Q: Good morning Doc, March last year my wife had a miscarriage because she took hot pepper soup without her knowing she was pregnant. Now, she doesn’t want to get pregnant again. What should I do? Please help

A: condolences on the loss of your baby. It is never an easy experience for anyone to go through.

Unfortunately, often times, the cause of a miscarriage is not identified. You need to understand this so that neither you nor her blame yourself unduly. Having said that though, first trimester miscarriages are mainly due to problems with the baby/fetus. These problems could be due to problems with the placenta. This is how the baby receives its nutrients in the womb and so, if this organ cannot deliver, a miscarriage might occur. There may also be a problem with the baby’s chromosomes, such that a baby may receive too many or too few genetic materials or there may be a damaged egg/sperm. Other associated risk factors include smoking and drinking alcohol, being overweight, malnutrition, increased maternal age, trauma and drug abuse. By the way, trimester is 3 months of pregnancy. Therefore, first trimester refers to the 1st three months, 2nd trimester, the 2nd three months and 3rd trimester, the last three months

To try for a pregnancy again, remember to ensure there is unprotected sexual intercourse at least three times a week with ejaculation of sufficient amounts of semen. You should start on folic acid supplements as soon as you can, to prepare you and baby for the journey ahead.

To prevent a recurrence, focus on ensuring that you stay healthy and do not indulge in harmful habits like smoking and excessive alcohol drinking. Other helpful tips include eating healthy, keeping weight within normal parameters, avoiding trauma and not abusing drugs.

In addition, as soon as you get pregnant again, you should register for antenatal as soon as possible and keep to your appointments religiously.

All the best!