Don't forget your Calcium during Pregnancy

Calcium is an important mineral especially during pregnancy. Your growing baby will need large amounts of calcium for its skeletal development as well as nerve and muscle development.  If there are not enough reserves of calcium for the baby to draw upon, the baby will draw what it needs from the mother's bones! This would cause a decrease in bone mass for the mother and putting her at risk for osteoporosis.

How much Calcium do I Need?

The Health Promotion Board recommends that the dietary allowance for  pregnant / breastfeeding women should be 1000mg of calcium each day.  For comparison, the recommended daily amount of calcium for an adult is 800mg.

Sources of Calcium

Although the richest source of calcium are found in milk, cheese and dairy products. there are lots of other sources of calcium found in our everyday foods.  That was a relief to me when I was pregnant especially since I did not particularly enjoy drinking milk. 

The table below is a good guide for dairy and plant-based sources of calcium. 

Food	Serving Size	Calcium content (mg)
Dairy Products
High-calcium milk powder Low-fat milk Full-cream milk Low-fat yoghurt Low-fat cheese*	4 scoops (25 g) 1 glass (250ml) 1 glass (250ml) 1 carton (150g) 1 slice (20g)	500 380 300 240 200
Non-dairy foods
Canned sardine (with bones) Dried ikan bilis (with bones) Silken tofu Tau kwa Dhal (raw) Baked beans, canned* Kai lan, cooked Spinach, cooked Chye sim, cooked Broccoli, cooked	1 fish (80g) 2 tablespoons (40g) package (150g) 1 small cake (90g) mug (50g) can (210g) mug (100 g) mug (100 g) mug (100 g) mug (100 g)	270 270 100 150 85 110 195 140 140 50
Calcium-fortified products
High-calcium soybean milk Enriched bread Calcuim-fortified orange juice	1 glass (250ml) 2 slices (60 g) 1 serving (240 ml)	450 100 350

Credits : Health Promotion Board , Calcium for Greater Bone Strength

Stylish Maternity Look of the Day: The Madison Dress in 2 ways.

Get more mileage from your dresses.
The versatile Madison Maternity & Nursing Dress (in Amber Gold) styled in 2 ways. Take your pick!
Just a change if accessories can take you from day to night.
This dress needs no ironing and is a great piece especially for travelling.

Swollen Feet & Ankles during Pregnancy

Many pregnant women experience mild swelling in the ankles and/or feet especially towards the end of the third trimester of the pregnancy. You may notice that the extent of the swelling may vary during different times of the day. For eg. It is quite common to find your feet to be more puffy at the end of the day.

What causes swollen ankles and feet during pregnancy?

During pregnancy, up to 50% more fluids is produced in a woman's body as reported by the American  Pregnancy Association. This is part of the process to prepare the mother's body for the growth of baby as well as for the birth of the baby. Excess fluids are retained especially in the feet and ankles due to the law of gravity and causes the the swelling in the ankles and feet.
Also, the additional weight gained during pregnancy actually slows down the blood and fluid circulation in the body and causes water retention to take place, commonly in the ankles and feet.

What can you do about it?

While they may not be a avoided, there are some ways to help minimize swollen feet and ankles during pregnancy:

1. Avoid long periods of standing up or being on your feet. 
 Prop up your feet or keep your feet slightly elevated when sitting down.
 (Tip: In the office, stack up two telephone directories and prop as a foot rest.)

2. Prop up your legs on a pillow when you sleep at night. 
(Tip: with the feet propped up, get the husband to massage feet, gently massaging the swollen areas away from the feet and ankles.)

3. Reduce your intake of salt(sodium).  
Avoid adding additional sodium in your diet (for eg .sliced chili that is drenched in soya sauce- a common Asian favourite) and cutting down on processed foods which are commonly known to have high salt content.

4. Increase you intake of potassium rich foods.
Potassium balance the levels of fluids in the body. It also stimulates the kidneys to eliminate excess fluids and along with it excess sodium.

5. Drink adequate water each day
Water hydrates the body and flushes out toxins and excess sodium from the body.

6. Wear comfortable shoes. 
With many choice of stylish flat shoes such as ballet pumps, you won't be 
sacrificing style for comfort!

Keep Baby Safe from Secondhand Smoke

Do you know that breathing even a little secondhand smoke can be harmful to your unborn child?

What is Secondhand smoke?

It is the smoke that is comes from tobacco products which is released into the environment by smokers, and unintentionally inhaled by nonsmokers.

What so bad about it ?

The American Cancer Society[1] reports that secondhand tobacco smoke contains 7000 chemicals, with 250 or more being harmful, and at least 69 are known to cause cancer. Nonsmokers who inhale the secondhand smoke, also inhale the nicotine and toxic chemicals.

Effects on the Pregnancy and Secondhand smoke

Exposure to secondhand smoke may have the following negative effects on your unborn baby, as reported by the Surgeon General[2] in the US:

•  Increases the chances of your baby being a low-weight baby
•  Increases the incidence of respiratory problems in your baby such as pneumonia and bronchitis
• Increases the risk of the baby having weaker lungs
• Increases the risk of the baby developing bronchitis and pneumonia
• Increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) in the baby’s first year

Protect your Baby

• Make your home and car smoke-free zones. If you have family members at home who are smokers, seek their understanding and request that they smoke in the balcony or outside the home.
• Avoid places where there would be smokers. For example, sitting at the in-door area of a restaurant, rather at the al fresco dining area where there would more likely to be smokers.

Hooray for Singapore's Anti-Smoking Laws. Know your rights as a non-smoker, Mums-to-be!
We should be thankful that in Singapore there are many place where smoking is prohibited by law. Besides the interior of malls and public buildings, did you know that in the following places, smoking is not allowed:

• Bus Interchanges , Bus shelters and within 5m radius of bus shelters
• Any common area of any residential premises or building, including void decks, common corridors, staircases & stairwells
• Enclosed common areas of offices, e.g. corridors, lobbies, stairwells
• Any area within 5 m of any entrance/exit/window/ventilation intake of a buildings
• Covered drop-off or pick-up points

See the 2013 updated list of places in Singapore where smoking is banned on the National Environmental Agency (NEA) Website

So pregnant mums, know your rights to a smoke free environment.  The NEA has Guidelines on handling errant smokers,some parts of which I found to be quite amusing. For example: "The manager/operator should speak to the person(The errant smoker) 
privately in a polite way (talk in a soft tone or whisper into his ear)."  Hmmm.

To report errant smokers, do inform the building management, or for  public places where there is no management , call NEA at 1800-CALL-NEA (1800 225 5632) to file a report.

Lets be empowered to know that we can take steps to protect our baby from secondhand smoke.

 [1] American Cancer Society Website

 [2]  Public Resource "Secondhand Smoke: What it means to you"  by the Surgeon General (US)

Stylish Maternity Look of the Day : Glam up for the year end festivities

With the year end approaching, invitations to dinner parties and functions will start to roll in soon.
Be prepared to look your best in a stylish yet comfortable dress.
We recommend our Giada Maternity dress with nursing function. With half sleeves and a gorgeous navy lace with a beige underlay, this dress is a great evening dress for the pregnant or nursing mum.

Baby Care Workshop

Little Naomi at birth

Upon researching for some courses on the One PA website, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have a Baby Care Workshop catered specially for first time parents.

For those who are not familiar with One PA,  it is a government initiative to equip the various interest-groups with activities and workshops and ultimately to bridge the communities in Singapore. The courses and workshops organized by them are held at the various community centres located around Singapore.

An excerpt on the Baby Care Workshop taken from their website:

"Be equipped with the techniques to prepare yourself for the many challenges ahead. This baby care workshop is designed to introduce participants to the delight of caring for a baby (up to 6 months) in a simulated environment through hands-on practice. A high-quality and substantial involvement in baby care plays an important role in the growing up of a child and helps in language and IQ development. Participants will acquire the basic skills of baby care such as basic handling, bathing, dressing up, diapers changing, swaddling/safe sleeping, feeding and winding after feeding. Dummies and baby care requisites will be used for demonstration and practice. Handouts will also be given on the skills learnt in the workshop. "

The trainer is a qualified registered Nurse with 22 years of teaching experience in training student nurses in the care of adults and children.

3  plus points about this workshop:
1. Hands-on practical workshop
2. 1 day workshop that is 3 hours in duration (Fabulous for busy mums)
3. Affordable cost at S$25

For first time mums,  having some hands-on knowledge on how to handle your new born will help you to be more prepared when the baby arrives. Another plus point is first time grandparents and domestic helpers have the opportunity to equip themselves too by attending this course.

When I was pregnant with my first child about 5 years ago, I attended a hospital based ante-natal class. This was held over 10 sessions with one session was on handling the new born baby. While I found that session informative, it wasn't a hands-on class. The trainer demonstrated on the dummy baby while we stood around to watch. I thought I would  just learn along the way when my baby arrived. The reality was that I was quite unsure how to handle new born Naomi in the bath tub. And  it didn't help that she was really tiny, just 2.3 kg at birth. Thank goodness my mother-in-law did a hands-on demo to show me how to bath and handle little Naomi.  

For all new mums, you may wish to consider equipping yourself with this workshop. 

To date the workshop is available at:  Serangoon CC , Ayer Rajah CC, Chua Chu Kang CC, Hougang CC, Marsiling CC and Tampines North CC.

You can check out the updated information of the locations and dates of the workshops here.  For easy navigation, search for Baby Care in the Search Box on the top right corner of the page, that will bring you to the whole list of Baby Care Workshops. Alternatively you may contact One PA at 67832900.


Best, 
Edwina

*Important Notice: This is not a paid advertisement or marketing promotion. I am not paid in cash or kind for this write up. The opinions are purely on a personal basis.

Stylish Maternity Look of the day ~ Corporate Chic for the working mum-to-be. 

With the Studio DUO dress, all you need is a bold lipstick and your favourite black handbag and you're set for the office.

New Twist to Favourites

Our Antoinette lace maternity and nursing dress was a sell out when we first launched it late last year. We have just launched our Antoniette II lace DUO dress in a slightly different lace from the original one, as well as the Giada lace DUO dress which comes in a elbow sleeve style.