WOMEN’S BODIES: COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT PREGNANCY – I
Are all drugs risky in pregnancy?
No. In fact it’s important that women who need regular medication to maintain their health shouldn’t stop such medication without consulting their doctor, who will advise if any changes are needed to safeguard pregnancy. Otherwise it’s best to avoid drugs as far as possible, but this shouldn’t be taken to extreme. If you become ill, it’s usually safer to take treatment than not. For example, if you have a feverish illness, your foetus is at much greater risk from the fever than from taking paracetamol or aspirin to reduce it. Bacterial infections can safely be treated with oral antibiotics except tetracyclines, which disturb foetal bone and tooth development. If you intend to use over-the-counter medicines, always check with your doctor or pharmacist.
Should alcohol he totally avoided?
Alcohol should be limited, and this is generally easy because most pregnant women ‘go off it from the early weeks. But an occasional evening drink or a glass of wine with dinner has never been shown to do any harm. Health problems due to alcohol have so far only occurred in the infants of very heavy drinkers.
Other social drugs should be stopped. Heroin and methadone during pregnancy can cause serious problems for the baby, including withdrawal symptoms in the newborn due to addiction.
Is it safe to have your first baby after 35 years of age?
Studies during the past two decades have thrown doubt on the long-held belief that it is risky for both mother and baby if the first pregnancy occurs after 35 years of age. Results suggest that general health rather than age is the most important factor in predicting a good outcome for older mothers. This is good news, as first births to Australian women over the age of 35 increased by 37 per cent in the 1980s. Statistics show that older first-time mothers generally look after their health, don’t smoke, and are well prepared for childbirth. As might be expected, such women generally have healthy babies. However, the risk of genetic abnormalities, especially Down’s syndrome (mongolism), increases with age, regardless of whether it’s the first or a subsequent pregnancy. Pregnant women over 37 years of age are advised to have amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling to check for genetic abnormalities.
Aren’t women less fertile after 30 years оf age?
The short answer is ‘not much’. Fertile is thought to be highest from around the
age of 18 until the mid-20s, followed by a slight decline over the early and mid-30s, and a more rapid decline from the
late 30s to the menopause. The reason is that with each year, more things that| might reduce fertility are likely to happen to a woman’s general and gynaecological health. Also, during the forties there is a rapid drop in the number of ova available for ripening in each ovary.
This very broad generalisation alone can’t be used to make predictions for individual women. Total health history mat be considered. Some women are more fertile at the age of 38 than at 18 years of age.
Are older mothers more likely to need a caesarean delivery?
Not necessarily. The reasons for caesarean delivery are the same for mothers of any age. However, when the first pregnancy is in the late thirties or the forties, there’s always more anxiety about the pregnancy outcome. This is mainly because older first-time mothers have a general reputation (which certainly doesn’t apply to every individual) for slower and more difficult deliveries, and partly because older mothers have less time to try again if they lose a baby. When older women are giving birth, foetal distress or problems in labour are likely to provoke an earlier suggestion that caesarean delivery might be safer. But plenty of older mothers have normal, easy deliveries.
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