Prenatal care is the care a woman gets during pregnancy. Prenatal care should begin as soon as a woman knows for certain or suspects she is pregnant. Early and regular prenatal visits with a health care provider are important for the health of both the mother and the fetus.
Prenatal care is important to help keep you and your developing child healthy. Women who do not seek prenatal care are three times as likely to deliver a low-birth-weight infant. Lack of prenatal care can also increase the risk of infant death.1
- Womenshealth.gov. (2009, March 6). Publications: Prenatal care fact sheet. Retrieved April 12, 2012, from http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/prenatal-care.cfm#b [top]