Please list and rank your learning goals for this course. What are you hoping to learn? How will you use this information? Why is this learning important to you and your future.

Yolanda Valenzuela

Re:Module 1

Consider the significant changes that occur during the fetal period. Based on the research in fetal development and maternal health, what recommendations could you propose to help promote healthy pregnancy? Why should these recommendations be adopted by society at large?

A recommendation I could propose to promote healthy pregnancy is to keep a nutritional and overall healthy diet throughout the pregnancy. Prado and Dewey (2014) makes great points when saying that when a child is adequately nourished from conception through infancy, the essential energy, protein, fatty acids, and micronutrients necessary for brain development are available during this foundational period, establishing the basis for lifetime brain function. The well-nourished child is also better able to interact with his or her caregivers and environment in a way that provides the experiences necessary for optimal brain development.

In my work with children who have been removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect I have seen many children born right into the system. These newborns come into the world having had a rough start in utero and their mother's did not take prenatal care and their nutritional habits were less than desirable. Fetal development is the start of an infant in utero and some may believe that it is once they are born but in my experience I have seen where even many are removed from their homes due to the physical abuse by having drugs in their systems when born.

These infants wind up having so many developmental issues in their futures Wu, Imhoff-Kunsch and Girard (2012) make an added point by noting neural tube defects, cretinism, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and preterm birth are well-known adverse outcomes of general and specific nutrient deficiencies in human pregnancy. Besides whole-body growth, maternal nutrition influences development of the fetal immune system and, thus, health in postnatal life. Adverse effects of (IUGR) and other poor pregnancy outcomes can be carried forward to future generations.

Society should consider adopting a stronger policy about expectant mothers ensuring nutritional health for their unborn children so that there might be an increase in the number of healthy births that may occur. Promoting a healthy pregnancy should be a priority as the future of children is at hand and if outcome improvements can any way increase there should be particular expectations of all mothers to be. Prado and Dewey (2014) add that children who are not adequately nourished are at risk for failing to reach their developmental potential in cognitive, motor, and socioemotional abilities.
References:
Prado, E. L., & Dewey, K. G. (2014). Nutrition and brain development in early life.Nutrition Reviews, 72(4), 267-284.
Wu, G., Imhoff-Kunsch, B., & Girard, A. W. (2012). Biological mechanisms for nutritional regulation of maternal health and fetal development.Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 26 Suppl 14-26. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3016.2012.01291.x

Alice Benningfield

Re:Module 2

Consider the significant changes that occur during the fetal period. Based on the research in fetal development and maternal health, what recommendations could you propose to help promote healthy pregnancy? Why should these recommendations be adopted by society at large?

Attitudes and behavior related to reproductive health among men and women need to be improved to improve preconception health (Chao, Donatoni, Bemis, Donovan, Harding, Davenport, Gilbert, Kasechagen, & Peck, 2010). According to Chao et al., (2010), consumer awareness or public awareness is very important for preconception health behavior related to reproductive health. Preconception and preventive healthcare visits should be encouraged using information and tools useful across various ages, literacy, and cultural context, as they provide risk assessment, educational, and health promotion counseling to women of childbearing age to reduce reproductive risks. Interventions for identified risk; timely preconception interventions for various conditions can positively improve maternal health and birth outcomes. Women should receive interventions as follow up to preconception risk screening, focusing on high priority intervention. Pregnancy checkup; the pre-pregnancy visit is an essential strategy toward improving the pregnancy. It offers a component of maternity care, these visits include preconception care content, giving women an opportunity to benefit from risk assessment, health promotion, and interventions related to circumstances when couples are trying to conceive (Chao et al., 2010).

Chao, S. M, Donatoni, G., Bemis, C., Donovan, K., Harding, C., Davenport, D., Gilbert, C., Kasechagen, L., & Peck, M. (2010). Integrated approaches to improve birth outcomes.Perinatal Periods of Risk,(6):827-37. doi: 10.1007/s10995-010-0627-2.