Butler-Jones – pre conception health

I’d actually take it back to pre-conception health, not just pre-natal, cause usually we don’t find out we’re pregnant, for a woman, not me personally, but we don’t out we’re pregnant until sometime through, and looking after ourselves generally is a good thing, not just for ourselves but for our babies, and for boys in terms of the health of their part of the contribution, the sperm etcetera, again looking after yourself; eating well, being active, not, you know taking things in moderation. I mean, one of the things I often talk about is everything in moderation, including moderation. In other words don’t beat yourself up, over, you know you had two glasses of wine rather than one or whatever; don’t always go there, right. 

And binge drinking etcetera is damaging to the individual, but particularly if you’re pregnant and you may not know it, but also in terms of influence on the male side of it. So it really is about looking after yourself, and then being even more careful during pregnancy in terms of avoiding unnecessary medications, though if you need it, you know the mother is better off if, cause again, stress of the baby etcetera, so it’s always about trade-offs, but that’s why we have doctors and nurses who can provide advice. But the first presumption is you know the least to accomplish the most with the fewest side effects, and at any stage in pregnancy, there’s no substitute for basically as a parent looking after ourselves, and then afterwards looking after ourselves, right. 

And smoking’s a bad thing no matter when you are, but it’s particularly hard on the fetus and developing lungs in young children.