“We’ve just closed on our new house, we have a few dollars left in our savings account, so we’re now ready to get pregnant,” a friend of mine’s daughter said recently. So, being the AAD (Almost a Doctor) that I am I asked what she was doing health-wise to make sure she was really ready.

That question confounded her. She said that she was relatively healthy. Her weight, never as low as she would like, was okay. But, what else was she supposed to worry about?

Well, it’s certainly not a time to worry, but it is a time to plan ahead for a healthy pregnancy and therefore a healthy baby. I referred her to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development website for answers. The first advice they give is to start with a visit to a health care professional.

“A health care provider can recommend ways to get the proper nutrition and avoid habits whose lasting effects could harm a fetus. For example, exposure to alcohol and tobacco early in pregnancy can increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).”

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