Preparing for a Healthy Pregnancy
When we think about it, making babies is far beyond the actual physical or medical intervention. Creating a life that is intended to grow up to be their best self requires dedication that doesn't necessarily start once the baby is born. The same happens to the womban who is getting ready to become a mother. Many times we don’t stop to think about everything that is implicated in bringing a new life on earth nor improving or caring for ourselves during that stage.
You may hear about and get tips from family and friends on the things you should be doing during your pregnancy, and in general they offer great advice, yet you should also incorporate better habits before you get pregnant. This will not only help you along the way but it will also affect your baby’s health before and after birth.
What Does It Mean to Be a Healthy Womban?
Generally, we believe a healthy womban will produce a healthy baby. And you may wonder, what is a healthy womban for us? A healthy womban is someone who is constantly evolving and improving. We all have things we would like to improve whether it’s physically or mentally. From the books we read, the podcasts we listen to, whether we exercise regularly to what we eat are all examples of ways we can become better each day.
When it comes to our nutrition, our community of experts says we should incorporate color into our diet. That is, adding the right amount of fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates and protein onto our plates.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) updated the standard food pyramid many of us were taught to follow and now the recommendation is to use “MyPlate” as an easy-to-follow food guide. This official symbol of the five food groups is intended to help parents nutritiously feed their children and it also serves as a guide for adults to consume foods rich in nutrition.
Discovering taste at an early stage of life
I turns out that we learn to taste food flavors before we are even born. Yeah, you read that right. A recent study by the University of Durham in the UK found “that fetuses are capable of prenatally detecting chemosensory information conveyed by flavor compounds originating in maternal diet.” This means that they can taste the flavors of foods a mother consumes. The study revealed that through their facial expressions they can have a “cry-face” or “laughter-face” reaction to foods like carrots and kale used for the study.
You know when you are told to have some orange juice or eat a piece of chocolate before you go into your ultrasound checkup so the baby can be more active? Well, now there is some clear evidence that let’s us know if a baby likes certain foods. The study states that “through their developing sensory abilities, fetuses are alert to aspects of their environment in the womb. For example, by swallowing and inhaling the amniotic fluid, a fetus can sense the flavors of food eaten by its mother.”
Your baby may already have a favorite flavor!
Okay, this is where things get really interesting. We already know that babies can experience flavors while still inside the womb, but what if they could actually show us what they think about them? Well… scientists may have found a way to catch a little glimpse!
A study from Durham University in the UK observed around 100 pregnant women and used 4D ultrasound scans to see how their babies reacted after their mothers consumed different flavors. The researchers gave some mothers a small capsule containing carrot powder and others one containing kale powder. The results? The babies exposed to carrot appeared to make expressions that looked more like a smile, while those exposed to kale were more likely to make a face that looked like a frown. 🥕🥬
Before you start thinking your baby is already a tiny food critic in there, there’s an important detail: researchers cannot say for certain that these facial expressions mean the baby actually “likes” or “dislikes” the food. They may simply be muscular responses to different tastes. Still, the findings are fascinating because they give us a glimpse into how early our relationship with food may begin.
Your Baby’s Food Journey Starts Before the First Bite
And here’s the part we really love: your baby’s food journey may start before their first bite. The flavors from your diet can reach the amniotic fluid, giving your baby early exposure to different tastes. Researchers believe this early experience may even play a role in how children respond to certain foods later in life, although more research is needed to understand exactly how strong that connection is.
So, womban, maybe this is another reason to add a little more color to your plate. Not because you need to create the perfect diet or turn pregnancy into a nutrition competition—please, we have enough pressure already!—but because every meal is an opportunity to nourish yourself while introducing your little one to the wonderfully diverse world of flavors.