Baby DevelopmentBaby development is one of the most fascinating processes under the sun - and it starts from the very moment you conceive. Right from the very beginning your baby is growing and developing rapidly, so rapidly that every antenatal examination and ultrasound scan reveals tangible stages of this miraculous process...and the tiny embryo is utterly dependent on the nourishment and protection your body provides.How you live your life now directly affects your baby: the food you eat, how healthy you are, whether or not you smoke, drink alcohol, take drugs of any kind...even how happy you are and the kinds of music you listen to! So it's fascinating and also important to know how your baby is developing throughout the different stages of your pregnancy and to do all you can to encourage that development. 
Through each stage of your pregnancy your baby will reach new mile stones. His or her fingers and toes will start to form, the digestive and nervous systems will start to take shape and soon your baby will be functioning as a tiny independent being inside you.This is a very exciting time and the more you know about the stages of baby development, the more fascinating everything becomes! Tracking the progress of your pregnancy and the steady changes in the growth of the fetus can be be very absorbing. The beautiful video below will help you really feel close to the various stages of baby development from conception to birth:
How to Stay Healthy During Pregnancy Once you've seen the images of baby development in the video above, you begin to feel very protective towards the tiny new life growing inside you. No surprise, then, that it's a great time to take stock of your general health, your eating habits and anything in your lifestyle or environment that could possibly harm your baby. Smoking! OK, you knew this one was going to come up now, didn't you?! Is smoking really that bad for an unborn baby? Well, yes, actually, it really is. Babies of moms who smoked through their pregnancy have been shown, in many studies, to have lower birth weights and slower growth rates than normal. Plus in some recent reports they're thought to be more prone to childhood illnesses such as asthma and chest infections. Alcohol in Pregnancy Again, the studies are bad news for anyone who drinks a fair bit of alcohol on a regular basis and who is planning to have a baby. Drinking during pregnancy has a lot of bad effects as the alcohol goes straight through to the baby. There are lots of sites where you can find out all the details of these effects and we prefer not to get heavy or patronising about it here. We'll just say: "Don't drink if you can avoid it!" Recreational Drugs Yup, these don't do the baby any good at all. It's unlikely that any user of hard drugs is unaware of the fact that babies can be born heroin addicts if they've already received the drug through the placenta from their mothers. That's the extreme, but just about any other drug, even a prescribed one, is going to get through to the baby as well. Not a great way to begin your life. Environment By this we mean things around you or in your lifestyle that may be harmful to the unborn baby. Radon gas, polluted water, even certain soft cheeses that cause Listeriosis have all been shown to be a threat to the baby in the womb. Not very long ago a lot of women farmers weren't aware that lambing a sheep could expose them to the risk of diseases like chlamydiosis (also known as EAE: enzootic abortion of ewes), toxoplasmosis and listeriosis, which can risk you losing your baby. Nowadays there is far greater awareness but even so, a few cases slip through the net every year. This isn't the place to dwell on things that can go wrong during baby devlopment - but it is important to be responsible about the many ways in which controllable aspects of your lifestyle and environment should be taken on board. Enjoy your pregnancy as much as you possibly can and revel in the new life that is growing so miraculously within...it's such a very special time and though 9 months might seem a long time at the start, it really does fly by. Soon you'll be holding that special delivery in your arms! Looking ahead? Check out some of these pages to see what's in store!
Tell me about 6 weeks pregnant
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