WOMEN - 10 Productive Things you can Learn During Pregnancy

Article by nisha dey

So, you really think, it’s the D-day of a girl’s life when she is going to get hooked up with “the man of her life”, and it’s the best day, the most amazing moment she can ever forget? This probably can be true for those who have not yet felt the little something kicking inside their belly. Ask a woman how she felt, when the doctor with test reports in his/her hand came and said “the tests are positive. Congratulations! You are pregnant”. And you will know, it is the best feeling of her life. She is going to enter the phase of a journey where she will smell the womanhood and motherhood emotions. She is all set to sit and enjoy her ride for the next 9 months. Want to know more? It’s when doing things what the baby inside the womb wants to do, following rules of “dos and don’ts”, watching the time and holding the calendar, marking the dates gone and counting the days left, the mood swings, the dire need of having a particular flavor of an ice-cream or having what she never liked (yes, she starts behaving crazy and insane when she is pregnant), going through pictures of babies in magazines, imagining the micro hands and feet, the first kick of the baby, the excitement of the delivery date when it’s near, getting overly emotional and there is a lot with a would-be mother. She is completely lost in her excitation, emotions and thoughts, so much that she eagerly wants to wait being called a mother.

During pregnancy, she is the one treated like a kid, taken care as if she is a month old baby and she is overloaded with things to keep in mind, while during her pregnancy. She has to learn and do things what the baby will be “inheriting”- what the mom does, the baby learns! And the below list is the 10 productive things that a momma can learn during pregnancy-

10. Parenting tips

The most important thing she needs to realize is that she is holding another life inside her tummy; the baby will be soon out of the shell and then will grow up the way S/he is raised. So she should start learning how to be a successful mother and a parent. These parenting tips they can learn from books, mommy blogs, child care experts and other sources, but the other best way of learning about the tips, are the noble aged ones who are the knowledgeable and the well wishers. Raising up the child is like an exam for a mother, for which she too needs to get herself prepared and the time she is left with, is a full “nine-month”. Also, when she is learning she has actually begun raising and nurturing the unborn child. Parenting tips are like tools to be used wisely and accordingly when dealing with children.

9. Knitting and Tailoring

A pregnant woman is not allowed to stress herself by working and all she is advised to do is to rest and take care of herself the most. Knitting and tailoring would be more like passing the time and feeling the unborn baby’s presence. She either can join classes to learn knitting and practice making tiny socks, designing sweaters to keep the baby warm or can learn it from the other older members. She probably can sit in the sofa or her corner of bed and ask her mother-in-law to teach her spend time with the balls of yarn. She can learn stitching pretty-cute-little dresses bordered with laces and weave her thoughts and remember what the mother is learning, the baby too is learning it in the subconscious state of his mind. And with this, the baby is learning creativity, isn’t it?

8. Art of Living-Smile

During pregnancy it is very common for women to get irritated at times, sudden mood swings, basically is the one cranky. This is what might affect the baby inside the womb negatively and the delivery too can have a complex one. It is one of the important things to keep in mind by women and her well wishers that she is kept happy and does whatever makes her smile. When she is active and surrounded with all happiness, she is connecting to the unborn baby and showering that happiness inside. Learning the art of living which will lead to happiness, like, wear comfortable clothes, dress up beautifully, see yourself in the mirror and smile because you look the prettiest with over-weighted belly. Groom yourself with chemical free stuffs (that’s bad for the baby), share love and involve others in your happiness, do the good things (like it is said “do what is good for the baby”), and learn this way the art of living.

7. Nutrition & diet

For a soon-going-to-be-mother, nutrition education is a must for their Child’s development. She must learn and go through pages which will help her know about the right kind of diet which she needs. Which food is necessary, which fruit will help the baby stay healthy inside the shell, what to have and why to have, is what she really needs to learn about. Like a caring mother she will know managing and following the diet. Through properly educating herself, mothers get helped in understanding the nutritional requirements of their children unborn, the sources of these nutrients, their availability and the easily available substitutes. Learning about nutrition and health will help her feeding the new guest with healthy meal and the baby will properly develop and start to grow inside her womb. With that, a pregnant woman will know which food has protein, more amounts of vitamins and minerals, calories and iron, light but healthy above all.

6. Religious hymns (Holy Books, Mythologies, and Epics)

Hymnals or hymnbooks are a great source of learning religious songs, prayers and texts. When in pregnancy, a mother should learn and read out the religious texts and sing spiritual songs. Whatever she learns and speaks, is what the baby is listening inside and learning, so it is not exactly what she will be learning only, but also, she is teaching the baby about religious hymns and mentally the baby will grow up with purity of spiritualism. The hymns include good moral values and positivity in thoughts. She is not learning for herself, but in a way is teaching and educating the fetus, the good things to the unborn in womb. This is called the “Garbh Sanskar” which the elders often advice the pregnant women to learn. Learning all these and reciting the religious “chants” ,”shlokas”, and singing spiritual songs is a way of letting  the baby know about cultural traditions and values.

5. Yoga & Meditation

In pregnancy, when women are battling with mood swings, fatigue and sickness, painful leg cramps , breathing problems, and drowning in the flood of conflicting feelings; yoga exercises, techniques and postures can be learned to ease all such conditions and ensuring relieved nine months followed by a smooth and easier labor and delivery. Learning yoga and meditation will help the would-be-mothers live a stress-free life and actively participate in the motherhood. The aim of learning yoga during pregnancy is to help the mother (herself) bring the unborn into the world with less hassle and minimum or completely no health complications. Training themselves with simpler methods of yoga like “asanas” and “pranayams” and meditating, can help them experience with minimal  discomfort and helps to prepare for the birth, boosts up mind and body, and continues to have benefits even after pregnancy, also.

4. Healthy cooking

Superstar Amir Khan’s ad campaign for UNICEF India called “Kuposhan-Bharat Chhoro” (Free India from Malnutrition), is not merely an ad spreading the awareness but is a warning for the malice of Mal-nutrition.one of the major contributory factors in malnutrition is the improper way of cooking foods. The most common ways of wastage of water soluble vitamins are boiling cereals in excess of water, over-cooking foods unnecessarily, washing fruits and vegetables after cutting them and throwing away the water in which the cereal or vegetable was cooked etc. all these socio-cultural factors together have cumulative effect on malnutrition among children. So learn about how faulty cooking methods can be a threat to child’s healthy growth. Start training yourself with the proper ways of cooking so that there is no wastage of nutrients and keep learning to improve nutritional status of the food.

3. Science

Pregnant mothers! You do probably not understand what medical terms the doctors are using and there are a lot of questions hovering back on your mind. Try learning about the scientific-medical terms and keeping the important ones in your memory basket. You will not only need knowledge for now, but also this will help you in future too. Go through the books for pregnancy, read out the columns and blogs made for pregnant women, grab your stacks of magazines and read the Q&A asked by mothers and answered by doctors. The more you learn, the more you know. Doing science will develop your ability to ask questions, explore and collect information, organize and test your ideas, solve doubts and apply what you learn. Educate yourself with science and build your confidence level, so that there is nothing you don’t understand or know about.

2. Crafts

Give yourself a chance to embrace your artistic side. Learn creativity, try arts and crafts, get messy with arts, and the baby in the fetus might learn developing a creative mind. Learning craft will be an enjoyable art and an activity to explore artistic skills. Don’t forget, you can be a good teacher to your child when he starts growing up; you simply teach him your craft skills. Choose it as a hobby for some time, learn it from books or any other sources and enjoy indulging yourself in the creativity. Learn making easy soft toys for the baby who is to come, bright and colorful scrapbooks, writing diary entry and decorating it with beautiful stones or arts, making cards with handmade papers or other sheets, begin with origami techniques from books and make stuffs for the baby or for decorating the baby’s room. There is a lot a would-be-momma can do when she learns or takes classes for art and craft.

1. Lullabies and Rhymes

Wonder your baby is growing bigger inside your tummy month by month, and it is getting hard to sleep comfortably and the baby just kicks you because S/he is still awake. It’s time to learn the lullabies and sing out to them softly and bit louder so that you can make them asleep in peace. Become net savvy, find songs and listen to all lullabies for the babies, learn all the words. Choose the soothing numbers which are suitable for bedtime and get ready to be able to sing to your little one to sleep. Be prepared with bunch of it, so that when you change their diaper, during the bath time, bedtime, while dressing them up and even for soothing a bump on their head, you can help your baby learn language and listening skills. Let your baby enjoy the songs, lap rhymes, finger plays, and lullabies and feel the bond of closeness.