When does a family prepare for the coming of a baby? If you want to invest in your child’s mind so that it is functioning well, you have to invest early. If you only start to do so by the time you invest in a good school for your child, it may already be too late.
The investment should start even before your child is conceived.
One of the most important choices you have to make is choosing a partner who will be committed to raise children with you. Raising children is a big responsibility. It will take a toll on your physical, mental and emotional well-being. Thus, raising children will be easier with someone who is responsible and committed enough to do this with you.
Now if you are a single parent reading this book do not worry, I only said it is easier. Of course it is still possible to raise children single-handedly, but it will take a lot of work and a good support system to pull this off. I have friends who were raised by single parents and turned out to be wonderful and successful people.
It is important that during our younger years, before we even have any children, we should keep ourselves healthy and make good lifestyle choices. All the things that we do affect our genetic make up. Since eggs and sperms are cells and they are the ones needed to make babies, they are also affected by the choices we make which would eventually affect our children.
Aside from taking good care of your body by eating good food, avoiding alcohol intake, cigarette smoke and drug use, you should keep your immunization updated against hepatitis B, tetanus, HPV and German measles. Infections especially incurred during pregnancy can have an influence on the fetus and the child’s future.
One of the preventable causes of developmental delay is German measles caused by the rubella virus. I am grateful to my pediatric residency program in North Carolina because prior to our training, they took a blood sample to see if we had German measles infection before and if we didn’t, they give us the vaccine for German measles. Why is this very important? German measles does not have much effect to you and me, however, it could have a profound effect on a developing fetus. There was a pregnant healthcare worker who was infected by the German measles virus. She presented with a rash and fever and eventually got better. However, her baby was severely affected. He turned out to be developmentally delayed, that means he was delayed in walking and talking, he had a heart problem, he had eye problems, and he had a hearing problem. This condition is called Congenital Rubella Syndrome. A condition like this could have been prevented if she had her German measles immunization before she got pregnant. How much would you pay for your child’s brain to be functioning well? The investment starts very early. The earlier that you take care of yourself, the better it is for your baby.
