Prenatal information

Planning for pregnancy

Statistics show that the health and well-being of an unborn child can be influenced before conception. Therefore, couples planning for a pregnancy should make certain lifestyle choices ideally three months to give the baby the best possible start in life. These lifestyle choices should start three months prior as a man’s sperm and woman’s egg can be adversely affected by insufficient diet, social and environmental factors.

Factors which are considered important include:

• the use of recreational drugs
• previous STI infections
• anabolic steroid use
• medications
• occupation (job)

Pre-conception nutrition is a vital part of planning for a pregnancy. 

Further information is available on the NHS website and from the British Nutrition Foundation.