Many of us understand the relationship a pregnant mother has with her child and how her decisions can greatly impact its future health, but what if these effects were felt by the next generation…
Previous Fun Fact Fridays can attest to the fact that pregnancy has a profound effect and creates many factors that shape a newborn, thus setting the foundations for the adult they become. The types of things a mother eats (week 119); including the amount she consumes (116), the way she exercises (106), the medication she takes, even the length of time she spends in hot showers (112) can all affect the outcome and the health of the child they carry.
Conventional science teaches us that a baby girl is born with all the eggs that she will ever have and suggests that they are born with one to two million immature eggs at birth. It suggests that a woman will slowly lose them over the course of her lifetime, with the vast majority of them being lost pre-puberty.
The ovaries that house and mature all those eggs were formed in the first trimester of her mother’s pregnancy and some weeks later, in the fifth month, those teenie weenie little ovaries start to fill with eggs. What do you think has the most profound effect on the formation of these eggs? The mother’s life until they mature and become fertilised or at their very inception when the eggs foundations are being set in the womb of her mother?
Nearly all of us were conceived in our mother’s womb and most would consider this as the point in time when we started our life. However, the egg that we came from was not made by our mother, but by our grandmother! We are far more connected to our grandmothers than most may realise. The food she ate, her habits and her overall health actually constitutes towards the formation of the eggs inside her daughter, the same eggs that years later become you. Your foundations go all the way back to your maternal grandmother, this may be one of the reasons grandparents are so cherished!
This week has left us with some profound questions…
Do the ills of modern society – ADHD, diabetes, cancer and autism etc – point back to the health, dietary changes and new habits that were formed two generations before us?
Are we creating unknown issues that may not show up for generations after us?
Mother nature has a habit of restoring balance, could it be that the rise in fertility issues is mother nature attempting to screen out flaws that we are creating?
In weeks 106 and 116 we looked at health in pregnancy, saying that you shouldn’t eat for two, but exercise for two, because it can have lasting effects on your child’s heart – but maybe we should change that. Maybe you should be eating and exercising in a way that benefits much more than just you and your baby, as you could well be setting the foundations for many more generations than you realise.
It’s been stated that the number one determining factor of longevity and quality of health is foetal nutrition, both the mothers’ and the grandmothers’. This means that the biggest factor in how long you live is the health of your mother when she was pregnant with you AND your grandmother when she was pregnant with your mother.
We all want to live longer, so we exercise well and eat well – every day we make sacrifices or compromises to find that balance that best suits us. But if you’re considering having a baby then your responsibilities starts now, well before you even become pregnant, ideally 6 months to 2 years before. Not only will the decisions you make affect you and your future, but also for your children, their future and the prospects of your grandchildren living a long and healthy life.