Seven things pregnant women should do to make an intelligent baby

PREGNANCY should be taken seriously. If you don’t act responsible, consequences can be quite severe. However, we won’t be discussing consequences now, but we’ll focus on the positive side by listing the things every mother can do in order to make an intelligent baby. Like with a lot of other subjects, medical experts don’t have a common theory about concrete things expectant mothers should do, but there are certain points on which they agree… sort of. Various tests have been performed in order to determine what babies respond to, and this is what we found out.

Prepare for Story Time

Although babies can’t understand the actual words, reading them a story will affect the way they feel about your voice, in fact – they’ll remember it. You should also know that language foundations develop in the womb, and around the third trimester your baby will be able to hear sounds and memorize them. Besides, it’s never too early to start sharing your favorite stories and fairy tales with your babe, so go on, get your favorite book and start reading.
Daily Exposure to Sunlight

The sunshine vitamin – vitamin D – is quite important for you and your baby. Your daily schedule as an expectant mother needs to include about twenty minutes of daily exposure to sunlight. Of course, you need to take care of your skin and apply appropriate creams. This vitamin is the key nutrient that helps your baby develop strong and healthy bones. Some medical experts connect the lack of vitamin D with the development of autism, so you shouldn’t take your chances with this one.

Bonding through Massage

If you want to put in some extra effort into creating a strong bond with your child before that baby is even born, you should do that through the art of touch. When the twentieth week is over, your baby will be able to feel touches, thanks to the fact that its nervous system is developed enough. Some research shows that unborn babies can even tell the difference between a mother’s and a father’s touch. So, what are you waiting for? Grab some essential oils and give your bump a nice long massage! Besides, applying nurturing oils is quite good for expectant mothers, because it helps with avoiding pregnancy stretch marks, and it’s a great way to relax.

Healthy Rhymes for a Healthy Mind

We already mentioned how babies-to-be respond to talking, but you’ll get an even better reaction with music and rhymes. When you sing to your bump, it helps your baby with the production of serotonin and other happiness chemicals. If you’re not much of a singer, you can achieve the same effect by playing music, and you can use the tunes you sang and played to calm your baby later.

A Diet Focused on Diversity

The world is your oyster. You should eat absolutely everything that comes to your mind, except foods rich in mercury. It’s found mostly in certain types of fish like sharks, tuna and swordfish, so you should try to avoid these. However, fish rich in fatty acids like salmon are very good for you, so do your research before you eat. It will be hard at first, because of that awfully uncomfortable morning sickness, but as soon as that is over you’ll need to adopt routines, eat regularly and enjoy healthy portions.

Pregnant Women Need Balance

While you’re pregnant, you need to listen to your body and do exactly what it says. There should be no exhausting or unnecessary strains during those nine months. However, it’s quite important to stay active throughout, because your baby and you both need some exercise. There are all sorts of smart gadgets that will be more than useful when it comes to keeping track of the distance you cover during your walks, and they help a lot with establishing routines and sticking to them. Your days should be all about long rests, healthy meals and exercise – everything else isn’t worth your while.

No Stress Allowed

The moment you find out you’re pregnant, stress shouldn’t be allowed in your home or outside. Everything and everyone that can cause you to feel anxious or worried need to be taken out of your life for the time being. Your child feels exactly how you feel – even the smallest problem can affect both of you. My suggestion is to work hard on practicing patience through meditation, and perhaps doing some yoga – together, they will cover your daily activity requirements and act as a stress relief mechanism. However, if you’ve never practiced yoga before and you’re thinking about starting now, you shouldn’t. That rule should apply when it comes to all activities – starting with exercising after you find out you’re pregnant will put an additional unneeded strain on your body, which is not something you should allow yourself.

That pretty much covers it. However, you should read absolutely everything you encounter, and consult your caregiver before you decided to apply any of the methods, no matter how simple or well-intentioned they seem. Every pregnancy is different, so if one women found something to be calming and comfortable, another might not. Just take things slow, think carefully about every decision you plan on making, and your baby and you will be just fine. By Ivan Dimitrijevic

lifehack.org

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