The #ReadyforPregnancy campaign is a unique collaboration of local maternity systems from across the South East region, working with the shared objective to raise awareness of how women’s health when they get pregnant affects them and their baby not only throughout their pregnancy, but also at birth.
Running across local authorities, NHS organisations and local support groups, the ReadyforPregnancy campaign will focus on a different aspect of health each month:
- taking regular exercise
- eating a healthy diet
- starting pregnancy at a healthy weight
- stopping smoking
- taking folic acid to prepare for your pregnancy
- looking after your mental health
- cutting out of alcohol
- helping your fertility
- checking your vaccinations are up to date
- learning more about breastfeeding
- learning more about pregnancy, birth and parenting
- understanding the implications of existing health conditions, such as diabetes
A range of assets has been developed to support this campaign, all viewable and downloadable from this page.
Consultant Gynaecologist & Obstetrician, Dr Anne Deans, who is also the Chief of Service Obstetrics and Gynaecology for Frimley Health, said:
“There is a clear link between a mother’s health before pregnancy, the risks she is exposed to or exposes herself to, and her baby’s health. We know that healthy women have fewer complications in pregnancy are more likely to have healthy babies, who grow into healthy children. Partners also have a role to play by staying healthy.
“We’re excited to be launching #ReadyforPregnancy, which will help raise awareness of things that women can do before conception to improve fertility, pregnancy health and their baby’s future health.
“It’s particularly important because we know that women often don’t consult a health professional before becoming pregnant and are not aware of how they can reduce risks.”
The campaign has been created with the help of Maternity Voices Partnerships throughout the south east region. Emma Taylor, representing Maternity Voices Partnerships in the Thames Valley area, said:
“We are really excited about this campaign to raise awareness of the importance of becoming healthy before trying to have a baby. It’s important that women have all the information they need to make their own informed choices before and during pregnancy, and this campaign will help them to make small changes that will make big differences to both them and their baby.”
Download the Easy read version:
Download the campaign booklet in the language of your choice:
Take a look at the following short interviews with mums giving tips on various subjects from getting fit and eating healthily, to breastfeeding and managing pregnancy with a long term condition.
Take a look at this short film ‘Our ReadyforPregnancy campaign in numbers’ which celebrates the achievements of the ReadyforPregnancy campaign over the first 12 months of its inception:
Download our #ReadyforPregnancy evaluation report:
