Did anyone else see that Horizon programme on The Nine Months That Made You?

[LoveInAColdClimate]

And is anyone else now freaking out as a result? I have felt so sick that my diet, while not completely awful, has not been by any means perfect. I am now 10+4 and seriously worried that the fact that I haven't been cramming myself with green vegetables and milk means that the baby is going to grow up to have diabetes and/or heart disease. Anyone else panicking or am I being insane?

I watched it, and at 35 weeks its a it late for me to start changing my diet but not for you!! I do think these things are sometimes just based on one study though and you have to keep some perspective. People grow up healthy after all sorts of diets in the womb, I wouldn't worry about it, just eat as healthy as you can.

I didnt (i was obviously sleeping!!) but my husband did, pushed me out of the door next day to get some pregnacare vitamins! I can't stomach much fruit or veg at min so i'm having smoothies and trying to balance out what i eat she says stuffing crisps in

WeLoveHaribo, same here, i didn't watch it but my husband did and he started feeding me pregnancy vitamins the same night! and goes on and on about how important a balanced diet is for our baby... but i am feeling sick all the time and can't really face food, apart from very plain carbohydrate like plain bread and occasional fruits.
I am not sure how true these things are - my mum essentially ate nothing in her first three months with me and I turned out to be ok...

Thanks, all - trying not to worry about it...

OP, don't worry about it too much. If you can't eat properly in the first trimester because you feel sick, then it's not going to do any good to force yourself to eat a balanced diet. You'll just make yourself ill.

Take Pregnacare with Omega 3 & 6 throughout your pg and that will make up for any deficiencies in your diet.

As for the programme, it was extremely interesting (and disturbing for me because DS1 was born six weeks early and underweight, but there's not much I can do about it now) but all it did was put the fear of God into anyone who's ever had or is having a baby - it didn't actually give clear advice on what to do to avoid having a low birth weight baby.

Good luck with your pgs, ladies.

Good grief, like we need anything else to worry about! The balanced diet advice is sound, but nothing new there really - and whilst in 1st trim feel v lucky indeed if you can stomach anything at all other than dry rusk and marshmallows.

The prog was interesting (though honestly I was confused as to the final hypothesis) but especially the bit about the placenta, which is magnificent if truly bleugh to look at.

No real issues for us lucky, developed countries not facing famine or poor health education.

OP you are not going insane, your are simply uptheduff :o Hopefully you'll feel better soon enough and will be able to stomach eating your greens...

I only started taking the pregnancy vitamins with Omega 3 at about 9 weeks (just finished off my conception vitamins before that) which I am now regretting. My baby may well be composed largely of sausage rolls and oat cakes...

Brilliant programme!! As long as you eat healthy and balanced I'd say nothing to worry about :)

It was an interesting programme but the presenters did say that the link between birth weight and health in later years was a theory and the research, especially the study in India isn't complete.

Also, eating a healthy diet in pregnancy and smoking being bad for your baby isn't exactly news.

I think there was something in Freakanomics about this and they said other factors often go together which lead to a particular outcome so low birth weight as result of smoking, poor diet or drug use may lead to poor outcomes for that child but because of other factors that are likely to exist if your parents are not educated about diet, use drugs, live in poverty etc.

I saw it and found it interesting. The basic message was the same as ever - eat well during pregnancy!

I agree it was slightly alarmist - after all, many babies are born small, but surely it does no good to worry parents about this once they are born.

I also wonder how it can be true all over the world when clearly different races have different builds. I lived in Japan for a while and babies there are much smaller than ours - yet they are an incredibly healthy nation.

Wouldn't advise taking anything with Omega 6 in it, the average Uk diet is already estimated to be 6:1 in favour of Omega 6 : 3 as opposed to the 1:1 it probably should be.

I didn't see the program but probably a good thing because I am already feeling guilty about how little I am eating!! I have. no. appetite. I have to literally FORCE myself to eat and put every effort into eating healthy but often end up eating whatever is in front of me at the time...I am taking my supplements regularly including DHA and probiotics as well as calcium and Vit D tablets prescribed by GP so hopefully that will help...
But then you hear about all the women with HG who throw up throughout their whole pregnancy and their babies are fine........
OK am gonna go eat something now! :)

I lived on lucozade sport, complan and cakes for the first 18 weeks, I was so sick, I had no choice. Green veg would not stay down! (neither would water...) It's hard not to feel guilty about everything you do and don't do in pregnancy, it's probably worse when they're born!

If you went out onto the street now and rounded up 100 adults, could you accurately divide them up according to who's mum ate lots of green veg, who was born small or early, and who was breast or bottle fed? So many factors combine to make us who and what we are, it is impossible to point to this or that as the reason someone is obese or thin, or has a high or low IQ, or watever it is. As long as I know I have done the best I can in the circumstances I'm in then I'm happy.

I thought it was very interesting. The focus for health services is on how your behaviour during pregnancy affects the baby, with the implication that it affects the baby immediately. If the mother who eats a bad diet gives birth to a healthy baby there's an assumption that the baby has dodged the bullet and will be fine from then on, which now seems to not be the case. The bad diet could result in health problems that don't strike until many, many years later.

OptimisticBiscuit The researchers were claiming that they could tell who is likely to have various health problems, such as diabetes and heart problems, just by looking at birth weight. It actually came down to nutrition, rather than birth weight, and in particular the minerals and vitamins a pregnant woman has. So yes, you can take 100 adults and tell whose mum ate lots of green veg (according to the scientists).

I also found but incomplete, then heard program called something like 'first 1000 days' on radio 4 yesterday afternoon, which I will download as podcast, this was much more informative re nutrition before and after baby born. For example discussed whether enriched formulas detrimental for underweight babies etc so have a listen to that I think much more well rounded. Try not to worry unless you are malnourished and underweight or obese and eat junk all the time I'm sure your baby will get all that it needs!

I was worried my boys too big (at 8lb 9 and 9lb 2) so actually felt reassured by this program! Just hoping the next one not too much of a whopper!!! Ouch!

I turned it off after a while- to upsetting.

My dd1 was born small- do I really need to hear how she doomed for diabetes? No, I really do not that guilt over a uncontrollable factor.

I've had HG and the program just made me feel awful as my bump is quite small, and I might have caused problems for the baby later in life :( not that I could control it