Healthy pregnancies

Aboriginal Nurse, The, 2002

The elders believe that a woman should be of good physical and mental health before she conceives. She should give up bad habits which could harm the prenatal development of the child, such as smoking, drinking, poor eating habits, worry, anger, and fear. A man should also try to achieve these goals and offer support to his wife or partner to make her pregnancy easier and more enjoyable.

Be sure to read Part 1 before working on this unit. See these other units for more issues related to healthy pregnancies:

Unit 5 - Teen Pregnancy

Unit 6 - Women and Sexual Health

Unit 8 - Birth Control and Pregnancy Options

Unit 10 - Birth

Unit 15 - Family Violence

Introduction

Ensuring the health of our babies today will make a stronger Nation for tomorrow.1

Because the future of Aboriginal people depends on having and raising healthy children, communities need to work together to help, support and protect their pregnant women.

In order to have the healthiest pregnancy possible, a woman needs to eat good food, get exercise and rest, as well as focus on positive thoughts and feelings. Giving up or limiting smoking, alcohol and junk food, protecting herself from or getting treatment for HIV/AIDS, and seeking safety from dangerous relationships will help her have a healthy pregnancy.2

Family and community support can help a pregnant woman accept her new responsibilities. Culture-based prenatal care by a doctor, nurse or health clinic is very important. Mentoring programs that encourage Elders to teach and model traditional values and practices can help increase health for mothers and babies.

Cultural Teachings

The grandmothers came to visit her and the grandfathers went to him. They spoke gently and firmly. She did not want to hear what they were saying. Then the oldest and wisest grandmother spoke:

"You may not experience the suffering yourself, you may think it will not affect you, but your children or grandchildren may suffer for your decision. You may never know how many generations may be affected, but those innocent ones will bear the burden."

Later on, when she held her strong and healthy grandchildren, full of hope and promise, she knew to thank the grandmothers for helping her to see way into the future and helping her to make a good decision.3

The responsibility for the health of a pregnant woman in Inuit society clearly rested with both the woman and her husband, parents, in-laws, and elders. While young women were frequently overwhelmed with advice, they were surrounded by a caring family from the first sign of pregnancy until after birth.4

The Path to Healthier Pregnancies

The elders believe that a woman should be of good physical and mental health before she conceives. She should give up bad habits which could harm the prenatal development of the child, such as smoking, drinking, poor eating habits, worry, anger, and fear. A man should also try to achieve these goals and offer support to his wife or partner to make her pregnancy easier and more enjoyable.5

Getting Good Prenatal Care

Getting good health care while a woman is pregnant is important for her good health and the health of the baby. Health care providers can provide advice and support for healthier choices and also look for any problems with the fetus, and suggest tests and treatments. Health care providers can also provide referrals to other services, including traditional healers, prenatal programs and midwives. Seeing a doctor or other health care provider regularly during pregnancy also helps the woman prepare for birth.

Eating Healthy Food

Eating well during pregnancy is important to the health of the baby and mother. Eating too much "junk" food such as potato chips and chocolate bars causes two problems: first, you do not get the vitamins and minerals a baby needs to gain weight and grow strong, and second, often this unhealthy food replaces whole foods that do make mothers and babies strong. Unfortunately, eating fruit, vegetables, grains and other healthy foods can be hard to do if you live in the far north, have little money, other children to feed or your life is filled with stress.

Health care providers and family and community members can help by making practical suggestions for healthy eating and getting more vitamins and minerals. Many communities are starting nutrition programs such as food banks, community kitchens and prenatal programs to make sure that pregnant women have access to healthy food.

Being Smoke-Free

Smoking during pregnancy and exposure to second-hand smoke can cause pre-term birth, problems during delivery, as well as low birth weight, continuing health problems for the baby or even newborn death. The more tobacco smoke a woman is exposed to during her pregnancy, the greater are the chances of her baby having serious health problems.

Pregnant women should be supported in any efforts they make to stop or reduce smoking. Partners and other family should stop smoking around them. Peer counselling, video instruction and professional counselling can help. Communities committed to supporting pregnant women to have healthy children can organize activities and programs that help smokers quit and encourage others not to start.