Antenatal
Care
Antena tal ca receive re is the car e profess from healthc you a ionals pregna during re nc your of app y. You'll be o ointme fered as n ts with sometim a midw eries e s w ife, or specia lises in ith a doctor who pregna ncy an d birth

Ultrasound scans to monitor your baby's growth and check for physical abnormalities.
This uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of your growing baby, which you can see on a screen.

A healthy diet is an important part of a healthy lifestyle at any time, but is especially vital if you're pregnant or planning a pregnancy. Eating healthily during pregnancy will help your baby to develop and grow. You don’t need to go on a special diet, but it's important to eat a variety of diferent foods every day to get the right balance of nutrients that you and your baby need.
It's best to get vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat, but when you're pregnant you need to take some supplements as well, to make sure you get everything you need. Fetal Growth
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The scan shows
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STOP DRINKING

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When a pregnant women smokes, carbon monoxide in the cigarette smoke combines with haemoglobin in the mother and baby’s blood.
This means that the baby is likely
When a pregnant women drinks the alcohol passes across to be born prematurely and its the placenta into the baby’s blood. The baby is then likely to lungs is likely to be less developed. have problems with: developing speech, language and attention span, mental/physical retardation & heart defects.

Measuring Infant
Growth
Monitoring Changes
In Weight
The nurse places the baby on a scale specially designed for weighing babies, they are supported so they can’t fall out. The nurse removes the baby’s clothes to make sure the measurement is accurate and records the weight. The baby is re-positioned and weighed again. Three readings are taken and the mean of the two readings that are closest together are calculated Measuring Infant
Length
The baby is laid down on a special piece of measuring equipment. It is based on the same principle as the gauge used to measure your feet in a shoe shop.
The head rests against one end of the equipment.
The baby’s legs are stretched out and a slide is brought up so that it touches the baby’s feet.

Measuring Head
Circumference
This is measured by placing a tape measure around the baby’s head and measuring the circumference at the part where the head is the widest.

Infant Growth
Charts

The measurements are compared against a chart showing ‘normal’ growth.
These charts are complied by taking the measurements from very large numbers of children
& plotting it.

Infants need a healthy, balanced diet if they are to grow properly. Some important nutrients are: carbohydrates lipids, fatty acids, proteins, amino acids, calcium, iron, phosphorus and vitamins A,C & D. Amount required will be