Moving to a Deserted Island to Prevent Miscarriage

In the wake of the coffee / miscarriage hysteria, people are wanting information, and a few major news publications have run articles that attempt to explain the complex topic of miscarriage risk factors and causes in just 1500 words or less. Probably the most thorough was a potentially confusing Newsweek Web exclusive that told women to avoid an entire laundry list of almost every risk factor that's ever had a theoretical link to miscarriages.

Reading the article, one could easily come to the conclusion that modern life itself causes miscarriages -- I doubt there are very many people in the western world who do not have at least one risk factor in Newsweek's list, at least if you count stress.

So how far should women go to avoid risk factors? Well, I remember being pregnant after miscarriages, and I certainly did everything I could do to feel like I was reducing risk -- but I think it's important to reiterate again that most miscarriages don't happen because of anything the mom did. And you really don't have to move to a deserted island to have a healthy pregnancy. I used to remind myself that plenty of other moms who seemed less worried than I was had perfectly healthy babies, so there was no reason to suspect that I was doing anything horribly wrong to cause the miscarriages.

The best things you can do to prevent miscarriages are to take to take good care of yourself, stay in touch with your doctor for adequate prenatal care and treatment of any health issues you may have, see a doctor for a basic recurrent misarriage testing work-up if you've had two or more miscarriages, and stay strong -- keep the faith that you'll have your baby someday. If you're doing that, things will probably work out for you sooner or later.