Holiday festivities sometimes include eating foods and drinks that might not be part of our everyday diet. During pregnancy and breastfeeding, we need to give a little more thought to what we should eat and drink. “Is it ok for the baby?” often goes through our minds during these times. As a teratogen information specialist at MotherToBaby who answers a lot of the questions we get via our texting service (855-999-3525), these types of questions ramp up during this time of year! So, here’s some …
The Baby Blog: alcohol
Planning a Healthy Pregnancy
Tanya called in on a Monday morning. “I’m getting married in a few months and we want to start trying to get pregnant right away. What should I be doing now to have the best chance of a healthy baby?” Preconception health and pregnancy planning present a terrific opportunity to assess a wide range of factors that can give your baby the best start. This blog will outline the things to consider, as I relayed to Tanya: Your Personal Health Are you generally healthy? If you already get …
Kombucha and Pregnancy: Answers to Your Brewing Questions
Kombucha: fizzy, fermented, and full of probiotics. Some people drink kombucha for its fun effervescence and wide range of fruity flavors. Others, for its alleged health benefits ranging from improved digestion to lowered blood sugar. The increasing popularity of kombucha has not surprisingly led to an increased number of inquiries to MotherToBaby about the safety of drinking it during pregnancy. Carly, a recent visitor to our online chat service, explained that she had been drinking kombucha …
Guest Blog: Trouble in Paradise
By Men-Jean Lee, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine physician and member of MotherToBaby’s sister society, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine From gender reveal parties to pregnancy photoshoots and prenatal massage, pregnancies are being celebrated in new and sometimes extravagant ways. The travel trend of “babymoons” continues to grow in popularity and most go off without a hitch. Unfortunately, as a maternal-fetal medicine physician in Hawaii, I’ve seen my fair share of trips that do not go …
Adoption: Sharing the Journey
By Lori Wolfe, Certified Genetic Counselor and Teratogen Information Specialist, MotherToBaby North Texas “Sometimes I forget I am adopted,” exclaims my sweet son as he grabs his backpack to head off to school. I had just let him know that his birthday this year falls on November 19th, National Adoption Day. “So cool! We will need to do something special this year on my birthday, to celebrate both my birthday and my adoption! See ya, mom!” To Shaun, adoption is as easy as one, two, three, and …