• Question: Does the change in mother's food affect the baby?

    Asked by dangermousegirl98 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Hey Dangermouse.. yes it does…

      Everything the mother eats, drinks, (even smokes! of course this isn’t advisable but people do smoke during pregnancy, which is a serious NO NO!) affects the baby. Anything that gets into the mothers blood stream is passed through the placenta (the soft connection tissue between mother and baby in the womb) to the baby. So for a healty baby you need a healthy diet. Lots of vitamins and minerals. expecting mothers also need to increase their intake of food to take into account a growing baby inside them so they need a bit more food and more vitamins and minerals.. lots of iron too so the blood becomes rich in oxygen so more oxygen can be transported to the baby to help it grow… Good question!!

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Hi dangermouse!

      Just like Julia said everything that a mother puts into her body is likely to make it into her bloodstream (what she eats, drinks, the chemicals she breathes etc) – although a mother’s blood does not directly mix with her baby’s blood everything “diffuses” through from the mother to the baby via something called the placenta which Julia mentioned.

      So when you are pregnant you have to try and keep as healthy as possible because everything can affect the baby!

      🙂

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hello again dangermousegirl!! I think Julia’s pretty much covered it! The answer is ‘yes’ mother and baby are very tightly connected, so anything mom does affects the baby. It’s important for moms to be to stay really healthy!!

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