SHOULD YOUR OB BE DISCUSSING IN DEPTH NUTRITIONAL ADVICE TO IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF A HEALTHY PREGNANCY? Of course the answer is yes, but unfortunately I think this is the exception, not the rule. The bottom line is that the foods a woman eats during her pregnancy will affect the baby’s birth weight and improving the chance of going full term. A woman’s weight before she gets pregnant also plays a role in healthy outcomes.
The bottom line is that few things will have as great of an impact on a healthy birth than the food that is eaten during her pregnancy. That means that the ultrasound and regular visits to your OB are NOT as important as maintaining good nutrition. In case you are wondering, that does NOT include midnight runs for fast food Mexican, but rather higher intakes of veggies, fruits, healthy fats (stick with low mercury, non-carnivarous fish like wild caught salmon) and NO refined carbs, artificial sweeteners and much lower intakes of omega-6 fatty acids (sunflower, soybean, corn, safflower oils). Might as well throw in a good quality prenatal. Incidentally, ALL of the prescription prenatals I have seen are of such awful quality they should be illegal (let alone $40 / month!!).