(courtesy of www.DrWeil.com)

Question:
I’m 30 years old and have been married for two years. I’m looking forward to having children although I don’t think I’m ready yet. What do you have to teach me as I consider becoming a mother?

Answer:
I have been invited by the good people at WeilBaby to write a monthly column about preparing for pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood from my point of view as a practitioner and promoter of integrative medicine. I’m very happy to have the opportunity. As a woman contemplates motherhood and begins to prepare for pregnancy, her focus naturally is on health – not just her own health and hopes for an uneventful and easy pregnancy, but on the health of her baby. What better time to consider what you can do ensure a healthy lifestyle for yourself, your child and family? Having a child is a blessing, but pregnancy and the healthy changes that it can lead to for yourself and the rest of your family is also a blessing.

I should probably begin by introducing myself, and telling you something about my philosophy of medicine and health.

I’m a physician and author who discovered during my medical studies at Harvard University that conventional medicine as practiced here in the United States doesn’t begin to fill our needs for maintaining good health and effectively treating many of the most common disorders that affect humans. Conventional medicine has long relied on synthetic drugs and surgery for treatment, and this is kind of medicine most Americans still encounter in hospitals and clinics. It is often both expensive and invasive, but it serves us very well for handling emergency conditions such as massive injury or a life-threatening stroke. If I were hit by a bus, I would want to be taken immediately to a high-tech emergency room.

Any therapy that is outside the bounds of conventional medicine, and that patients use instead of conventional medicine, is known as "alternative medicine." This is a catch-all term that includes hundreds of old and new practices ranging from acupuncture to homeopathy to iridology. Generally, alternative therapies are closer to nature, less expensive and less invasive than conventional therapies, although there are exceptions. Some alternative therapies have been scientifically validated, some have not. An alternative medicine practice that is used in conjunction with a conventional one is known as "complementary" medicine. Example: using ginger syrup to prevent nausea or “morning sickness” during pregnancy. Together, complementary and alternative medicines are often referred to by the acronym CAM.

Integrative medicine combines conventional medical treatment with the best of complementary and alternative treatments for which there is high quality scientific evidence of safety and effectiveness.

In integrative medicine we "cherry pick" the best scientifically validated therapies from both conventional and CAM systems. I view integrative medicine as healing-oriented medicine that takes account of the whole person (body, mind, and spirit), including all aspects of lifestyle. It emphasizes the therapeutic relationship between patient and practitioner and makes use of all appropriate therapies, both conventional and alternative. Here are the principles that guide my work and that of integrative medicine physicians and teachers around the world:

• A partnership between patient and practitioner in the healing process
• Appropriate use of conventional and alternative methods to facilitate the body's innate healing response
• Consideration of all factors that influence health, wellness and disease, including mind, spirit and community as well as body
• A philosophy that neither rejects conventional medicine nor accepts alternative therapies uncritically
• Recognition that good medicine should be based in good science, be inquiry driven, and be open to new paradigms
• Use of natural, effective, less-invasive interventions whenever possible
• Use of the broader concepts of promotion of health and the prevention of illness as well as the treatment of disease
• Training of practitioners to be models of health and healing, committed to the process of self-exploration and self-development.

As you read that list, it probably occurred to you that pregnancy is not a disease. It is a natural event that will affect all aspects of your life: your mind, body and spirit, and ultimately family and community. Integrative medicine recognizes those realities and approaches the care of a mother-to-be with many questions that go far beyond the conventional medical history. We want to know about your diet (past and present), your exercise habits¸ your relationships, fears, sorrows and any stress you may be under. You get the picture: integrative practitioners want to know as much as possible about their patients’ thoughts and emotions as well as their health status at this important time in their lives.

You may better understand this process through the words of Tracy Gaudet, M.D., an obstetrician/gynecologist who wrote a chapter on pregnancy in a textbook on integrative medicine that I edited. Dr. Gaudet writes that this approach enables health care practitioners to “contemplate the miraculous nature of pregnancy and birth, the process of creating and bringing new life into the world, the mystery that allows this to happen at all, and the fragile and yet resilient nature of the entire process. Honoring these aspects of pregnancy can create an openness not only in the patient but also in the provider. If the provider allows it, dealing with patients during pregnancy can serve as a catalyst in shifting to a practice that embraces the whole person. Intellectual barriers are softened, hearts open around births, mystery is sparked, and souls are rejuvenated.” In more ways than you can now imagine, having a baby will change your life.

In future columns, I plan to discuss a range of topics that I believe women preparing for pregnancy and childbirth need to consider. I’ll give you my thoughts as well as information on diet for a healthy pregnancy (and to help avoid any danger to the health of your baby), how pregnancy can affect you emotionally, the role of exercise during pregnancy, the importance of nursing to the health of both mothers and babies and how a new mother can get back into shape after her baby is born.

While the columns I’ll be writing throughout this coming year will be focused on pregnancy and childbirth, I should tell you now that many of the health measures I’ll be recommending are not exclusive to pregnant women. Indeed, I believe all women (and men) should make a healthy lifestyle a priority regardless of any considerations of pregnancy. For example, when you get pregnant, your obstetrician probably will advise you not to smoke cigarettes. You shouldn’t – they can be harmful to the health of your baby. But I’m sure you’re aware that they’re a threat to your own health, too, and to the health of anyone who is habitually exposed to the smoke from your cigarettes. Similarly, a healthy diet and regular exercise should be part of your life now, not just something you plan to do temporarily while you’re pregnant.

I look forward to exploring the issues surrounding pregnancy and childbirth with you in the coming months. My next column will focus on what you should know when you’re preparing to become pregnant.


Andrew Weil, M.D.