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An Ounce of Prevention for Birth Defects
Be Wise About Birth Defects Before Conception
By Kelly Burgess
- Don't go overboard with supplements. While folic acid is good, overdoing it on other supplements, such as vitamin A, can be very harmful. Take approved supplements only as directed.
- Avoid crash dieting. The goal is a healthy weight. Pre-pregnancy is not a time to crash diet or eliminate food groups. You may be eliminating an important nutrient.
- Quit smoking and drinking. (Dr. Dolan calls these the no-brainers.)
- Exercise environmental caution. While there's no hard and fast data regarding the effect of chemicals in our environment on pregnancy, Dr. Dolan says exercising caution is still a good idea. Avoid areas where there are fumes from paint and other potentially harmful substances. Atice Schaffer* of Hattersheim, Germany, says that part of her attempts to avoid environmental pollutants included avoiding areas with passive smoke on the theory that "what the mother breathes, the baby breathes."
It can't hurt to trust your own instincts in other areas as well. Ann Eide of Columbus, Miss., did see her doctors prior to conception, and was given some generally sound advice. However, one doctor told her to continue taking a medication she was on for asthma. After some research, Eide found it wasn't approved for pregnancy, so she quit taking it. "A physician once told me that ultimately anything a woman takes internally will pass to the unborn baby," she says. "I truly believe that is what made such a huge impact on my lifestyle while pregnant."
Beyond Folic Acid
The cause of most birth defects isn't known, but it is known that, genetically, some people are at greater risk for birth defects than others. For those couples, genetic counselors are available at most hospitals to analyze their risk factors. Michele Clemens is a genetic counselor at Magee Women's Hospital in Oakland, Pa., and ays clients come to her for a variety of reasons, but usually it is because they have already had a child or a family member with a birth defect and want to understand their risks of it recurring.Want to see more?
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