In a survey of more than 750 women, pregnancy health charity Tommy’s found that the majority of women put a lot of thought and planning into a summer holiday. When it comes to trying for a baby, however, most of us aren’t aware there is anything to do other than stopping contraception.
A campaign to launch Tommy’s new Planning for Pregnancy digital tool found that 67 per cent of women plan for three or more months for a holiday, compared to 20 per cent planning for three or more months for a pregnancy. Just under 40 per cent of respondents said they stopped using contraception the same week they made the decision to have a baby, leaving little time to make any change that might affect the health of pregnancy and baby, such as taking folic acid, improving diet and achieving a healthy weight.
The survey also found a big difference between the perception of how long it takes to get pregnant compared to the reality. More than a quarter of women surveyed (25.3 per cent) became pregnant within one month compared to fewer than 5 per cent expecting this to happen.
Tommy’s, in partnership with PHE, RCOG and UCL, has developed a Planning for Pregnancy digital tool and a national #AreYouReady campaign to drive awareness of the importance of pre-conception health, and to support women with information and resources. The tool brings women through a questionnaire and then uses the answers to provide tailored information to women on what they can do before pregnancy to have a healthy pregnancy and baby. It also provides supportive email follow-up with tips and advice.
The campaign is raising awareness of the importance of planning for pregnancy as a factor in having a safe and healthy pregnancy following the recent Lancet Series on the importance of diet and lifestyle of both parents before conception. This showed that there is a population-wide knowledge gap about changes in lifestyle that could improve the safety of pregnancy for mother and baby the future health of the child.
Parents’ weight, diet and health before conception can have profound implications for the safety of the pregnancy, and the growth, development and long-term health of their children.
For example:
- Being overweight during pregnancy increases the risk of potentially dangerous pregnancy conditions, such as pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes
- Having a BMI over 30 means women may have less choices on where to give birth as they are more likely to need an instrumental delivery (ventouse or forceps)
- Smoking in pregnancy causes up to 2,200 premature births, 5,000 miscarriages and 300 perinatal deaths per year
- Two thirds of maternal deaths happen in those with pre-existing physical or mental health problems
- Folic acid should ideally be taken two months before conception to build the level of the vitamin up in the body to give maximum protection. As 1 out of 3 women can get pregnant within a month, waiting until stopping contraception to take folic acid means that many are at risk of inadequate protection from neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. Two women a week give birth to a baby affected by a neural tube defect that requires intensive lifelong medical care
Actions that would have a positive impact on the health of a pregnancy and future child if taken before stopping contraception would be:
- taking 400mcg of folic acid daily two months before stopping contraception
- quitting smoking
- maintaining or achieving a healthy weight (BMI)
- adopting heal