I am a mother of three lovely kids and working as a HR/ finance head in my own company. I am blessed with 10 year old daughter and 3 and a half year old twins (A boy and a girl).

When we were planning our first kid, I met my doctor friend coincidentally around that time and discussed it with her. That time she advised me to consult her once, before we plan. I went to see her and that day I got stunned like never before as I came to know about how important it is to plan pregnancy and what to do before I plan? I came to know that 60% pregnancies in India, 51% pregnancies in European countries (whom we consider developed countries) and 38% pregnancies worldwide are unplanned. And I was the one of them until I met my doctor friend.

So what happens if pregnancies are unplanned?

As per FDA National Dietary Guidelines, there are two specific recommendations for women planning their

pregnancy and those are related to iron and folate (folic acid).  Folic acid consists of Vitamin B that helps a baby’s neural tube — the part of the embryo that becomes the brain and spinal cord of the baby– develop properly by almost 70%. It is very much essential to start taking folic acid before conception and continue taking it through the third month of pregnancy, when the baby’s neural tube is developing, to prevent birth defects in the spine and skull. You can get folic acid by taking a multivitamin pill that gives 400 micro grams (mcg) of it daily.

So you can say that you are putting your arriving baby’s life in danger if you don’t take sufficient amount of folic acid before and during pregnancy. In fact, severe anemia (iron deficiency can cause anemia) during pregnancy can impair growth, motor movements and mental development in children and they may exhibit a shortened attention span and decreased alertness. Such children are also having an increased risk for stroke. Anemia in the mother can also be passed on to her baby.

So if you are planning to have a healthy baby please start taking Folic Acid pills (under supervision and after consultation of a gynecologist only) at least 3 months prior to conception. And if that is not possible due to some reason please increase intake of food which are rich in iron.

Some sources of Iron-rich foods are,

• Leafy greens such as fenugreek (methi), spinach (paalak), lamb’s quarters (bathua), coriander (dhania) and mint (pudina)
• Spices such as cumin seeds (jeera), bay leaf (tej patta), turmeric (haldi)
• Soya nuggets ,potatoes (aloo) or other vegetables such as capsicum (shimla mirch) and peas (matar)
• Iron fortified semolina (suji)
• Legumes (lentils and beans) such as bengal gram (chana), chickpeas (kabuli chana), kidney beans (rajma), yellow gram (moong dal), pigeon peas (arhar, toor dal).
• Boiled egg yolk
• Lemonade (nimbu pani)

Again, Iron alone cannot be absorbed in the body. Vitamin C helps our body to absorb the iron we ingest with our food. So try to take vitamin C rich foods along with your meals or a Vitamin C tablet (under supervision of a gynaecologist only) with your Iron supplement. This is especially important if you are a vegetarian because the Iron from vegetarian sources is not absorbed by the body as easily as Iron from non-vegetarian sources.

Iron Consumption Helps Women During Anaemia And Heavy Menstrual Bleeding, Study Says

Vitamin C enriched foods are:

• Guava (amrud)
• Tomato (tamatar)
• Lemonade (nimbu pani)
• Indian gooseberry (amla)

Save some time and have some foods rich in both Iron and vitamin C such as:

• Broccoli (hari gobhi)
• Peas (matar)
• Beans (lobia)
• Sprouts of horse gram (kala chana)

So I hope this article can be helpful to those who are planning to have a baby and to them also who are having somebody around them in among family or friends who are going to plan a baby. Kindly spread my words and help our country in having healthy and fit kids.

Getting Pregnant – Preconception Counselling by Dr. Nita Thakre, Gynecologist

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