Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Exercising during pregnancy

Often we wonder whether it is right or not exercising throughout pregnancy. If any complication do not limit your ability to exercise, fitness can be a big plus for both you and your baby.
Exercising during pregnancy can have indeed positive effects on your mood, it helps to relax and relieve the stress and especially if performed during the first trimester, it increases blood flow and its capacity to transport oxygen and nutritional substances necessary for the foetus to grow.
Furthermore, exercising enhances cardio circulatory and respiratory systems efficiency allowing you to ease labour and delivery. That’s not all: by exercising on a regular basis, fitness can increase blood flow to lower limbs, avoid an excessive increase of body mass and reduce the risk of complications like gestational diabetes and backache.
Obviously, it is necessary to always keep in mind that pregnancy is a very delicate condition and everything has to be made with due cautions, as well as exercise. During pregnancy, you will need to discuss your exercise plans with your doctor early on and make some adjustments to your normal routine. No exercise has to be performed if complications or particular risks arose.

Which exercises are the most suitable for pregnant women?

Walking

The easiest and probably the best exercise for a pregnant woman is walking, an excellent way to tone muscles, get fresh air, keep the body regular, and help to sleep soundly at night. To get started, walk half an hour a day and choose places far from traffic and smog like public gardens or parks. Taking a walk is ideal to enjoy a few moments of relax. You can continue into your last trimester and right up until birth as long as it is comfortable for you. Moreover, walking can help you to regain your pre-pregnancy body more quickly: a good walk with your baby, with the pushchair or with a baby carrier, could be a useful and pleasant experience.

Bicycling

Making a cycle ride could be a good idea too for pregnant women. It is instead necessary to consider that with bike you have more chances of falling so it is recommended to avoid riding in the street or on uneven floors. In this case as well, the ideal place is a park, where the air is purer and there are no cars around. Instead, a stationary bike can be useful to prevent water retention in legs.

Swimming

Many health care providers and fitness professionals say swimming is the safest exercise for pregnant women, especially after the first months. Indeed, if up to the fourth month it is advisable taking light exercises, in the following months, considered the increase in weight and the consequent and gradual reduction of mobility, the most suitable exercise can be just swimming.
Swimming is an exercise easy to perform even when the body mass is increasing as it keeps your body toned without adding weight and stress to your joints until the last months of pregnancy. Besides swimming, you can also perform other activities like aqua gym and swim gym.

Specific exercises

Some gyms and hospitals organize specific pre-natal classes that include exercises to relax, to provide relief to the backbone and improve abdominal muscles. Specific exercises have been conceived to bring benefits to pregnant women avoiding at the same time excessive efforts. These exercises aim to stimulate cardiovascular system in order to enhance the transport of nutritional substances to foetus. Moreover, they are particularly effective for the prevention against water retention and varicose veins. You can also perform some specific post-partum exercises to regain pre-pregnancy shape after the stress that the event inevitably caused it. Weight increase, spine overloading and breastfeeding and everything a pregnancy may involve can both physically and morally exhaust woman’s body. But don’t worry, be patient and in a few time things will get back to normal.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Choosing the car seat

Baby car seats belong to the so called child restraints on vehicles since a child is not able to sit on the seat of the car firmly and steadily like an adult does: as a consequence, car seats the most safest instruments to transport our little one in the car in order for him/her to seat on the back seat in total safety.

It is essential, when we choose a car seat, to make sure that it is homologated according to the current laws, to be more precise it must be made of resistant materils, sprayed with non toxic paint and it doesn’t have to have sharp corners that may represent a danger for your child’s safety.
A car seat structure, normally includes: anatomic backrest, comfortable seat and 5 point safety harness.

Car seat groups

Considering all the different types and car seats and brands like Chicco, Inglesina and Peg perego that, nowadays, you can find on the market, there are many, many other things to take into consideration before deciding which car seat suits your child's age, size and weight as one of the most important jobs you have as a parent is keeping your child safe when riding in a vehicle.
For this reason, we would like to help you deciding with this small guide to show you the different typologies and groups:

-Group 0
From birth up to 10 kg (9 months)
It is actually the carry cot fitted on the seat thanks to the special kit that allows you to keep your baby in a horizontal position without the need of using the car seat for the first few months. It must be fitted on the rear seat.

- Group 0+
From birth up to 13 kg (12 months)
Like a proper cot, they can be used in the front or rear of the car. It is safer to put them in the rear. Do not put them in the front passenger seat if there is a passenger airbag. Rearward-facing seats provide greater protection for the baby's head, neck and spine than forward-facing seats. So, it is best to keep your baby in a rearward-facing seat for as long as possible. Only move them to a forward-facing seat once they have exceeded the maximum weight for the baby seat, or the top of their head is higher than the top of the seat.

- Group 0/1
From birth up to 18 kg (4 years)
This type of car seat has a spacious and comfortable seat; it can be fitted either front or rear facing: up to 13 kg it must be fitted rear facing, from 13 kg onwards it can be fitted front facing on the back seat much safer than the front seat as your child is now growing and it can be dangerous.

- Group 1
From 9 kg to 18 kg (from 9 months to 4 years)
Once children have outgrown a rearwards facing seat, the best option is to use a Group 1 seat with an integral harness, the large area of the harness helps to reduce the risk of injury if there is a crash. The bottom attachment between the legs will also prevent the child from sliding under, and out of, the harness. They can be used in the front or rear of the car, but it is safer to put them in the rear, especially if there is a passenger airbag in the front.

- Group 1/2/3
From 9 kg to 36kg ( from 9 months to 12 years)
This car seat is equipped with a practical adjustable headrest that prefectly adapt to your child’s body. It must be fitted on the rear seat front facing. The backrest cannot be reclined but it is removable to be used as booster seat when the child reaches 22 kg.

- Group 2/3
From 15 kg to 36 kg (from 3 years to 12 years)
For this type of car seats, you can choose between the ones equipped with backrest and the ones with just the seat (booster seat). It must be positioned front facing on the rear seat.

- Isofix car seats
Isofix car seats are equipped with the most innovative and safest way to anchor the car seat in the car. The Isofix system has been designed to make the car a children safe environment, even if they are not able to use the cars main restraints or seats. The Isofix system is a system of anchorage locations fitted to the seats of a vehicle to which a child’s seat or booster cushion affixes. The ISOFIX system has two anchorage points at the rear of a standard seat to which a ISOFIX enabled child seat affixes. Before buying an Isofix car seat, make sure that your car is equipped with Isofix anchorage points.

Drive carefully

Before any further information or advice on car seats, always remember to drive carefully and to pay lots of attention to other drivers’ because often, they are the cause of unpleasant accidents. Furthermore, when you drive and your child is in the car, make sure that the all the fitting systems work properly and never leave your child in the car seat without fastening the seat belt.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Bimbomarket DOES NOT go on holiday!

Bimbomarket never leaves you alone, not even in summer!

During summer holidays, as like any other month in the year, Bimbomarket will guarantee a 100% timely service.

All our products, our express deliveries and our customer service courtesy will remain at your disposal for all summer, even in August!


Moreover, until the 2nd of August, a fantastic discount for all your purchases!

Visit our web site www.bimbomarket.it/ie/en/ to choose your favourite products and use the discount voucher BMSUMMER: you will get an amazing 10% discount!*


Bimbomarket, a childproof world…..

…even in summer!

*The discount is valid on all the catalogue except Travel Systems and Nappies.The offer is valid until 02/08/2009 and cannot be accumulated with other existing offers.

General guidelines to use and choose the soother

The soother, also known as dummy, pacifier or comforter, is the best friend of most of the newborns. According to some estimates, about 70% of newborns use the soother on a regular basis. Nothing strange if you consider that babies has a natural instinct for suction even before birth. Indeed, it may happen during the ultrasound scan to see the baby sucking his thumb and after birth dedicating most of his waking hours sucking mother breast, the baby bottle or the soother.
The soother debate has raged for a number of years as it seems that it may lead to palate and dental arch malformation but actually the soother does not damage baby’s health: it is sufficient to choose the right one in the right way.

How to use the soother

One of the first good rule to follow is to do not let using a soother become a habit and limiting its use to 3 years. Actually, parents should try to wean their child off the soother starting from 2 years to encourage a gradual detachment from it. It is instead useful using the soother whenever the baby is in a situation of discomfort such as when he can’t get to sleep or in the event of gas colic.
In some situations, having something to suck is for the baby a way to calm down and settle. It is advisable to always have at hand more than one soother so to renew them often and replace the consumed one with a new pacifier immediately. Take always a new one with you so to be able to replace it easily in case it gets damaged or gets lost.
The soothers you use for your baby should be all of the same model as the baby gets used to one kind and then it is very difficult convince him to change it overnight.
Keep the pacifier as clean as possible in its holder and sterilize it before any single use.
Never dip the soother in sweet foods such as honey or sugar as this can lead to rapid tooth decay.

How to choose the soother

Depending on the shape of the teats, there are 3 different kinds of soother: cherry, drop or anatomic shape. In order to avoid the arise of dental problems, specialists usually suggest to use soothers with anatomic teats that better adapt to baby’s mouth. However, long-term use of anatomic soothers is not recommended as well.

The soothers teats are basically made from silicone or rubber. Silicone is more resistant to perforations than rubber and it is particularly suitable for babies who still do not see their first teeth coming through. Instead, when the baby starts to byte the soother with his teeth, a more resistant material like rubber results to be more suitable.

Instead, the shield that supports the teat could be made from silicone, rubber as well as from plastic. The soothers with soft shield are proved to be particularly suitable for younger babies especially if they are used during the night. The shields can have different shapes but the most common are the round and butterfly-shaped ones. The first ones are usually made from rubber or silicone, extremely soft that do not annoy the baby. The butterfly-shaped shields are made from rigid plastic and may result to be annoying in case of pressure. Instead the latter are at the same time less cumbersome and are characterized by joyful colours that make them particularly loved by older babies.

Anyway, to buy a good soother rely on the best brands specialized in baby products on the market: in some cases quality has to be the first criteria to follow.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Post-partum checklist

After so many months of waiting and the experience with labour, your baby is finally born and for you, like any other mother, this is going to be a magic moment. Hear him crying for the first time will be truly a miracle and you will look forward to holding him in your arms.

During the first days after the birth, your doctor will take care of your post-partum health status to make sure your body is healing the way it should. So take the advantage of these few days to start familiarizing with your baby and have some rest.

New born first exams

Soon after birth, when you will be looking at your baby sleeping peacefully in his baby cot your clear first question will be: “How is my baby?”. This legitimate concern is immediately reassured by doctors and midwives who examine the baby from head to toe to check his vital functions and exclude possible complications.

Let’s see in details what do the routine examinations of our newborn baby involve.

- Apgar score: a simple method to quickly and summarily assess the health of newborn children immediately after childbirth. The test is generally done at one and five minutes after birth and according to the result, newborn vitality will be considered to be normal or low. The ideal score is 10/10 that corresponds to pulse rate >100, a loud crying, good reflexes and pink skin. If the score is between 3 and 7 it means that the neonate requires medical attention and may risk to suffer from long-term damages

- A full check up of his general look and his organs functionality

- Neurological examination: it is carried out to check muscle tone (hypertonia) and response to stimulation

- Sight and hearing control

- A small blood sample is taken from newborn heel: blood drops are absorbed on a filter paper that is sent to the laboratory to be analysed. This blood sample is essential to make sure the baby at the moment of birth does not suffer from any inborn diseases like hypothyroidism, phenylketonuria, cystic fibrosis on which it is possible to intervene if recognised promptly

- In case your doctor is still doubtful about your baby’s overall health conditions, a closest examination during your stay in the maternity ward will be carried out.

Mother’s checklist

After the birth of a baby, the body has to heal from childbirth, rebuild its strength, and get back the shape that it had before pregnancy. Your stay in the maternity ward will be about 5 days long and it will help you to have some rest and recover.
Your health status will be constantly monitored day after day.

- First of all, doctors will assess your general health status, possible blood losses (lochia) and intestine function

- Secondly, doctors will check breast, nipples (that will have to be strong enough to stand breastfeeding and possibly breast pumps) and uterus conditions as well as suture and body temperature, pulse rate and blood pressure

- In case of excessive blood loss after childbirth, it will be checked haemoglobin concentration in red cells

- Lastly, the doctor will make sure symptoms like fever, urinary problems, dizziness, breathlessness, breast pain or excessive anxiety do not arise during these days

After all this, finally you can hold your baby and wait for your relatives and friends to visit you. Even though their visit will make you happy, take the opportunity of your stay in the hospital to have also a rest and spend some time alone with your baby so that you can bond better with each other.
Remember that in less than no time you will be back at home again and shortly you will take him out for a walk with your new pushchair!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Fever in children: remedies and advices

When a newborn baby has got fever, mother and father are very concerned and go into panic and it remains the most common concern for which parents bring their child to the emergency department. Fever is a natural reaction of the body caused by viral or bacterial infections. Fever has traditionally been defined as a rectal temperature of 38° C and the increase in the body temperature stops germs from growing and develop, increasing the efficiency of the immune system. Therefore, if a baby shows an increase in body temperature, there is no need of concern: his/her immune system is just trying to fight against possible infections and most of the time, after a couple of days, the fever goes away. Seeking medical advice is not necessary all the time, but only when the temperature is extremely high, for more than 3 days and it shows other symptoms such as respiratory difficulties, unconsciousness, dehydration, purple or red rash.

How should I take my child’s temperature?

On the market you can find many different kinds of thermometer. If you are using the classical glass thermometer make sure that it is reinforced to avoid it from braking. The digital thermometer is very different: it is safe and resistant in case of accidental falls. Anyway, they are both very precise, suitable for children and not so expensive. Ear, skin and infra-red thermometer are much more expensive.

In order to get the most accurate result, it is advisable to take the temperature rectally (especially if it is a young baby) or underneath the armpit (if the child is a bit older) but in both cases, it is important to buy a specific thermometer for children. Depending on how you take the temperature and the kind of thermometer you use, the result changes too: from the rectal and ear temperature, you have to subtract 0,5° C.

What to do to lower the temperature

If the baby’s temperature is above 38,5° C underneath the armpit or 39° C rectally, it is necessary to give anti-fever drugs. The most common drug used to lower the body temperature is paracetamol, available as a syrup or suppositories. The dosage and the way of consumption must be advised by the paediatrician. If the temperature does not go above 39°C and the baby does not show particular discomfort or worrying symptoms, usually there is no need of any pharmacological therapy and fever goes away spontaneously in a couple of days.

If you do not give any medicine to your baby, however there are some remedies to help your baby feel better and reduce body temperature. The main remedy is to make your baby drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration that usually appears with dry lips: a lack of urination and tears can also indicate dehydration. It is possible to fill the baby bottle with water, fruit juices or tea. Further more, do not cover your baby too much in order to let the body spreading heat. In such a case, it would be better to dress him/her with light clothing and cover him/her only if he/she starts to shiver.
Even though it is not strictly necessary that the baby remains in his/her cot, it is advisable to prevent him/her from doing any physical activities which might increase the body temperature and discomfort as well as the energy the body needs to fight against the infection.

With regard to the remedies to lower the body temperature, often bath sponges with lukewarm water are very useful. But not everybody knows that bath sponges with lukewarm water have to be done only after the consumption of fever reducers, otherwise the decrease of the body temperature is only temporary and after awhile, the temperature increases again. If you need to bath your child with sponges and lukewarm water, you only need to put some water inside a bucket, wet the sponge and gently sponge down your baby’s body.
Do not do any other physical treatment to lower the temperature as they may have only temporary effects and cause discomfort. Attention: never ever use bath sponges with alcohol! Unfortunately some people still believe that it may bring a positive effect but, in reality, it can only cause further problems if the baby inhales the fumes.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Child’s growth and development: some advice and tips on child care

Taking care of a baby is not easy at all as all newborns have special needs, very different from adults’ needs. Very often, first time mothers have to face thousands doubts on what is actually right or wrong to make their baby grow up in the best way possible. Obviously, in these circumstances, the ideal solution would be seeking professional advice but if you are still not sure about something or if you need further information, here are some tips on child care.

Nursery


To protect your baby’s health, it is extremely important to follow some rules regarding nursery maintenance. Make sure that the room temperature is around 20° C and it doesn’t have to be below 20° C. It is important to regulate the humidity level that has to be around 50 – 60%. For this reason it would be advisable to have a humidifier for children. They have been specially designed to guarantee the right level of humidity in the room where your baby is going to sleep.

The environment has to be safe and cosy: your baby was so used of the womb that she needs to feel the same way she used to feel inside your tummy. In order to guarantee that, leave your baby to sleep in the pram and do not put her in the cot during the first months as she may feel lost.

The sides of the cot have to be tall enough and it is very important to use an anti-suffocation and anti-mite mattress. The best position to avoid the risk of SIDS is sleeping on the back.

Umbilical stump

One of the main issue that all mothers have to face is taking care of the umbilical stump. At birth, it is cut about 5-10 cm from the skin, wrap it in a sterilized lint and hold it firm with an elasticated net. The lint has to be changed daily for a period of 7-8 days, after that, the stump falls spontaneously. From now on it is essential to treat the wound with oxygenated water for at least 4-5 days until the wound has healed.

Bath time

The baby bath and bathing your newborn baby can be an exciting and scary experience during the first few weeks of life because most babies are very fragile and quite slippery when wet. During the first one or two weeks of life, your baby will need an actual “bath” until their umbilical stump falls off. For most newborns this occurs right around age 10 days. Until then it is fine for you to sponge bath your newborn. Try to keep the baby’s water worm but not hot. A good range is between 35 – 37° C. Gradually slip your baby into the tub feet first, using one hand to support the neck and head. Wrap your baby in a baby bathrobe. It is better not to apply baby powder as it could be dangerous to be inhaled. So it would be preferable to apply a mild baby lotion.

Baby bottles, teats and soothers

All the objects in contact with your baby’s mouth must obviously be clean. At the end of each feed, it is very important to wash them carefully and before the next feed, they must be sterilized. In order to do that, you can choose the classic old remedy which is boiling all the stuff for at least 15-20 minutes or you can rather get a sterilizer you can find on the market. The soother has to be used very carefully: do not put anything on it such as sugar or honey as it would increase the risk of tooth decay. It is recommended not to give the soother everytime baby cries because it may lead her to be totally dependent. Moreover, the soother should be used during the first years only as it may cause dental problems.

Walking and travelling

Go for a walk with the pram or with the pushchair is very good for your baby and it should be done daily. The best place to walk is in green areas, like a park for example, away from the city traffic so both you and your baby can breath clean air. During the first months, it is better to avoid long trips that take more than the time interval between each feed, especially if the situation doesn’t allow you to feed your baby. It is highly recommended not to travel during the hottest hours of the day especially because a tiny baby has less capacity to adapt to the outside temperature.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

High-risk pregnancy

Pregnancy is undoubtedly one of the greatest moment in woman’s life as she brings inside her a small life that will convey many different feelings.
Unfortunately, pregnancy can be complicated by un unlimited number of things. That means that some real or potential pathological conditions may compromise mother or baby’s health or even their life.

Risk factors

Many are the factors that may determine a high-risk pregnancy:

- mother’s age: a girl who is less than 15 years may run the risk to develop preeclampsia, a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure, the presence of protein in the urine and water retention or the eclampsia, characterized by preeclamptic convulsions. On the same level, a woman who is more than 35 years may run the risk of an increase in blood pressure, gestational diabetes, complications during delivery or caused by anaesthesia, fibroids or the development of chromosome anomalies (like Down syndrome)

- weight-height relationship: if the mother weights less than 45 kg, the baby may born underweight. On the contrary, if the mother suffers from obesity, the baby may born overweight as well and the mother would suffer from gestational diabetes. Height is an important factor as well: if the mother is less than 1.60 cm tall, she could incur a preterm delivery as the pelvis is too small

- RH disease: if mother and foetus are both RH-negative they would not run any risk during the first pregnancy. Instead, if the next pregnancy is RH-negative too, the mother must be treated with injections of antibodies anti RH-negative to avoid haemolytic problems (meaning that the disease causes destruction of foetal red blood cells) or complications during delivery

- structural alterations of genital apparatus: ovarian or uterine anomalies may lead to abortion. Fibroids too (benign tumours of the uterus) may cause preterm deliveries, foetal malpresentation or complications during delivery

- maternal diseases: diseases like high blood pressure, kidney diseases, diabetes, congenital heart diseases, thyroids or coagulation problems, respiratory or autoimmune diseases may cause problems to pregnancy or during delivery

- teratogenic agents: namely the agents that cause a structural abnormality following foetal exposure during pregnancy. They include: radiations (X-rays, UVA, UVB), infectious agents (rubella, cytomegalovirus, chickenpox, herpes simplex, toxoplasmosis, syphilis, etc.), maternal diseases like diabetes, drugs and alcohol abuse

- abruptio placenta: the most common placental problem is when a normally implanted placenta abruptly separates or breaks away from the uterine wall too early, before delivery of the foetus. There is no known precise explanation as to the mechanism of abruptio placenta. But there are a number of identifiable factors that will raise the woman’s risk for abruptio placenta. This includes: previous history of abruptio placenta, maternal hypertension, maternal trauma (injury to the uterus like in car accident), smoking during pregnancy, maternal cocaine abuse.

In order to calculate if a pregnancy is going to be at risk, it is advisable to check the own family’s health history and consider factors like woman’s age, previous pregnancies (if there were any), the arise of diseases or genital anomalies or even the emotional component and the surrounding social/family environment.
An early recognition of a high-risk pregnancy is of paramount importance as it allows to intervene promptly, reassure the mother and offer the doctor precise directions for possible future interventions during pregnancy or at the moment of delivery.

Conduct

How should we behave if we are diagnosed with a high-risk pregnancy?
If the risk is low, it will be sufficient to strictly stick to the visits that the doctor will prescribe; on the contrary, if the risk is high the best solution is undoubtedly the hospitalization to periodically monitor pregnancy and foetal development thanks to a professional team of obstetricians, neonatologists and anaesthetists.

Prevention

Some risk conditions can be reduced thanks to a good prevention:

- before pregnancy: it is sufficient to carry out some examinations to check possible hereditary diseases, chromosome anomalies or gene mutations and monitoring pathologies like diabetes or hypertension.
- after pregnancy: it is advisable to rely on a constant medical advice and on the visits prescribed and at the same time improve the own quality of life in few simple tricks like reducing coffee consumption, avoid smoking, alcohol and physical efforts, keep a healthy diet.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Being pregnant in summer: beat the heat

When summer and the hot weather come, some people can really experience discomforts and misery. Dehydration, dizziness, low blood pression and movement difficulties are just some of the symptoms that occur when summer is particularly hot. But they are just small discomforts that, most of the time, do not have consequences but they can really be very annoying for people in particular conditions, like pregnant women. Facing a pregnancy in summer can be very uncomfortable but there is nothing to worry about for you or your baby. If you are pregnant and summer is very humid do not worry, you only have to follow some tips to help you coping with the hot weather in order for you to get back to enjoying the excitement of awaiting the arrival of your baby.

At the beach

With regard to sun exposure on the beach, it is very important to clarify that the body temperature is stable even when we are exposed to the sun. The heat perception can wrongly induce to think that body temeperature has also risen but this not what actually happens; even the temperature inside the womb does not change. However, hot weather and sun exposure can cause discomfort to expectant mothers who already find themselves in a state of hypotention. When blood pression lowers due to the heat, perspiration and dehydration can actually lead mother to collapse. What is the best thing to do to avoid this from happening? It is advisable not to expose yourself for long periods, drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration and, if you are at the beach, walk along the beach with your legs in the water to avoid that vasodilatation lead to vein failure and increase the risk of varicous veins on the legs. Also it is very important to protect the skin by using a high protection sun lotion: in fact, sun exposure can bring chloasma, also known as “mask of pregnancy“.Chloasma has the appearance of brown patches of pigmentation on the forehead, cheeks, neck and lips. It's caused by the increased production of melanin, the tanning hormone, which protects the skin against ultraviolet light in certain areas of the body. It will begin to fade once the pregnancy is over, within 3 months of your baby’s birth and it does not have any negative effects on the baby.

Everyday life

Fighting the heat during pregnancy does not only mean avoiding the heat from the beach and sun exposure. Annoying problems can also occur due to the heat while at home or taking a walk. First of all, it is advisable not to go out during mid-day sun exposure as the sun is more dangerous. However it is necessary to drink plenty of fluids, like water, fruit juices, milk and drinks rich in mineral salts dehydration. For the same reason it is very important to make sure that your diet includes lots of fruits and vegetables. Get indoors at the first sign of weakness, fatigue, dizziness, lightheadedness, or excessive thirst. Lie down and drink some cool water or electrolyte replacement liquid. If you don't feel better soon, call your doctor.

Clothing must obviously be light to allow the body to breath. The material of the clothing and maternity lingerie must also be breathable, preferably cotton or linen, which easily absorb sweat and don't wear constrictive clothing, especially around the waist. Wear comfortable shoes and, if possible, wear one pair of shoes that are a half size larger than your normal size; it is better to remove your rings if they seem to be tight. Some pregnant women experience mild swelling of the hands and have to get their rings cut off.

If the house or outdoor are unbearably hot, it is going to be quite refreshing going inside supermarkets, shops or shopping malls. A good idea for example would be visiting a shop that stocks baby products so you can get something for your baby. Make sure that the air conditioning inside the shops is at a regular cool temparature, if you feel a big difference between the temparature outside and the tempearture in the shop just find another shop where the temeprature is not too cool.

And you, expectant mothers, what are you doing to beat the heat of these days?