Creating another human being has got to one of the most amazing experiences in life! I commend all of you that have done it. 🙂
One thing I see commonly in practice is women worried about environmental toxicity before or during pregnancy and sometimes there concerns are justified.
Living in the most toxic environment humans have ever seen, it’s no wonder people have some concerns about exposures, especially when child development is involved.
The big ones to consider are;
Heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium and mercury, as these have been shown to impair development both in utero and postnatally. Simple sources of exposure are amalgam fillings, fish, cigarette smoke, older paints and pluming, as well as contaminated water.
POP’s or persistant organic pollutants, such as solvents and pesticides, along with other endocrine disrupting agents like parabens and plasticizers are another area of concern. POP’s, plasticizers (Phalates) and parabens have been shown to persist in small amounts in the environment forever and can disrupt child development and conception by interacting with hormone receptors in the body.
Once again functional medicine provides an answer with testing options to help determine environmental toxic burdens prior to conception. Once we know what someone has, we can address the burden before attempting pregnancy.
Check out this video of me explaining environmental toxicity to a client and the sources of exposure that they came from!