Is it harmful to work night shifts while pregnant?

Many women will continue to work after they become pregnant. After all, we need to survive, and sometimes we feel more helpless when facing reality. Since you may have to work night shifts when you go to work, working night shifts is harmful to your health. If you work night shifts while pregnant, it will not only cause harm to the pregnant woman, but also have some impact on the fetus.

Is it harmful to work night shifts while pregnant?

1. Both pregnant mothers and fetuses are prone to blood deficiency

11pm to 3am is the time when the liver and gallbladder produce blood. Pregnancy itself is a very blood-consuming process, so if you stay up late, especially if you don't sleep during the blood-producing period, it is easy to cause blood loss.

2. The baby grows slowly after birth

If you stay up late and cannot sleep for a long time, and your nutrition is not balanced, it may affect the development of the fetus, and it may also affect the baby's future growth and development, such as slow growth, low weight, and insufficient kidney essence in children. Therefore, it is best for expectant mothers to maintain a regular schedule.

3. The baby loves to cry during infancy

The fetus does not like to stay up late. If the expectant mother often stays up late, it will delay the due date, increase the physical and psychological burden on the expectant mother, and affect the child's biological clock, which is not conducive to the child forming good sleeping habits after birth. Children born to mothers who stay up late tend to be irritable, anxious, angry, and crying.

What to eat for night shifts?

Vitamin supplements

People who often work night shifts should pay attention to vitamin supplements. Vitamins are very important to the human body and can be said to be indispensable. Vitamin A can regulate the synthesis of rhodopsin, a photosensitive substance in the retina, which can improve the adaptability of night workers to dim light, prevent visual fatigue, and improve work ability. Vitamin A is found in animal liver, milk, eggs and colored vegetables, so you should eat more lean meat, fish, pork liver, carrots, bell peppers, mangoes, pineapples and other foods rich in vitamin A.

Vitamin C plays a big role. It can relieve physical fatigue and enhance immunity, so you must supplement vitamin C well and eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. Night shift workers are prone to lack of sunlight and should also supplement vitamin D. Foods rich in vitamin D include eggs, fish and milk.

Protein

You also need to supplement some protein. Supplementing protein is to avoid the body's physical weakness and dizziness. You can eat foods such as chocolate, candy, almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc. to supplement protein. You can also drink some milk, yogurt and beverages. It is not recommended to consume too much fish and meat as a midnight snack.

When on night shift, medical staff sometimes consume a lot of physical energy after rescue or continuous surgery. Some people eliminate fatigue and replenish their strength by eating too much meat. In fact, doing so is harmful to the body. Because consuming too much meat before going to bed can easily lead to excess calories, increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, affect sleep quality and make it difficult to recover physical strength, which can lead to obesity, gallstones and other diseases over time.

Hot tea for refreshment

In order to improve work efficiency and concentrate, you can drink a moderate cup of hot coffee or hot tea. But please note that it is not suitable to drink within 1 hour before going to bed, otherwise it will affect your sleep. Changing the environment can easily affect sleep. Drinking some milk, yogurt and jujube kernel and lotus seed soup can help you sleep.