Physical Wellbeing during pregnancy

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Exercise

The more active you are during your pregnancy, the easier you will find it to adjust to the naturally occurring changes in pregnancy, including a change in shape and weight gain. Certain exercises can also make your joints stronger, improve circulation, ease backache, and generally help you feel well. It will also help you to cope with labour and get back into shape after your baby is born.

Do’s

If you are new to exercising start gently and build up gradually
Always warm up and cool down before and after exercising
If exercising with an instructor, always let them know that you are pregnant
Drink plenty of water
Avoid strenuous exercise in hot weather to avoid overheating
Try swimming, as the water helps support and relieve your increased weight
Take part in strengthening exercises such as stomach strengthening (to help ease backache) and pelvic floor exercises
‘High risk’ exercises should be done with caution. Activities such as horse riding, skiing and cycling have a risk of falling risk damage to your baby.

Don’ts

Do not participate in contact sports, such as kickboxing, judo or squash
Do not lie flat on your back for prolonged periods of time (especially after 16 weeks gestation)
Do not go scuba diving
Do not exercise at heights over 2,500m above sea level, as you and your baby are at risk of altitude sickness

Useful links:

The POGP - Fit for Pregnancy

The POGP - Fit for giving birth

NHS Start4Life

Tommy's - Pregnancy Workouts at home

Tommy's Pregnancy Yoga at home

Healthy Diet

A healthy diet is an important part of a healthy lifestyle at any time but is especially vital if you're pregnant. Our diets should contain a wide variety of different foods, to help get the wide range of nutrients that you and your baby need. This is illustrated by the UK’s healthy eating model - the Eatwell Guide.

Most foods and drinks are safe to eat in pregnancy, but there are some you should be careful with or avoid. See the Foods to Avoid page for further information.

Useful links:

SFT Patient Information Leaflet - Pregnant women with a higher body mass index (BMI)

British Dietetic Association - pregnancy and diet Food Fact Sheet

NHS - Food Scanner App

Wiltshire Council - Pregnancy and healthy weight

LiveWell Dorset

Hampshire Healthy Families

Supplements

Eating a healthy, varied diet will help you get most of the vitamins and minerals you need. But when you're pregnant, it’s important to also take a certain supplements.

Folic Acid It's recommended that you take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day – for at least 8 weeks before you're pregnant until you're 12 weeks pregnant. This helps to reduce the risk of developmental problems and birth defects, such as spina bifida. A higher dose may be recommended by your GP for several reasons, including a BMI over 30 and other existing medical conditions.

Vitamin D It is recommended that pregnant and breastfeeding women should take a supplement of 10 micrograms of vitamin D each day, to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body, which are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy.

It is important to not take high-dose multivitamin supplements, or any supplements, with vitamin A in them. Read more about vitamins and supplements in pregnancy.

Caffeine and Alcohol

As well as consuming nutritious foods, it is important to limit harmful substances, such as caffeine and alcohol.

Caffeine: Caffeine can be found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, energy drinks and chocolate. Having more than 200mg of caffeine a day (two mugs of instant coffee a day or one mug of filter coffee) is harmful to a baby in the womb. A helpful way to monitor your caffeine intake is to use Tommy's caffeine calculator.

Alcohol: The Department of Health advises not to drink alcohol at all whilst pregnant to keep risks to your baby to a minimum, as exposure to alcohol can effect your unborn baby’s development and increase the risks of developmental difficulties.

For impartial help with reducing your alcohol intake please talk to your midwife, obstetrician, GP, practice nurse or health visitor. For alcohol support services in your area click here.

Stopping Smoking

Quitting smoking is the most important thing you and your partner can do to give your baby the best start in life, as even second-hand smoke is dangerous to both expectant mothers and their unborn babies. You may also find it more difficult to stop if someone around you smokes. Smoking will deprive your unborn baby of oxygen, leading to complications in your baby's growth and development, such as:

miscarriage
problems with the placenta
premature labour
low birth weight (under-developed baby)
stillbirth
breathing problems

To find out more about quitting and to get local support, please contact our Health In Pregnancy Team ((HIP) Alternatively, you and your partner can call the NHS Smokefree helpline on 0300 123 1044, download the NHS quit smoking app for free.

Useful links:

NHS - Smoking in Pregnancy

Wiltshire Council - Smokefree Wiltshire

Pelvic Health Service

The Perinatal Pelvic Health Team is a new service, dedicated to providing Pelvic Health care for all women/birthing people from pregnancy to 12 months postnatal.

We are a team of pelvic floor specialists across different specialisms together to reduce the chance of bladder or bowel related issues during the perinatal period and promoting pelvic health to all birthing people in the BSW region.

Our aim is to improve prevention and recognition of pelvic health issues and provide evidenced based care and treatment to woman/birthing people with mild to moderate pelvic health dysfunction.

To find out more please visit the BSW website here: https://bswtogether.org.uk/maternity/pelvic-health or email the service at sft.pelvichealthservice@nhs.net.

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