Pregnancy In The Mennonite Culture

Pregnancy and the birth of a child throughout many cultures is viewed as a gift, either from God or from any other supernatural figure that they worship. If the pregnancy is terminated for any reason or there are complications it is also viewed in a large group of cultures as a punishment, or because you did not closely follow the rules or regulations of your culture. The process, emotional, and physical stress of bearing a child places mothers and family in a position of opportunity along with placing within them great responsibility. Mothers planning to bear children ideally need to be within the healthy weight range along with being well nourished, but this is not always the case. Many mothers to be are surprised when they realize or are

told that they are to be expecting. When this happens the correction of ones nutritional status needs to occur promptly. Nutrition of the body is key to a healthy low problem pregnancy whether becoming pregnant was unanticipated or was a very well thought out plan.
Pregnancy in the Mennonite culture is considered to be a gift from God and it is emphasized that it was customary to have as many children as ‘God wants you to have’ (Kulig, Wall, Hill, & Babcock, 2008).

The large majority of female concerns are tremendously private and the action of childbearing and birth are of no exception. The average pregnancy is 280 days or about 9 months which holds true to the culture as well, but it is so strongly believed that it is Gods will that one becomes pregnant that in many cases it is unknown until positive physical changes have occurred (Jarvis, 2016; Kulig et al., 2008). Most often even if pregnancy is known, Mennonite women do not go for prenatal care until late in the pregnancy or if an issue is encountered. In a study of low-German speaking Mennonites from Mexico and Canada many women stated or agreed with the statement of one

woman:
I did not have a lot of advice or treatments. I would not go to the doctor until I was seven or eight months pregnant, because everything was fine and I did not feel that I needed to go. My first pregnancy, I miscarried and then the third one was threatening to miscarry so I went to a Mexican Mennonite doctor who massaged my tummy and ever since then I have had no problems with miscarriages. (Kulig et al., 2008)
This just goes to show how little prenatal treatment is understood and how often it takes place but it also shows that there is enough worry that the women would seek some sort of care or advisement. This seeking of fellow Mennonite care occurs often and it is believed that a women in her childbearing state may need to participate in the practice of “turning the baby” to ensure an easier delivery and fewer complications (Kulig et al., 2004).
When a Mennonite woman is sure of pregnancy there is little that changes with nutritional status. It is common practice to continue eating a “regular diet” with slight increases in the intake of dairy products. The Mennonite diet consumed is high in total fat, saturated fats, sodium, and large quantities of cholesterol (Glick, Michel, Dorn, Horwitz, Rosenthal, & Trevisan, 1998). These core nutrients have been linked with not only just bad health but have been connected to cardiovascular diseases that could be avoided. In one of the studies a number of women spoke of needing to “eat well” during pregnancy. This consist of them increasing the intake of fruits and vegetables along with limiting alcohol and caffeine (Kulig et al., 2008). Now in participating in this plan it is also advised by many mothers that if one has a craving that it is essential to the growth and development of the baby that they partake in doing so. This being if a mother is craving beer or wine that she best take in as much as she deem necessary because it is what the baby wants and that is okay (Kulig et al., 2008). Now this is not always the case nor is it always practiced in that manner but many of the beliefs are taken very seriously.
Nutritional status throughout the early stages and continuing through the second and third trimesters of the pregnancy are important. Changes to ones existing food plan and status need to be made the moment a women learns she is going to be bearing a child or when she begins to believe she would like to try to conceive. Preparing for pregnancy comes with several changes within itself. Key nutrients that need to be increased in the diet are folic acid, iron, calcium, vitamin-C, and vitamin- A along with partaking in a healthy balanced diet. Limitations suggested even before conception include alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or other tetragons, along with cholesterol, fats, and added salts and sugars (Dudek, 2014). Once conception has occurred the key nutrients listed above need to be slightly increased again along with a slowly increasing calorie intake going as high as to 2600 calories into the third trimester. Increasing nutrients such as folic acid and iron have proven to be extremely beneficial to the development and growth of the fetus. Conceptual intake of folic acid supplements improves maternal folate status and reduces the risk of delivering a baby with neural tube defects (Nilsen, Vollset, Rasmussen, Ueland, & Daltveit, 2008). Increasing evidence suggests that prenatal use of vitamins including folic acid may also have a protective effect on other adverse pregnancy outcomes and complications as well. Folic acid intake during pregnancy should be close to 600µg, while the increase in iron should increase by 50% to help with production of blood and fetal development (Dudek, 2014). Other changes that should also occur includes the elimination of alcohol. There is no amount of alcohol that has been found to be safe to consume while pregnant so it is advised to be completely eliminated.
Throughout the Mennonite culture there seems to be little in numbers of so called “traditional” food or practices. Diet choices largely consist of dairy products, meats, fruits, and vegetables of the local area and due to slight lack in modern technology many of their foods are salt cured for preservation which equates for the hefty amounts of sodium in their diets. This does not mean that cultural preferences are not present when it comes to pregnancy and childbearing though. Throughout the needed changes Mennonites are open to what the doctor orders and tend to follow them. The culture as a whole is not too far off on what is needed or what needs to happen during pregnancy. The increase in folic acid needed can very easily be taking in through the increase in green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, and beans (Dudek, 2014). While the increase in other nutrients such as calcium and iron can be taken in by eating the leaner red meats, potatoes, and also dried fruits. According to personal communication Mennonites are also open to the use of vitamins which if advised by the physician many will begin to take multivitamins containing a number of essential nutrients. Concerning statements earlier about the intake of alcohol with cravings it would contribute to a decrease in this belief along with other negatives factors such as having little prenatal care if there were greater education that occurred within the Mennonite community. If a group of medical personnel were to be able to express the importance of certain actions it would make a large impact. Clearly the women are worrisome if they are seeking attention from local “lady doctors” to aid them in their endeavor. Education is a detrimental factor when childbearing is in mind and with the right amount as a medical team we can help aid this group of people into becoming a healthier, better prepared group.
The research article chosen was titled “Folic Acid and Multivitamin Supplement Use and Risk of Placental Abruption.” This study was based on all still and livebirths recorded in the Medical Birth Registry of Norway from 1999 through 2004.

To begin this study there were a total of 349,043 births but due to missing information of supplement use and the amount of multiple births only 280,127 where used for obtaining information. The study was conducted to show any relationship between the use of multivitamin and folic acid with placental abruption. The findings were quite intriguing. Compared with no use, vitamin supplement use was connected with a 26% decreased risk of abruption with the strongest reduction being when folic acid and a multivitamin were used in tandem followed by a multivitamin alone then by folic acid alone. With the data collected it suggest that folic acid and other vitamin use during pregnancy is associated with a reduced risk of placental

abruption.