might look funny talking to your belly, but talking to your unborn baby helps form a closer relationship with your child.
Your child can also recognize sounds as early as halfway through your pregnancy, so exposing them to the sound of your voice, or to music, can help their mental development immensely.
5. Manage stress
It's not good for you to be stressed during your pregnancy. Lowering your stress levels can help lower the chances that you'll have complications during birth, and lower stress levels during your pregnancy can also help with your baby's development.
So keep calm, relax, and don't stress yourself out!
6. Eat right!
Make sure to eat healthy food, and not to overeat. You might think that you need to eat a lot more since you're "eating for two" but you really don't need to eat as much as you'd think.
Eat lots of veggies and healthy, fresh food, and try to avoid any processed food during your pregnancy.
A healthy mum means that your baby will be born healthy as well.
*This article first appeared on theAsianparent Philippines
Sources: developinghumanbrain.org, parents.com
READ: The one thing that all pregnant women should to in order to prevent birth defects
