Don'ts

Pregnancy Don’ts

• Don’t smoke tobacco. Quitting is hard, but you can do it! Ask your doctor for help. Smoking during pregnancy passes nicotine and cancer-causing drugs to your baby. Smoking also keeps your baby from getting needed nourishment and raises the risk of miscarriage, preterm birth, and infant death.
• Avoid exposure to toxic substances and chemicals, such as cleaning solvents, lead and mercury, some insecticides, and paint. Pregnant women should avoid exposure to paint fumes.
• Protect yourself and your baby from foodborne illness, which can cause serious health problems and even death. Handle, clean, cook, eat, and store food properly.
• Don’t drink alcohol. There is no known safe amount of alcohol a woman can drink while pregnant. Both drinking every day and drinking a lot of alcohol once in a while during pregnancy can harm the baby.
• Don’t use illegal drugs. Tell your doctor if you are using drugs. Marijuana, cocaine, heroin, speed (amphetamines), barbiturates, and LSD are very dangerous for you and your baby.
• Don’t clean or change a cat’s litter box. This could put you at risk for toxoplasmosis, an infection that can be very harmful to the fetus.
• Don’t eat swordfish, king mackerel, shark, and tilefish, which are high in mercury.
• Avoid contact with rodents and with their urine, droppings, or nesting material. This includes household pests and pet rodents, such as guinea pigs and hamsters. Rodents can carry a virus that can be harmful or even deadly to your unborn baby.
• Don’t take very hot baths or use hot tubs or saunas. High temperatures can be harmful to the fetus, or cause you to faint.
• Don’t use scented feminine hygiene products. Pregnant women should avoid scented sprays, sanitary napkins, and bubble bath. These products might irritate your vaginal area, and increase your risk of a urinary tract infection or yeast infection.
• Don’t douche. Douching can irritate the vagina, force air into the birth canal and increase the increase the risk of infection.
• Avoid x-rays. If you must have dental work or diagnostic tests, tell your dentist or physician that you are pregnant so that extra care can be taken.

During pregnancy the body turns vulnerable to the environment that surrounds it. Women are warned to be careful of what they eat and also, from which products they get direct contact. There's a lot of chemicals that might damage and cause miscarriage. There's other facts that might harm the fetus like the stress and depression. Negative strong emotions can be as damaging as toxic substance.

The four major hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are: Preeclampsia – eclampsia, gestational hypertension, chronic hypertension and preeclampsia superimposed on chronic hypertension. Women who are overweight experience an increased risk of hypertensive disorders. You may require low dose of aspirin, calcium, and vitamin C + E to prevent or reduce the incidence or severity of preeclampsia.

Abercrombie, A. (2009, March 5). He a lthy pr e g n a n c y. Retrieved from http://womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/pregnancy-dos-donts.pdf

Sheiner, A. (2011). Obesity in pregnancy a comprehensive guide. New York, NY: Nova Biomedical. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/ebookviewer/ebook/e000tww_431076_AN?sid=d4f35eae-1d97-46d1-a079-aefc90735999@sessionmgr110&vid=4&format=EB&ppid=pp_v