Dietitian Says: Enjoying Your Last Trimester & Getting Your Body Ready For Labour
Nutrition
It’s been crazy going through pregnancy the past 6 months! Here we are at your third and we still want to do the best that we can for ourselves and for our baby. Did you know you baby gains at a rate of 200g per week during this trimester? That’s why some mothers may also experience symptoms of heartburn too since your baby is bigger and she or he may tend to push against our stomach. Here are some tips on how you can manage your heartburn symptoms:
- Have small frequent meals.
- Eating slower helps you to avoid eating too big of a meal at a time as you will be able to recognize your satiety and portion sizes more easily.
- Avoid foods that may trigger or aggravate your heartburn such as spicy foods, caffeinated foods, very sour foods or very oily foods
- Have a light dinner and not too late in order to avoid lying down too soon after a meal. Staying up right for several hours after a meal helps to reduce risk of heartburn
Besides that, during this trimester, most mothers will feel lesser food aversion and will have a bigger appetite as compared to before ( as it should be). According to Singapore Recommended Dietary Allowance, mothers at their third trimester should be having an additional 480 kilocalories as compared to first trimester calorie intake.
Example of regular healthy balanced meal during pre-pregnancy or first trimester of pregnancy |
| ~500 to 600 kcal per meal without a snack.If with snacks, it’s normally a light snack in a day:1 cup plain yoghurt 1 serving of a fruit of choice1 plain bun3-4 pieces of plain wholemeal crackers |
Example of healthy balanced meals during third trimester (+480kcal per day) |
| ~500 to 600kcal per meal with TWO fuller snacks in between meals throughout the day This can be easily done by adding a protein or healthy fat to your basic snacks: 1 cup of plain yoghurt + 1 handful of nuts/seeds1 serving of a fruit of + 2 tablespoon peanut butter1 bun with cheese/egg or 1 char siew pau3-4 pieces of plain wholemeal crackers with cheese slices or egg mash |
Of course, there is no hard-and-fast rule, this is just a guide generally for mummies to follow in order to promote healthy pregnancy weight gain for mummies. On the side note, do you know that calorie requirements are similar for a healthy breastfeeding meal plan? The only difference is that you may incorporate different lactogenic foods into your breastfeeding diet meal plan.
Did you know there are new emerging studies suggesting having palm dates to kick-start labour? Before we get crazy about this, please note that there is no absolute guarantee that eating palm dates will ensure that your labour will progress smoothly and quickly but there is no harm in trying this ( so long you do not have gestational diabetes)
There is a small number of studies showing that having 60-80g of dates per day during the last month of pregnancy can help to relax the cervix and reduce the need for a medical labour induction.
So how can you have dates if you’re not a fan of this fruit? You can always try to chop them up and add them in smoothies, yoghurt or with peanut butter and toast as a good snack options in between meals.
Exercise
What is the pelvic floor?
The pelvic floor is the muscles that support your pelvic organs such as your bladder and bowels. One way to identify your pelvic floor muscles is to try to stop the flow of urine when you are at the toilet.
Why is pelvic floor exercises important?
Pelvic floor ligaments stretch throughout pregnancy due to hormonal changes and increasing weight of your womb. This stretch may cause your pelvic floor muscles to be weakened which may lead to other problems like urinary incontinence. Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise is highly encouraged among mothers from their first trimester and all the way up to the third month postpartum. These exercises have been shown to help reduce risk of urine leakage during pregnancy and postpartum especially when you cough, sneeze, laugh or walk.
Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise
For Strength Training
Each set consists of squeezing and holding for 5 seconds and relaxing for 5 seconds.
Do 10 sets each time, 3x per day
For Endurance Training
Each set consists of holding and releasing simultaneously. Do 10 sets each time, 3x per day
For Knack Training which is to practice holding while coughing, sneezing or laughing.
For beginners, this exercise can be done while lying down. Once you’ve mastered it, you may progress to doing it while sitting down. Eventually you would want to be able to do it while standing.
The goal is to practice this everyday as seamlessly as possible and to do both strength and endurance training while standing for 20 sets, 3x per day. Whether you are on the bus or MRT, washing the dishes or hanging clothes, this simple exercise can be done anytime, anywhere.
On the side note, if you are thinking of buying things to help you after the delivery of your little one, do check out MumChecked. It is a one stop website that provides many useful equipment from breastfeeding to strollers.
