Foods to Avoid During Pregnancy

After going through much research, below are the overview of foods to avoid while going through pregnancy:
Avoid Unpasteurized Food
Risk: Unpasteurized food that contain Listeria bacteria may cause miscarriage or harm the fetus

Unpasteurized Cheese

Avoid Uncooked Food
Risk: Uncooked food contains bacteria or parasites (e.g. Toxoplasmosis) that can cause harm to fetus
- Ensure meat are fully cook (e.g. well done steak)
- Ensure egg are fully cook
- Avoid sushi food as to avoid eating raw fish
- Avoid food that contains raw ingredient such as raw egg

Fully Cook Meat	Fully Cook Egg	Avoid Sushi food

Avoid Food with High Vitamin A
Risk: Too much Vitamin A can cause problem to fetus development
A pregnant women is recommended by Institute of Medicine to get 2,565 IU of Vitamin A daily.
3 ounces of cooked beef liver contains 27,185 IU of Vitamin A.
3 ounces of cooked chicken liver contains 12,325 IU of Vitamin A.
A rough guide: 3 ounces = 85 grams

Liver

Avoid Chilled Ready-to-Eat Foods
Risk: To avoid harmful bacteria like listeria that can harm the fetus

Pate	Pre-packed Sandwich

Ensure Fruits and Vegetables are Wash Before Eaten
Risk: To avoid harmful bacteria in the fruits and vegetables that may had contact with soil, damaged leaves, etc

Avoid Certain Type of Fruits and Vegetables
- Avoid eating raw bean sprouts because the growing procedure could contain harmful bacteria to fetus
- Pineapple contains a small amount of bromelain enzyme that may cause diarrhea or induce labor. For safe side purpose, it's best to avoid during 1st and 2nd trimester.

Bean Sprout

Pineapple

Avoid Seafood with High Mercury or Shellfish
Risk:
- Mercury are harmful to fetus
- Do avoid shellfish as part of precaution as shellfish contains virus, bacteria or toxin which are harmful to the fetus. Example of shellfish are: oysters, mussels, scallops, clams, prawns, shrimps, crabs, crayfish.
Highest Mercury Seafood (Avoid Eating)

King Mackerel	Marlin	Orange Roughy	Shark
Swordfish	Tilefish	Bigeye Tuna / Ahi

High Mercury Seafood (Eat 3 servings or less per month)

Bluefish	Grouper	Spanish Mackerel	Chilean Sea Bass
Albacore Tuna	Yellowfin Tuna

Moderate Mercury Seafood (Eat 6 servings or less per month)

Striped Bass	Carp	Alaskan Cod	White Croaker Pacific
Pacific Halibut	Atlantic Halibut	Lobster	Monkfish
Silverside Jacksmelt	Mahi Mahi	Freshwater Perch	Sablefish
Skate	Snapper	Chunk Light Tuna	Sea Trout Weakfish
Skipjack Tuna

Lowest Mercury (Eat 2 servings per week)

Anchovies	Butterfish	Catfish	Atlantic Croaker
Flounder	Atlantic Haddock	Hake	Herring
Clam	Domestic Crab	Crawfish/Crayfish	Oyster
North Atlantic Chub Mackerel	Mullet	Ocean Perch	Salmon
Pollock	Plaice	Shrimp	Pacific Sole
Sardine	Scallop	American Shad	Squid / Calamari
Tilapia	Freshwater Trout	Whitefish	Whiting

Resources:
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp
http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/fishmercury.htm
http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthEducators/ucm091671.htm
http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/types/fruits/sprouts.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/895.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pregnancy-nutrition/PR00109
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/can-I-eat-shellfish-during-pregnancy.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=216
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Listeriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

Group B Strep (GBS) Swab Test Before Going for Labor

On the 35th week of pregnancy, we visited our gynae and was informed to take a Swab Test. The cost for the Swab Test is RM 85. We visited our gynae 2 weeks later meaning my wife is on 37th week, and got the report.

Our gynae informed that my wife have to start taking antibiotics for 5 days and twice daily. The antibiotic cost is RM 30.

Also, our gynae informed us that my wife will have to receive antibiotics via IV during labor.

Once reach home and upon googling the test report information, I found out that about 25% women may carry Group B Strep (GBS) at vagina and rectum area. And GBS may come and go in women's body without symptom. GBS are the leading cause for meningitis and sepsis in the newborn baby when deliver via natural birth, and it's important to take precaution during labor. The precaution action to be taken is to receive antibiotics via IV drip during labor which was what our gynae informed us. We're grateful that our gynae helps to inform us about the procedure.

Resources:
http://www.cdc.gov/groupbstrep/index.html

Decision Making on Baby Diapers

Nowadays there are so many brands and product models on baby diapers. However, there are two main type of diapers which are Cloths Diapers and Disposable Diapers:


Decision between Cloths Diaper vs Disposable Diaper
Let's be realistic, time is precious especially when baby is less than 1 year old as dad & mum need to put more attention in taking care of the baby unless there are people that can helps out on the laundry. I can conclude that cloth diapers is a nightmare to both working parents as the amount of time required is tremendously a lot. For me, I'll go for disposable diapers as both myself and wife are working and we don't have much time to do the cleaning.

Checking out Diaper Company
We can summarize the list of diaper company in Malaysia as per below: