Pregnancy is a very critical time, both for the mother and the baby. To protect your baby and your health, here are some things you should pay attention to.

1. It has been proven that smoking can cause your baby to be unhealthy. Some of the effects of smoking on the baby are a diminished size and birth weight, smaller lung capacity, and brain defects. After birth the adverse effects of smoking remain with the incidences of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, asthma, reduced learning ability, lower IQ and attitudinal/behavioral problems.
2. Be sure to take in plenty of iodine for a good pregnancy. Iodine can be found in iodized salt and some vitamins contain iodine. Check the ingredients of the vitamins you buy and make sure you get vitamins containing iodine. Lack of iodine can affect your baby’s brain development during pregnancy.
   

3. For a good pregnancy, take in a lot of Omega-3 fatty acids. These are found in fish, eggs, nuts, oils and produce. You should prefer to eat low mercury fish like salmon and tilapia. Make sure your diet is healthy can also help after the baby is born, since your diet will determine the health and richness of your breast milk.  Breast feeding is the best nutrition for the baby, if you make sure to eat the right foods.
4. For a good pregnancy keep your diet going on fresh foods. Canned foods have toxic chemicals that, in sufficient amounts, will harm your baby’s health. If possible, buy organic fruits and veggies to avoid pesticides and herbicides. Also avoid GMO foods, since most of these are bread to be herbicide resistant, and are typically sprayed with dangerous chemicals.
5. The water that you drink should be filtered using the reverse osmosis or carbon filter methods. These methods reduce the toxic minerals in water such as perchlorates, lead and chlorine.
6. The lotions and creams that you use on your body may have chemicals that are potentially dangerous for the baby. Such chemicals as triclosan, BHA and oxybenzone are proven to be bad for the fetus. If you are not sure, look up the product at CosmeticsDatabase.com to find out if it is safe to use during pregnancy.
7. Check if your water has lead from the pipes. For a good pregnancy, do not have your home remodeled if it was built before lead was forbidden to be used in house paint. This was in 1978. So if your house was built before that, having it redone during pregnancy will expose you and your baby to a lot of toxic lead.
8. Plastics may also contain harmful materials like PVC and phthalates. Replace the plastics, like shower curtains, in your home, with natural fabrics instead.
9. Make sure that everything you use while pregnant is organic and natural. This goes for your crib, the diapers, the milk bottles and the bed sheets that you will be using for the baby. Go for natural cotton rather than synthetics. Glass bottles are always more preferable than plastic ones.