|
Drugs are harmful for the body, but when pregnant drugs are even more dangerous for the baby. All drugs, prescription, illegal or over-the-counter are harmful to the unborn child; any drug that the mother takes the baby takes also. If you are in need of an over-the-counter medicine, such as for a cold or even an upset stomach, consult with your physician, and he will let you know what is safe to take during pregnancy.
There are a few drugs that should be avoided during pregnancy; these drugs may cause the baby to have severe problems.
Normal aspirin should be avoided during pregnancy due to it may cause problems in the blood system for the baby. It decreases the amount of oxygen the blood can carry. Pain relievers such that contain acetaminophen should be avoided, these can cause kidney problems in your unborn child.
Alcohol should be avoided completely, check labels of cough medicines which may contain alcohol. Chronic abuse or high doses of alcohol can cause the baby to have seizures, low blood sugar, growth retardation and many physical birth defects.
Drugs such as anticonvulsants, carbamazepine, phenytoin, and valproic acid may cause facial defects, mental retardation, and small size facial defects, brain and heart defects. Antidepressants should be avoided they are a cause of many birth defects. Many over-the-counter antihistamines should also be avoided these medicines can cause seizures in newborns. Skull defects and low birth weight may be caused by anti-hypertensive drugs. You will need to watch the over-the-counter anti-nausea medicines especially if they contain meclizine, cyclizine, and chloroxyxlizine all these can cause several different forms of birth defects.
Many antibiotics should also be avoided, they are known to cause yellow jaundice, malformed teeth, suppressed bone growth, cataracts, hearing loss and sight loss in many newborns.
Caffeine should be avoided or limited to a minimal, it is know to cause growth retardation. If you smoke you should consider quitting; nicotine is known for low birth weight and to cause lung problems in newborns.
|
| |
