Nutrition For Mother and Her Baby

Give your attention on nutrition, because providing a good one for both the mother and baby is a must. For you know that two polyunsaturated fatty acids, AA and DHA, are building blocks of brain cells, the vascular system, and other tissues. DHA will be concentrated in the retina of the eye. It is very important for visual function.

DHA facilitates communication between brain cells, a critical brain function. The developing fetus depends on the mother’s nutrition to obtain these fatty acids. The mother’s supply comes from the foods she eats and her own tissues AA and DHA are vital to the mother’s health to support growth of the placenta and developing fetus, maintain her own tissues, and make substances, such as prostaglandins, which are important in childbirth.

The mother has two ways of providing AA and DHA for the fetus. One is to make them from precursor fatty acids and the other is to consume them in foods. For AA, either choice appears sufficient. The body makes AA from linoleic acid, the most plentiful polyunsaturated fatty acid in western diets. Meats and fish have some AA too. In western countries, there appears to be plenty of AA for healthy development of the fetus and young infant.