Your Baby is What You Eat

Better nutrition equals a healthier child overall – not only in infancy but also later on in life. You are only pregnant with this child once, and you only have one chance to control the formation of your baby’s body. You give your baby the building blocks with which to
form healthy bones, brain cells, organs and an overall healthy immune system. Your baby forms from the nutrients that you supply and this early phase of development will affect it for the rest of its life.

So can you make it through your entire pregnancy on ice cream and potato chips? Of course! But does this mean that you and your baby will enjoy the best possible outcomes?

There is a proven link between your child’s health and your nutrition during pregnancy. Researchers have documented that women who eat
poorly during pregnancy have children who are predisposed to obesity, glucose intolerance (a precursor to diabetes), and heart disease. Not only does your precious baby gain the best possible building blocks due to your hard work at eating well during pregnancy, it also gains valuable knowledge from the way that you eat.

You can begin to teach your baby about what is good for them and what to prefer by exposing them to these things from the very beginning of their lives. This gives them an innate understanding of how to live healthy lifestyles by nurturing a preference for the healthy over the unhealthy; for the things that build their bodies up rather than break them down. Mothers teach their children about the world around them before they are even born, and nutrition is no exception.

For more information on the link between lifestyle during pregnancy and the overall health of the child you can read “Origins” by Annie Murphy Paul or watch her speech “What We Learn Before We’re Born” below: