Pregnancy & Baby 

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Expecting? How much water do you need to drink?

Fluid consumption affects all aspects of pregnancy, including maintaining your energy. Good hydration also helps prevent the following: dry skin, miscarriage, premature labour, constipation, haemorrhaging and electrolyte (chemical) imbalances in your blood, and therefore, your baby’s blood.

The hormones of pregnancy change the way the body stores and uses fluids, making you salvage water and store it. Blood volume doubles by the time you are seven months pregnant, and amniotic fluid replenishes itself by about a cup every hour. Due to changes in kidney function in pregnancy, there is an increased amount of waste and useful products lost to your body in the urine. Fluid supplementation by the mother can reduce stress on the kidneys. Also, pregnant women have an increased water loss through the lungs.

Premature labour can be induced by dehydration and stopped, many times, by rehydration. We sometimes need to do this in a hospital.

In order to satisfy the fluid requirements of pregnancy, consume six to eight eight-ounce glasses of water every day, if you can manage it, in addition to juices, which can count as a serving of fruit. Such intake will make sure that the changes that encourage water retention will not result in dehydration, which will, in turn, cause constipation, dry skin and possible complications such as premature labour.

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