Pregnant women pass all of the substances that travel through their bloodstream into the blood of their babies. For this reason, mothers need to be careful about the medicines they take. In the first eight weeks of pregnancy, when the baby’s hearts, lungs and brains are taking shape, they should avoid over the counter medicines. When they get colds and coughs, the best treatment is rest, lots of water or other fluids, and a cool mist vaporizer. If the doctor prescribes antibiotics, mothers should follow instructions exactly when taking the medication, because the good health of their babies depends on their own good health.
Some medications are considered healthy during pregnancy, as long as the mother takes them after the first ten weeks with a physician’s approval. Among the medicines that are considered safe are 3 for colds and hay fevers:
- Chlor-Trimeton, an antihistamine
- Sudafed, a decongestant
- Actifed, a combination antihistamine and decongestant
1 for Cough Symptoms
- Robitussin or Robitussin DM
3 for Constipation
- Docusate (Colace): no more than 100 mg in the morning and evening
- Metamucil: up to 1 or 2 teaspoons with 8 ounces of liquid — water or juice
- Milk of Magnesia - up to 1 or 2 Tablespoons every evening
Mineral oil is not safe. Ibuprofen should only be taken with the explicit approval of the mother’s physician.
If the expecting mother has headaches or body aches, the safe option is to take Tylenol or any other similar acetaminophen, but no more than 2 tablets or 650 mg every 4 hours. Aspirin is NOT safe to take without a physician’s prescription because it can prevent the mother’s blood from clotting and make labor and delivery more dangerous.
Mother’s bodies also transfer aspirin to their breast milk; a nursing baby can receive between 4 and 8% of the mother’s dose. Since aspirin can build up in a baby’s body, it can be harmful to them to receive frequent doses, even if they are low. Aspirin can also contribute to the baby’s development of a rare disease known as Reye’s syndrome, which can damage the brain and the liver. For these reasons, it is unsafe for nursing mothers to take aspirin.
Tylenol (known generically as Acetaminophen) can ease the pain of a baby with a headache, fever, toothache or muscle injury, allowing it to get a good night’s sleep. However, Tylenol is also a powerful toxin that can damage the liver if it is taken in amounts beyond what the baby’s liver can handle. Hence, Tylenol should also be avoided unless it is in tiny amounts, and prescribed by a physician.
Three medications are safe for Heartburn:
- Amphogel
- Gelusil
- Maalox
Baking soda or Pepto bismol are not safe.
When an expecting mothers catches a fever and her temperature is higher than 100.5, it is time to call her health provider. Once her temperature falls below 100.5, she may safely take 650 mg of Tylenol every 4 hours, but if her fever more than two days and nights she should get in touch with her provider.
Some mothers may have taken Prozac before they became pregnant in order to combat depression. Since Prozac is a “Class B” medication, taking it is officially discouraged during pregnancy unless a physician believes it is medically necessary. A pregnant women on Prozac has miscarriages at the same rate as every other expecting mother. Her fetus has no more abnormalities than average, and once born, her children have no more trouble than usual with neurological development.
However, pregnancy can be more risky for her during the third trimester because Prozac appears to slightly increase the chances of premature birth. On the other hand, many mothers fall into postpartum depression after their babies are born, which is dangerous. Depressed mothers interact less with their newborn infants than happy mothers do, and the weaker bond hurts the infant’s cognitive, language, and behavioral development.
Mothers with chronic depression may decide to split the difference, swearing off Prozac while they are pregnant but resuming their medications after the birth. However, there is a price to pay for this decision, because most doctors recommend against taking Prozac while breastfeeding. Thus, mothers who decide to breastfeed run the risk of succumbing to postpartum depression, which they could avoid if they took the drug.
While it may seem noble for the pregnant mother to act on her strong impulses to do everything she can to have a healthy baby, she does this at the risk of ignoring her own health, and if she has a predisposition towards depression, this may make the choices even more complicated. She may not be aware of the extent to which post-partum or chronic depression is coloring her decisions. For this reason, it is important, again, to keep in touch with the doctor, friends and family and ask for help in monitoring the signs of depression. Mom can only take good care of her baby if she takes care of herself first.
**This article is based on the information at http://pregnancy.about.com, http://www.safefetus.com/, http://www.webmd.com and http://www.pregnancy-info.net