Do I have to quit work?
If you are pregnant you can take paid time off to go to antenatal appointments even if you work part-time and have only been in your job for a short time.
If you were working when you got pregnant, you can ask for maternity leave. This gives you time off to get ready to have a baby and to recover from the birth. You are entitled to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave, regardless of how long you have worked for your employer.
The earliest this can start is 11 weeks before the baby is due, but you can work right up until the due date if you want. If the baby comes when you are still working, the 26 weeks starts from the birth.
If when you are about 6 months pregnant (it is calculated as 15 weeks before your baby is due) you have worked for your employer continuously for 26 weeks, you may be able to get additional maternity leave. Additional maternity leave starts immediately after ordinary maternity leave and continues for a further 26 weeks. It is usually unpaid.
Most mums are able to get paid Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance during ordinary maternity leave. Ask your employer or speak to your local Jobcentre Plus for more details.
You may also have other rights such as:
- the right to parental leave,
- the right to flexible working
or if you’re a dad.....
- paternity leave.
Healthy Eating
Most of the nutrients you and your baby need will be found in a normal, healthy diet.
Here are some Top Tips for eating healthily:
- Try and eat lots of fruit and veg: fresh, frozen, tinned, dried, juice or in a smoothie are all good.
- Base your meals around a starchy food like wholegrain bread, pasta, rice and potatoes with some protein like meat, chicken, fish, eggs or pulses, like lentils and beans.
- Include some dairy products in your diet like pasteurised cheese, yoghurt and milk, three times a day if you can; the calcium in them helps your baby’s bones grow strong.
- Fibre will help you avoid constipation and piles, so eat plenty of wholegrain bread, rice and pasta, plus fruit and veg; try and drink around eight glasses of fluid a day too.
- Limit the amount of sugar and fat you eat to avoid gaining too much weight, this means cutting down on cakes, biscuits and crisps!
- Snack on sandwiches or pitta bread filled with cottage cheese, chicken or eggs; houmous and raw vegetable sticks or oat cakes; malt loaf; yoghurts; soup; currant buns with no icing; toast with low-fat spread; cereal with milk and fruit.
- If you are pregnant or breastfeeding and you receive Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance, you are entitled to free milk every week. Ask your midwife or health visitor about it.
Will I ever get my figure back?
- To find out more about healthy eating or if you are worried about your weight, speak to your midwife or GP.
- Breastfeeding your baby will burn 500 calories a day and helps your tummy muscles go back.
- Don’t try and lose the weight too quickly: a lot of new mums take months to lose weight.
"Before I had Faith I was worried about getting my figure back but since having her the weight has come straight off. I think it’s helped that I breastfeed her." Fiona, 16 (daughter aged 5 months)
Drugs & Alcohol - Protecting your baby
If you or your partner or friends and family are using drugs or alcohol, you might be worried about how this might affect your baby.
Unborn babies get their food and oxygen through their mother’s bloodstream and so what a mother drinks, eats or breathes may also be taken in by her baby.
It is difficult to measure how dangerous different substances are to unborn babies and a safe level of alcohol use has not been established.
This is why mothers are advised to avoid drugs and alcohol if possible during pregnancy. However, whilst it is usually safe for a pregnant woman to stop using drugs or alcohol during pregnancy, this is not always the case.
Suddenly stopping use of some drugs including heroin, other opiate drugs or tranquillisers during pregnancy can be dangerous to the baby.
All the drugs mentioned in this section are illegal. no matter what your age. However, if you are using drugs or alcohol you can still get confidential information and advice. If you need help to stop using drugs or alcohol, contact the services listed in the services section.
National Helplines
Drinkwise 0800 917 8282
FRANK (National Drugs Helpline) 0800 66 77 00
Pregnancy and Smoking Helpline 0800 169 0169
Websites
www.sussedaboutdrugs.net
www.sussedaboutdrink.net
www.talktofrank.com
www.givingupsmoking.co.uk
Dear Agony Aunt...
"I am 16 and I have just found out that I’m six weeks pregnant. I’m trying to give up smoking and drink less but I’m finding it really hard and stressful. To try and relax and help me give up, I’m smoking a spliff every evening – is this harmful to my baby?" Anon, 16
Congratulations on your pregnancy and your courage in giving up and asking for advice.
It is best to avoid all forms of drugs, if possible, during pregnancy including alcohol, cannabis and cigarettes. Cannabis may lead to your baby having a lower birth weight and may also increase the risk of birth defects and miscarriage. If you smoke cannabis, mixing it with tobacco, then you expose yourself to the risks of both tobacco and cannabis.
There are lots of people that will be able to support you and offer you advice – services are listed in this booklet. There are lots of other ways that you can reduce stress: why not join a local antenatal class and meet other young women who will support you and understand how you are feeling?
"I am 17 years old and just found out that I am pregnant. I would really like to keep the baby but I am really worried because I have been going out drinking lots at the weekend and I sometimes do pills and take coke. Will I have hurt the baby?" Anon, 17
First of all, congratulations! The earlier into your pregnancy that you get help and advice from your local maternity service or substance misuse service the better. Telling your midwife or GP about your drug use will help them to help you and your baby.
It is safe to stop using ecstasy and cocaine immediately if you are able to. This will reduce the risk of your baby being premature or low weight. More serious problems tend to occur if women take cocaine in the latter stages of pregnancy than if you manage to stop taking it in the first 12 weeks. Heavy cocaine use is associated with a number of problems in pregnancy because the drug reduces blood flow to the developing baby.
I'm Pregnant! Healthy Pregnancy Giving Birth After the Birth Looking After Your New Family Real Life Stories
