In pregnancy, both the mother and child need caring for. It is up to the mother to provide for the childs development nutritionally by eating correctly herself before and after birth. She must also protect her unborne and newborn by trying to avoid things which are harmful to the childs development. On top of all this, she must care for herself for her own comfort, safety and again the well being of the child.

Pregnancy should be a wonderful time for women, a time when they are supposed to feel good and really be able to enjoy the 40 weeks carrying their baby. Unfortunately with our lifestyles and the ways modern society has evolved, many women do not have the luxury of staying home. A large percentage of women have careers and find themselves working during their pregnancies. This type of stress on the woman really paves the way to a long list of discomforts associated with pregnancy: morning sickness, fatigue, low back pain, sciatica, headaches, neck pain, rib pain, and the list goes on.

Maybe the worst part is that many women feel alone in their pregnancies, with no one to help them. When their obstetricians are told of these various discomforts, the answer was usually, "This is 'normal' in pregnancy. You'll have to wait for it to subside or until the baby is born to be relieved of it." In many cases this is not true. The answer is simply that they need chiropractic care.

My experience is that chiropractic is safe and effective during pregnancy. We in the profession have seen that regular chiropractic care during pregnancy improves the outcomes of the pregnant woman and the baby. With regular adjustments and proper nutritional care, the result is a healthier placenta which yields healthier babies and faster delivery and recovery times.

One of the most common complaints in pregnant women is lower back pain. If we trace the nerve supply from the lower back, which in pregnancy is almost always at the sacral level, we can see that the nerves exiting the sacrum travel directly to the uterus. By restoring proper nerve innervation to the nerves of the sacrum, we improve the function of the part or organ it innervates. This is the basic chiropractic concept. Mom and baby ultimately feel better after the sacrum is returned to proper motion. Whenever the mother is adjusted, if it is going to make her feel better, the baby she is carrying will receive benefits from the mother's body being in homeostasis. With Chiropractic there are no drugs and so no worries of drug reactions.

How about nutrition? The real goal of good nutrition is to help the mother build a big, beefy, healthy placenta that will have enough reserves available to adequately support the baby with oxygen during labor and delivery. This is a preventive approach and, with the addition of chiropractic care, the baby has a lot going for it during its difficult journey to be born.

A study at Balor College of Medicine has found that restricting protein intake during pregnancy can decrease the size of the placenta by 21 percent. This decreased size seems to have impaired the transport of nutrients to the fetus, stunting fetal growth. When protein intake was increased later in the pregnancy, the diminished nutrient transportation problem persisted, suggesting that the stunting is irreversible.

Just a few years back, obstetrics and especially pediatrics did not have to be overly concerned with the mineral evaluation of pregnant women and newborns. As the growing body of international research indicates, the declining global health alone dictates a change.

The importance of proper mineral balance is still underestimated, even though diligent research demonstrates that mineral deficiencies, excesses or malabsorption, contribute or cause diseases such as cardiac conditions, learning disabilities, schizophrenia, immune and hormonal dysfunctions, and a host of other maladies.

Unlike nutrients such as carbohydrates and protein, minerals do not supply fuel or energy to the body, but assist in the production of energy and in many vital chemical reactions of life. Certain essential macro- and micro-minerals are, for instance, constituents of, or interact with enzymes. Without proper enzyme functions, health and immunity suffers.

Magnesium is known to be part of many different enzyme systems and is involved in controlling various metabolic functions. Zinc is a necessary part of hormone systems, and a deficiency of this vital trace element can lead to impaired growth, sexual problems, even diabetes.

Until recently, copper was hardly understood. While this trace element is known to be essential to life, copper deficiencies and excesses were largely ignored. Medical research indicates that copper deficiency can lead to a variety of abnormalities: anemia, skeletal defects, degeneration of the nervous system, reproductive failure, heart ailments, elevated cholesterol levels, impaired immunity, and defects in hair growth. Excessive copper,however, is a cause of emotional instability as found in hyperactive children, and can lead to depression of so-called "unknown causes."

Cadmium is a known environmental pollutant found in cigarette smoke. It is known to be deposited in the kidney, and thus excessive cadmium exposure can lead to kidney disease and high blood pressure. Cadmium levels of smokers were significantly higher than those of nonsmokers. There is increasing evidence, the researchers say, that cadmium
levels are readily passed on to the unborn of pregnant women.

Lead is easily absorbed in bone and brain tissues, and studies substantiate that children with high lead levels display emotional disturbances and are subject to learning disabilities, even mental retardation

Animal studies indicate that oral ingestion of aluminum can result in increased deposition of aluminum in the brain and cause severe emotional problems, changes in memory and learning ability. Infants with impaired kidney function are very susceptible to aluminum toxicity, and while a 1983 study, concerned with an uprise in progressive encephalopathy in children with uremia, could not locate any known exposure to aluminum, the source was later identified as infant milk formulas

Calcium supplementation can block aluminum uptake in the body but be careful where you get your calcium from. Minerals International's studies on supplements confirm that dolomite generally contains considerable amounts of this aluminum and other toxins.

Fortunately, the body is very good at self regulation and serious deficiencies can usually be avoided by eating a well balanced diet with lots of variety and taking supplements. If you have any worries about excess heavy minerals or deficiencies and since environmental problems are a legitimate concern, using the combination of blood, hair, and urine mineral analyses enables conscientious physicians to diagnose and prevent problems before organic damage is serious, even irreversible.

While hair mineral analysis is not commonly accepted by orthodox medicine, the United States government has declared hair analysis as a valuable testing method.

The most important thing you can do for your child though is avoiding cigarette smoke. According to a recently published John Hopkins University study, pregnant women can trigger formation of a cleft palate in their offspring by smoking, perhaps even before they know they are pregnant. This study, done on 467 children from Maryland, found a high incidence of the birth defect among children of mothers who smoked during early pregnancy.

In a "meta-analysis" of about 100 studies of the effects of smoking,12 researchers estimate that 7.5 percent of all miscarriages are due to tobacco usage. Other conclusions relating to maternal smoking were: as many as 26,000 newborns are admitted to intensive care units each year because of smoking-induced low birth weights; elevated risk of stillbirths and neonatal deaths and a tripling of the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

It is estimated that somewhere between 18 and 27 percent of pregnant females smoke.

Along with avoiding cigarette smoking you also want to avoid alcohol. An article in the journal Pediatrics describes a strong relationship between alcoholic consumption during pregnancy and brain damage in premature infants. In the Journal of the National Cancer Institute it suggests that pregnant mothers who imbibe alcoholic beverages during the last six months of their pregnancy increase the risk that their child will suffer from infant leukemia by a factor of 10.

Another thing you definitely DO want to do is breast feeding. British scientists analyzing samples of baby formula have discovered surprisingly high levels of a chemical that is known to interfere with the development and function of reproductive organs. The British Medical Journal has found that breast feeding children for four months or more seems to make them less likely to suffer from appendicitis and diabetes. A study at Pennsylvania State University has found that breast feeding decreases the incidence of salmonella diarrhea to one-fifth the level of infants fed formula. This is yet another in a growing list of breast feeding benefits that have been validated by clinical studies in recent years.

Just up north in Thailand, A UNICEF report revealed that Thai babies are the least likely in Asia to be breast fed. The report blames the sad state of affairs in Thailand on aggressive marketing by infant formula manufacturers. UNICEF says that replacing infant formula with mothers' milk could save 1.5 million lives each year.

The United Nations Children's Fund is accusing many multinational baby-food companies of endangering infant lives through their marketing techniques advertisements that suggest a higher social status for mothers who bottle-feed their babies.. A UNICEF-backed study says that most, if not all, of these companies are breaking a 16-year international code established by the World Health Organization. A spokesman for UNICEF said in a press statement that women who decide not to breast-feed their baby should be told that their babies may be at risk, and that these children "don't receive their anti-bodies."

Finally, don't forget to exercise during your pregnancy. Gentle stretching and a warmup period before each exercise period are important measures. A cool down period of 10 to 15 minutes is also recommended. And because increased weight shifts forward over the course of a pregnancy, it is also recommended that pregnant patients be fitted for custom made flexible orthotics. The ideal orthotic would be one which absorbs heel-strike shock, provides firm arch support and combats the high stress levels which commonly affect the lumbar spine of the mother-to-be.