Important Tips To Consider When Placing Your Baby For Adoption
An unplanned pregnancy can be stressful, especially as you consider placing your baby for adoption. Here are some important tips to help you during pregnancy in preparing to place your baby for adoption.
Take Care of You and Your Unborn Baby
As soon as you find out you are pregnant, it is important you take care of your health and the health of your baby. This includes seeing your obstetrician for regular prenatal exams, avoiding drugs and alcohol, and eating healthy foods. If you are having financial struggles, your adoption agency can help you find housing, maternity clothes, food and supplies during your pregnancy, and government assistance with healthcare costs. Then, the adoption agency can also provide counseling to help you adjust as you move through this period in your life.
See Your Obstetrician Regularly
Prenatal care during your pregnancy is important because it is a way for your doctor to look for any health problems or pregnancy complications and prevent them so you can have a healthy pregnancy. Babies born to mothers who don't get prenatal care are three times more likely to have a low weight at birth. Without getting prenatal care, your baby is also five times more likely to die than babies born to mothers who get prenatal care.
Eat Well
During your pregnancy, eat from a variety of food groups, so include fruits, vegetables, breads, grains, protein, and dairy. Keep in mind you need to eat an extra 300 calories a day to provide the necessary nutrients and energy to your growing baby.
Eat at least two to four servings of fruit and at least four servings of vegetables each day. Also, eat from six to eleven servings of breads and grains per day. This may vary according to your weight and dietary needs, so talk to your doctor about what is best for you. Eat at least three servings of protein and four servings of dairy each day. Then, to make sure you are not missing out on any nutrients and vitamins, take a daily prenatal vitamin.
Decide What Type of Adoption You Prefer
The manner in which adoptions are carried out has changed dramatically over the last several decades. Years ago it was common for most adoptions to remain closed with the birth mother having no information about where or with whom her child was placed and no contact. Today, 95 percent of adoptions are open adoptions where the birth mother has some amount of contact with their child, usually through an intermediary, after adoption placement.
In an open adoption, you can choose to remain in close contact and have a personal relationship with the adoptive family and your child. This type of open adoption will usually be set up with pre-determined meeting dates or phone calls on birthdays or holidays. These contact dates are usually mutually agreed upon by you and the adoptive parents before the adoption takes place.
You can also choose to receive photos, letters, and emails throughout the years, to see how your child is growing and developing, without having personal contact. Then, an open adoption can also consist of only knowing the information of the adoptive family's name, address, phone number, and email address, without having contact. The details surrounding your option adoption are up to you and what you are comfortable with.
If you choose a closed adoption, usually the only personal information shared with the adoptive family is your medical records. This is to inform the adoptive parents of any genetic history they need to know about that may affect the health of their adopted child.
Choose the Adoptive Parents
Besides choosing what type of adoption you want as the birth mother and how much contact you would like with your child, you can also choose the parents who will adopt your child. For example, you can choose a two parent family where one of the parents will stay home with the child, or a family with the same religious beliefs as you. The adoption agency you are working with can help you find the family who will adopt your child that fits with your adoption preferences.
Use these tips and check out web sites of local adoption centers to help you prepare to place your baby for adoption.
