How to Manage Placental Insufficiency

Having a baby can be scary. There are many things that can go wrong with the early stages of life, such as placental insufficiency. Placental insufficiency is the condition during a woman's pregnancy in which the placenta develops improperly, keeping oxygen and other nutrients from getting to the developing fetus correctly. It can cause harm to the development of the baby. While it doesn’t necessarily mean the child will be harmed, it will definitely make development and birth a lot harder.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Avoid smoking cigarettes during pregnancy. The nicotine contained in cigarettes will transfer into the baby and affect its development. Cigarettes also contain many additives that are poisonous to both the mother and child and anyone else who smokes cigarettes. For your health, it’s best to avoid smoking. Quit smoking if you find out you are pregnant.
2. Refrain from drinking. Just as nicotine negatively affects a baby, alcohol will stunt the development of an unborn child as well. In the same way that too much alcohol can harm your brain, liver and heart, the baby will be affected as well. Anything that you do to yourself that causes harm will also cause harm to the baby.
3. Get treated for diabetes. Diabetes can be a cause of placental insufficiency. So if you are treated for diabetes, the placenta won’t weaken any further. When you are pregnant, you should be visiting the doctor quite often anyway. He will test you for certain disease you may be carrying that will affect the birth or development of the baby. If you have diabetes, the doctor will find out.
4. Have regular ultrasounds done to assess the size and magnitude of the placental insufficiency. There isn’t much else that can be done from the outside. Keeping tabs on what is happening in there is the best way for the doctor to gauge what can be done next. If you are further along in your pregnancy, the doctor may induce labor to better the child’s chances.
5. Eat a healthy diet of nutrients both for you and the child. You’ll be able to tell what’s health and what’s not with the basic introduction to nutrition you got from high school health class. There are also plenty of baby books and dieticians to consult.