Okay so i found out that I'm pregnant. I am only 17 years old. I am happy and my bf is here for us through it all..
I have questions about my pregnancy...
Like what should i eat??
What should i drink?
If i wake up in the middle of the night.. What should i eat?
Need help.. Please o.O
You'll want to eat the way you usually do, assuming you have a healthy diet. Lots of lean protein (meats, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, etc.), vegetables, fruits, and high quality fats (like olive oil, avocado, coconut oil). You'll want to start on a prenatal vitamin as soon as possible as well. Look for a high quality prenatal made with whole food ingredients (not the cheap ones, though those are probably better than nothing). As far as drinking, you don't need anything other than water, though if your prenatal vitamin has iron in it, taking it with orange juice will help with absorption.
Since you're young, you'll need more calories than most pregnant women because your body is still growing. Protein especially will be important. If you eat meat, try to eat high quality lean meats rather than fatty cuts like bacon (though those are ok on occasion). Eggs are a wonderful source of protein -- try to eat as many as you can before morning sickness sets in. You'll probably start experiencing some food aversions soon, so try to eat healthfully when you can. I found that cereal was pretty much all I could handle during the first trimester, and that's ok. Just make sure you're taking your prenatals and that you try to add in high quality foods when you feel up to it.
These are just rough guidelines. You'll want to talk to your OB or midwife about nutrition as soon as you can. Hopefully you have an appointment scheduled to start prenatal care. Most OBs and midwives have lists of foods that are especially beneficial for pregnant women.
welcome to mothering.com and to mothering in general.
first thing is that you need to find a health care provider and start a relationship with them. that can be a midwife or a OB or a few other types in between. what is your living situation? do you have health insurance or a way to pay for things?
as for what to eat and drink, focus on whole real foods and making sure you get lots of healthy proteins. you should stay away from caffeine and artificial sugars and of course drugs, drinking and smoking. water water water! and make sure you start right away on a prenatal vitamin they have higher level of a few things like folic acid that are super important in these early parts of the fetuses growth.
do you have any health issues heading in to this?
Thank you both so much..... And yes i have health insurance and i also have Colorado WIC... they give me checks for food to get.. Mainly healthy food for this pregnancy... I hav no medical issuees.. Although morning sickness lasts through out the day and i cant really eat things as much as i think i should....
Am i suppose to eat as much as possible so my baby can eat? orr.?? Especially at night. I wake up in the middle of the night with stomach pains.. Is that because im hungry or just how that is for the first trimester?
Also i have an appointment next thursday with the pregnancy.. And how far along i am..
What are prenatal vitamins? is there a specific brand that i should get? is that like for morning sickness.?
Sorry for all the questions.. New to this :)
sounds like you are on the right track, your doctor or midwife will give you lots of good info too. and reading around these pages will help tons.
you are supposed to eat about 300 more calories than you would if you were not pregnant. so no dont just go on a eating binge but yes add a bit more to each day. and think qaulity rather than quantity. healthy fats are a huge part of things and so are protein as has been mentioned. do this is not the time for low fat items.
healthy dietary fat and protein rich foods can include:
whole milk yogurt, specially greek style
Avocado
high quality cheese
nuts, almond and peanut butter, sunflower seeds make a great snack.
and of course good natural meats, i would personally stay away from beef and chicken that is not organic, it was raised with too many hormones and i would not want that going to my baby
prenatal vitamins are just similar to a normal "multi vitamin" but have different level of important things that are better for pregnancy, they should be take the whole time you are pregnant and for a while after, at least as long as you are breastfeeding and a few months extra to help you regain what pregnancy takes out of you.
waking up in the middle of the night really hungry is very normal, i had it a ton! i made sure i had easy snack food for the middle of the night, greek yogurt, string cheese packets and already boiled eggs were some of my favorite things. i also got in the habit of drinking these really great organic protein shakes in the wee hours of the morning so i could go back to bed. a lot of the brands have a ton of crap in them, but a few are very good, let me know if you want brand names.
eating lots of small good for you snacks it good for keeping the morning sickness off. protein seems to be the best for most folks, and avoiding too much sugary things.
we dont mind the questions, that is what these boards are for, helping eachother out!
Okay i will do that... I just dont wanna eat anything that will hurt my baby... Sometimes I'm scared to eat something because of that...
O really.? Well i did want to go on shakesbut didnt know if that was good for my baby or not... What kind of shakes would you perfer? Like the brands you mentioned. I want to know what brands please...
Well i do know that i have to have prenatal vitamins. I'm just not sure which ones to take.. Or which brand is easier to take for someone my age.. I heard some teens get sick from the adult ones and i just dont wanna get sick like that..
Yes i do stay away from anything sugary especially cakes.. I had it once about 2 weeks ago and it just didnt go well... I been drinking alot alot of water..... Any advice on sleeping? Im the kind who likes to sleep on my belly or on my back.. But i found out that i have to start gettin use to sleeping on my left side. The only thing with that is for me its not really comfortable. I get really annoyed and it wakes me up. Then after a while i cant sleep so i stay up for awhile.. About an hour or 2 i finally go to sleep again... Any suggestions on sleeping positions or comfortable sleep.? Please help. Tired 
Okay that be good.. Well at midnight i dont know what to eat but thanks i will try those snacks.. Is yoplait yogurt good to eat also.? I like those a lot but not sure if its good for my baby...
Thanks for all your help.... 
Okay i will do that... I just dont wanna eat anything that will hurt my baby... Sometimes I'm scared to eat something because of that...
first off i want to assure you that within some reasonable limits, your body is designed to protect that baby growing and it does a darn good job of it. there are a lot of "don'ts" around pregnancy and some of them have very good reasons, but taken as a whole can be very overwhelming. the fear mongering does you know good. better to just work on figuring out why folks say dont eat this or that, or make sure you sleep like this or that, and then decide for yourself if the reason makes sense.
being all stressed out the whole 9 months is not good either, so it is about finding a balance.
i absolutely love Orgain shakes you an shop around the price seems to vary, sometimes they are cheeper on this other site i have ordered from both places and been very happy. the second site is a great place to find healthy vitamins at a good price too.
like was already mentioned, it is good to find a more natural vitamin that comes from more real food source, it is a very confusing search. i notice that the best ones usually have you take a lot of larger pills rather than just one or two small ones, the reason for this is that while vitamins are pretty compact, minerals are not, they take up a lot of room and are just as important to get in you. a brand i personally like and have used for years are Solaray and Rainbowlight, the last one is a link to their prenatals
at this point you can sleep anyway you find comfortable, your body will tell you what you can and cant do. the left side this is for way further along, some women really have the issues others no so much. belly sleeping is safe as long and it is comfy for you, same with back sleeping, you will most likely know when you cant do it anymore, every mom is different. i had twins and slept on my back till i was nearly in my 3rd trimester, then i really slept on both sides, so to each there own.
Yoplait as a brand in general is very high in sugar and does not use organic milk. i personally find both of those things no ok with me, but you have to decide what matters to you. i would encourage you to eat plain yogurt over the flavored stuff, because of the sugar load. and the low sugar types are that way because they have fake sugars in them and most of those are a real no no in pregnancy. so please stick to ral sugar if you want something sweet.
other options are getting plain yogurt and putting berries in it, even frozen ones are fun. or i kept Agave (a natural sugar substitute that is better for you) in the house and used to drizzle it over plain yogurt, it taste kinda like mild maple syrup and i love it.
non organic milk can have hormones in it that was fed to the cows to make them make a lot of milk, many folks think that this is not good to pass this on to your body, specially if you are still developing, pregnant or breast-feeding. you are all three! so if you can afford it, i would get milk and egg products that say they are raised with out hormones. those are usually labeled as "organic" but some other ones just will say, "raised without hormones"
i hope this helps without drowning you in too much info. follow your gut, take everything you read with a grain of salt. you will find that when you are pregnant or have a young baby, everyone around you acts like a expert, and many are full of it. there are so many myths and old wife's tales it is just crazy making.
water, water, water :) :) :)
Try and avoid sugar, caffeine, too much salt, and dont clean out the litter box.
Congrats on your pregnancy! How far along are you?
Adorkable.......... Thank you so much.. It is so much helpful.. I been doing all these and remembering the things you listed and i gotta say. You have been most helpful.. Thank you :D
Yes i love drinking water. I drink water alot and i stopped drinkin soda competely about a month and a half ago. And im glad i did because i found out i was pregnant..
Thanks for the welcoming..
And the congrats.... Well as of today i am 9 weeks and 4 days.. My due date is April 7, 2013..
I cant wait to meet my lil baby and hold him/her.. i already have a girl and a boy name for my baby :D
Dont know if im having a girl or boy til my next appointment when i will be 20 weeks and they will know...
have you gone to your doctors appointment yet? let us know how it went. did you figure out how far along you are?
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