Making sure you have a balanced and healthy diet during pregnancy not only keeps you fit and healthy, but ensures you’re giving your baby the best start in life by giving them all the nutrients they need to grow and develop.

Before conceiving and during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy we recommend all mothers take folic acid as this is a key nutrient for the development of your baby’s nervous system. Tommy’s has lots of information about the importance of folic acid.

Vitamin D is another key vitamin which helps bone strength, heart health and more.

Check out healthy eating in pregnancy for more ways to keep you and your baby healthy during pregnancy.

You should be able to continue working throughout your pregnancy, unless you have any underlying health problems. 

Ensure you tell your employee about your pregnancy when you’re ready, many choose to wait until their first scan. This way you can ensure they know how to support you, can run any risk assessments required to keep you safe and plan any time off you require for antenatal classes and midwife appointments.

You can find out all you need to know about pregnancy at work from the Health and Safety Executive.

Health visitors are trained nurses who support and educate families from pregnancy through to a child's 5th birthday.

Your pregnancy visit from your health visitor occurs in the later stages of pregnancy. This is called an antenatal contact. You will be contacted by your health visitor to arrange an appointment.

In Derbyshire, we work in teams, but you will have a named health visitor who has sole responsibility and will support you and your family until your child reaches school age. You can contact us on 01246 515100 (Mon-Fri 9am - 4:30pm).

These vaccines are recommended in pregnancy

Flu

During pregnancy, your immune system (the body's natural defence) is weakened to protect the pregnancy. This can mean you're less able to fight off infections.

These changes can raise the risk from flu – pregnant women and people are more likely to get flu complications than those who are not pregnant and are more likely to be admitted to hospital. Having the flu vaccine means you're less likely to get flu.

Whooping cough

Whooping cough is a very serious infection, and young babies are most at risk. Most babies with whooping cough will be admitted to hospital.

When you have the whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy, your body produces antibodies to protect against whooping cough. These antibodies pass to your baby giving them some protection until they're able to have their whooping cough vaccination at 8 weeks old.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine

If you're pregnant, or think you might be, it's strongly recommended you get vaccinated against COVID-19 to protect you and your baby.

You're at higher risk of getting seriously ill from COVID-19 if you're pregnant. If you get COVID-19 late in your pregnancy, your baby could also be at risk.

It's safe to have the vaccine during any stage of pregnancy, from the first few weeks up to your expected due date. You do not need to delay vaccination until after you have given birth.

Find out more about vaccines in pregnancy on the NHS website.