Pregnancy & Parenting
On pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and caring for a newborn during wartime.
On pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and caring for a newborn during wartime.
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Family Care Centers, Mother and Newborn Health Care
The Ministry of Health is updating the website with information about open family care centers (Tipat Halav). -
Pregnancy and Labor During Wartime
At times of emergency, such as war, we are exposed to stressful situations that affect the health of the mother and the fetus. It is crucial to follow the pregnancy… -
To Breastfeed is to Provide Resilience
Especially during emergency and crisis situations, breastfeeding was found to be especially healthy both for the breastfeeding mother and the nursing baby. All information about breastfeeding during stressful and emergency… -
Traumatic Stress While Pregnant or Breastfeeding
All the information for women who are coping with stress and trauma while they are pregnant or breastfeeding. Tips for coping with stress, emotional support hotlines and more. -
Milk Bank: Donating and Receiving Breast Milk Donations
Which babies are eligible to receive donated breast milk? What are the criteria for donation, and how can someone request a donation? Due to the current security situation, there are… -
Self-Care to Be Able to Help Children
During emergencues, parents have a twofold challenge: function and cope with the situation themselves, so they can support and communicate the situation to their children. This way you can take… -
Staying Home with the Children
Prolonged stay at home with the children may increase both our stress and our children's. Important guidelines for prolonged stay at home and for relieving children's stress and trauma. -
Child and Teenager Online Safety
Especially during war and emergency situations, like the one that we are currently experiencing, the internet provides us with escapism and pleasure, but it may also present us with challenges… -
Screens in Wartime
Everything you need to know about screen time, both during emergency situations and in general. Pros, cons and what is the recommended screen time for every age group. -
Leaving Children Home Alone
According to law, you can leave children alone at home from the age of 6, but it is recommended not to leave them alone before the age of 9, as… -
Parental Guidance on Managing Child Traumatic Stress
Anxiety has different manifestations among children of different age groups and between children of the same age group. All the information and recommendations that parents need for coping with anxiety… -
Helping Children Understand Tragic Events
A couple of tips that will help you if you need to talk to your children about difficult subjects. -
Parents in Active Military Service
How you can help your children cope with the recruitment of a parent to military service. It is important to remember that recruitment causes pressure but it also provides an…
Pregnancy and Labor During Wartime
In every pregnancy, especially during wartime, there is great importance for pregnancy follow-up—first and foremost, it is intended to reduce possible complications for the mother and the newborn. During emergencies, such as war, there is great exposure to stressful situations that can affect the mother's health, as well as the fetus's health. Therefore, and especially now, it is crucial to adhere to regular pregnancy follow-up and get support.
Important actions during pregnancy
- Pregnancy follow-up: regular follow-up, according to your accompanying physicians and nurses, including monitoring weight, blood pressure, urine protein, blood tests, and ultrasound, according to the instructions and your pregnancy week.
- Routine vaccination: whooping cough vaccine (in the third trimester), flu vaccine, and COVID-19 vaccine, according to recommendations.
- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle: a balanced diet, physical activity adapted to the pregnancy and your physical condition, consumption of the dietary supplements recommended during pregnancy, and avoiding alcohol and drugs.
Due to the war, there may be changes in the maternity wards and in the regular hospitalization options: zero separation, full-time rooming-in, and partial or flexible rooming-in.
Labor and hospitalization
The Ministry of Health recommends that the mother and newborn stay together as much as possible. Staying together has many advantages that contribute to the mother's and the baby's health and advance the recovery. During wartime there is an additional advantage in being close to the baby: moving together to the protected space, if necessary.
During wartime, hospitalization duration may be shorter in certain clinical situations that enable it. It is recommended to arrive for labor with the necessary equipment for leaving the house: clothing for the mother and the newborn, infant car seat, parents' documents, etc.
Emotional support
Stressful situations can increase the risk of mood swings, which may reach the point of postpartum depression. Support from the people surrounding the mother is important for building resilience and reducing the phenomenon: care for the mother's physical needs, such as nutritional food, drinks, and sleep, and give her emotional support, including conversations, breathing and relaxation exercises, and more. If the woman's partner is not around due to the war, this should be taken into account, and assistance should be given.
Hotlines
- HMOs' hotlines.
- Hotline for young children—for parents and family members by the Duet Institute and the World Association for Infant Mental Health.
- By telephone: 054-7503970
- ERAN
- By telephone: 1201
- NATAL
- By telephone: 1-800-363-363