By following a healthy lifestyle, eating good quality foods and taking some preventive measure helps to prevent chromosomal abnormalities during pregnancy.
Every parent wants a healthy baby and they are trying for it as well. A healthy baby should have a good birth weight, no structural anomalies, good metabolic activity and mentally & physically fit.
However, there are numerous factors that inversely influence the health of a baby. If a mother is unhealthy, has bad habits such as smoking or has a bad obstructive history, her baby may face health-related issues during pregnancy.
Genetic abnormalities like chromosomal aberrations occur by a bad lifestyle of women, living in an unhealthy environment, unhealthy life of the parent, unhealthy food, stress and due to unknown reasons- random cell division events.
Many articles on the internet (a good quality on) explaining what to do and what not to do during pregnancy. This content focusing only on how to prevent chromosomal abnormalities only.
Here is the article explaining preventive measures for chromosomal abnormalities during pregnancy.
Read more: In which conditions a Karyotyping or a Karyotype Test is preferred?
How to prevent chromosomal abnormalities during pregnancy?
Here are some of the points women should have to take into consideration during pregnancy.
Rule out any genetic condition running in your and your partner’s family or not.
Genetic conditions or chromosomal abnormalities are sometimes inherited, which means it can transmit from parents to their offsprings.
In case if it is recessive, symptoms aren’t seen in the parent but may present in the fetus. Before when planning pregnancy, get information on whether any genetic condition is running in your family/ sibling or not.
It actually (practically) helps you to prevent chromosomal abnormalities during pregnancy. However, most of the chromosomal defects such as trisomies, monosomies or others are non-inherited.
Now, what if any genetic abnormality, mental or physical disabilities are present in your or your partner’s family?
So you can’t get pregnant in that case? No, when you get pregnant (in such a condition), immediately visit your doctor in the first few weeks and explain the situation. Your doctor advises you on what to do next.
Age above 30
In another scenario, the chances of getting chromosomal abnormalities elevate if maternal age is above 30 or 35. Scientifically, it is proven that the chances of getting genetic defects are higher as maternal age increases.
In this case, too, you have to visit your doctor within a few weeks of pregnancy.
Eat healthy food.
Eating good quality, vitamin, mineral, protein, carbohydrate and fiber-rich food during pregnancy is very important as well for the growing fetus. Eat green veggies, peanuts, leafy veggies, folic acid-rich food, fruits and less oily food.
Lack of proper and complete nutrition to the fetus causes serious chromosomal defects.
Gain healthy weight.
If you are pregnant and underweight, try to put on some weight by taking a healthy diet, if possible take medication or supplements advised by a nutritionist or your doctor.
Stay away from unhealthy life
When a woman gets pregnant she has to follow a proper healthy lifestyle; wake up early, sleep early at night, take care of personal hygiene, avoid watching more TV, avoid late-night parties, etc.
Avoid drinking and smoking:
Smoking and drinking during pregnancy isn’t a good habit. If you are addicted, you have to think over it. During pregnancy, the pregnant lady should have to follow a healthy lifestyle.
Drinking and smoking may cause alcohol syndrome, damage to chromosomes and cancer-like life-threatening conditions.
Stay calm and relax:
Your inner health is crucial as well. Don’t take too much physical and mental stress, meditate daily, do yoga and make yourself calm and mentally clean during pregnancy.
Don’t use unnecessary drugs or medication.
During pregnancy, women should have to avoid unnecessary medication. It may adversely influence her fetus’s health or chromosome structure. If required, take medications as per the doctor’s recommendation.
Stay away from unhealthy environments:
Air, soil and water pollutants also affect the health of a pregnant lady and so her fetus. Some pollutants are so bad that directly affect the DNA or chromosomes of the fetus, are commonly categorized into teratogens.
If you are living in a high pollutant place, sift immediately to some healthy place. Close contact with radiation, chemicals and other pollutants is harmful.
These are some key recommendations that may help you to prevent chromosomal abnormalities during pregnancy, however, as the event occurs de novo, these aren’t 100% proven.
It may decrease the chances but aren’t called preventive measures. For example, if you have diabetes avoiding eating sugar helps to control it- it’s proven.
To know whether a fetus is suffering from some or not- doctors usually advise going for genetic testing- especially karyotyping. Karyotyping helps to rule out various structural and numerical chromosomal anomalies.
Note that most of the chromosomal abnormalities are incurable. So in case if your fetus has any, follow your doctor’s advice. Don’t take decisions in panic and emotion.
Conclusion:
As we said, these are some of the suggestions or healthy habits every woman should have to follow during pregnancy. Chromosomal abnormalities can’t be prevented by any drug or medication.
Once some portion gets deleted, or inserted into some other chromosome, it can’t be repaired. Although, we even don’t have the full power to prevent it.