Planning a pregnancy? Anna Hunter has just the app to get you in tip-top health before you even have a twinkle in your eye
We're all aware that kicking the latte habit and foregoing cocktail hour are important dietary shifts during pregnancy (monumental shifts for some of us), but did you know that pre-conception nutrition is just as vital for a healthy pregnancy and rosy-cheeked child? We probably all had a feeling in our waters that this is the case but we've no doubt that many women find it too much of an ask to clean up their act before term time, as it were.
Thankfully, Nutriprompt is here to do the asking, and it will do just that. Like your very own well-meaning mother, the Nutriprompt app will remind, encourage and guilt-trip you to eat healthily and mindfully over a 12 week timeframe, with scheduled daily messages arriving on your handset Monday to Friday. Created by Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Dr Emma Derbyshire, author of Nutrition in the Childbearing Years, the app aims to 'educate women about the importance of nutrition when they’re planning to have a baby' and was developed because 'healthy nutrition before pregnancy is something that gets overlooked'.
Well-researched and unique, the app translates information from Dr Derbyshire's book, which was originally aimed at GPs, midwives and health practitioners, into layman's terms, so that women can take responsibility for their own health and make positive lifestyle changes prior to pregnancy. Once you have received a 'prompt', you are then given the option to 'delve deeper' via web links so that you can gain more understanding of the issues raised and appreciate the reasons behind the suggested advice.
Nutriprompt is an especially helpful pre-pregnancy tool as, according to Dr Derbyshire, 'Once you fall pregnant it’s very difficult to change your habits, so the app aims to embed favourable dietary and lifestyle patterns'. It seems that the men in our lives could also benefit from regular healthy living cues, however, as fertility expert Emma Cannon is of the opinion that 'It is the health of both parents prior to conception that will influence the health of the child. I see this as both emotional and physical health, as research suggests that both play a part in influencing the child's emotional and physical health'.
So by all means download Nutriprompt and take heed of its nutritional wisdom, but don't forget look after yourself emotionally, and most importantly, to badger your partner on a regular basis. As if we needed prompting...
Nutriprompt retails at £1.49 and is available from the App Store .