When you ask this question, you need to realize one fact before you go any farther: for some pregnancies, you simply cannot prevent stretch marks. Around 50% of women get stretch marks due to pregnancy, no matter what they do to try to prevent them.

Just because stretch marks are likely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt to keep them from appearing, however. While you might not be able to keep them away altogether, there are a few things you can do to reduce the risk of getting stretch marks, or at least their severity:

• Understand what causes them. Stretch marks come from – you guessed it – your skin stretching beyond its normal boundaries in a relatively quick period of time.
• Control the pace of your pregnancy weight gain. If possible, try to spread your weight gain out over your pregnancy. Obviously, you can’t control how fast your baby grows, but you can eat a healthy diet and talk with your doctor about the pace of your weight gain.
• Some herbal remedies can help. There are herbal mixtures made up of things like cocoa butter, Vitamin E, and chamomile that may, in some cases, help prevent your stretch marks. These remedies can, even if they don’t prevent stretch marks, help your body recover from them, and help them to be less visible to the eye over time.
• Moisturize. There are even moisturizing creams that are aimed specifically at helping with stretch marks. Often, they use some of the same herbal remedies mentioned above.
• Eat a balanced and healthy diet. This will help to keep your skin strong and healthy. Healthy skin is better able to stretch, expand, and contract. It won’t prevent them altogether, but it might help reduce the severity of your stretch marks.

None of these steps are guaranteed to keep you from getting stretch marks. Often, they just come with the territory of being pregnant. However, if you follow these tips, you do reduce your risk, and you will probably find that your own stretch marks aren’t nearly as severe as they might have otherwise wound up being.

By the time you’ve given birth, you’ve heard just about all there is to hear about eating right. Still, nutrition continues to be important after you’ve given birth. It’s especially important that you eat a balanced, nutritious diet if you are dealing with postpartum depression.

Taking care of a newborn baby is a tough job for anyone. Even those who are in great physical and mental/emotional shape can find it tough keeping up with the constant feedings, changings, crying, and everything else that goes with being a new mom. The last thing any new mom needs is to try doing it all without adequate energy. Unhealthy eating habits (or going without eating) can leave you even more tired-and more depressed- than you were before.

When you have postpartum depression, it can feel like everything is hopeless and you are helpless. Choosing to eat a balanced, healthy diet is one thing you can control. It’s one thing that you can choose to do for yourself and your baby regardless of how you’re feeling. Making the choice to take proper care of yourself, in and of itself, can help you feel a little better.

While this is not intended as a complete nutritional guide (see your doctor or nutritionist for that), here are some tips for healthy eating while you are going through postpartum depression:

• Drink lots of fluids. You’d be amazed at how many physical and emotional problems are linked to dehydration. Drink water, milk, and juice. Lay off coffee and soda as much as you can.
• Eat plenty of fresh fruit and veggies. This isn’t exactly new advice, but it’s good advice. Mix things up with a variety of fresh vegetables and fruit.
• Protein. Don’t skimp on protein postpartum, especially if you’re dealing with postpartum depression. Eat plenty of lean protein. Oily fish (salmon, tuna, etc.) is an excellent choice. If you’re vegetarian, eat plenty of soy, whey, tofu, or nuts.
• Don’t focus on losing weight. You’re going to lose some weight naturally, but don’t get down on yourself if you don’t fit into those pre-pregnancy jeans after your baby is born. Most women take several months to get back to pre-pregnancy size. 

Sometime between four and nine months old, our babies reach that point where they are able to sleep for five to six hours at a time, giving us the opportunity for some much deserved rest of our own. But, for many moms, sleeping through the night just isn’t that easy after spending several months waking up two or three times every night.

Many mothers report waking up in a near panic when they realize their baby has been asleep for more than four hours. It’s perfectly natural to wonder if something is wrong, especially if your baby has been in the habit of waking up several times during the night before now. If it makes you feel better, sit beside the crib and watch baby sleep for a while. Then, take a deep breath and go back to bed. He’ll wake up soon enough.

If you find yourself worrying too much about baby when he starts sleeping through the night, it can actually be worse for your rest than when he was waking up regularly. Consider moving his crib so that you can watch him while he sleeps. That way, when you wake up, you won’t need to get out of bed to check on your baby.

Placing baby’s crib where you can see each other often helps baby soothe himself back to sleep, too. Babies and adults both go through light and deep sleep cycles, and actually wake up briefly many times during a typical sleep session. If baby is able to see you, he will be able to soothe himself to sleep more often, leading to a better night’s sleep for both of you.

Take advantage of the extra sleep while you’re able to get it. Even if you find yourself unable to actually go back to sleep, lie down and keep resting. In most cases, when baby starts sleeping through the night, you only have a short time until he starts teething. And once that starts, he will most likely be waking up in the middle of the night again, at least temporarily.

Most of all, don’t worry about baby sleeping for longer stretches of time. By the time he is four or five months old, his stomach and digestive system have developed enough that he is able to eat larger amounts at a setting (you’ve probably already noticed this), which means that he doesn’t get hungry as often. Since hunger and the need to feed is what wakes babies more than anything else, he is now old enough to sleep for longer periods of time because he doesn’t feel hungry as quickly.