The following vaccines can potentially be transmitted to the unborn child and may result in miscarriage, premature birth or birth defects.
Hepatitis A: The safety of this vaccine hasn't been determined and it should be avoided during pregnancy. Women at high risk for exposure to this virus should discuss the risks and benefits with their doctors.
Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR): Women should wait at least one month to become pregnant after receiving these live-virus vaccines. If the initial rubella test shows that you are not immune to rubella, then you will be given the vaccine after delivery.
Varicella: This vaccine, used to prevent chicken pox, should be given at least one month before pregnancy.
Pneumococcal: Because the safety of this vaccine is unknown, it should be avoided in pregnancy except for women who are at high risk or have a chronic illness.
Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) and Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV): Neither the live-virus (OPV) nor the inactivated-virus (IPV) version of this vaccine is recommended for pregnant women.
Pregnant women who drink artificially sweetened soft drinks are more likely to give birth prematurely, according to a study conducted by researchers from researchers from the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark, and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."These findings may be really important in terms of preventing premature births, especially those that are medically induced by a woman's health care provider," said Shelley McGuire, a spokesperson for the American Society of Nutrition. "Certainly, until more experimental work is done, this study suggests that pregnant women should steer clear of artificially sweetened drinks.Researchers questioned nearly 60,000 pregnant Danish women about their consumption of sweetened beverages.
They found that women who drank one serving per day of a carbonated, artificially sweetened beverage were 38 percent more likely to give birth prematurely than women who did not consume such drinks. Women who consumed four or more serving of such drinks daily increased their risk of premature delivery by 78 percent. A similar, albeit smaller risk was seen for non-carbonated, artificially sweetened drinks. There was no increase in risk associated with sugary drinks.A premature birth was defined as a delivery before the 37th week of pregnancy. Only deliberately induced premature deliveries were associated with artificial sweeteners; there was no connection between the sweeteners and spontaneous premature births.
This suggests that artificial sweeteners may cause distress in either the fetus or mother that leads doctors to induce early delivery.The exact cause of the connection could not be determined, but scientists believe that toxic breakdown products of the sweeteners might play some role. The sweetener aspartame, for example, is broken down in the body to phenylalanine."Large doses of phenylalanine are toxic to the brain and can cause mental retardation and seizures in people with a particular genetic disorder called phenylketonuria," writes Debra Lynn Dadd in the book Nontoxic, Natural and Earthwise."Other people experience headaches, depression, mood swings, high blood pressure, insomnia, and behavior problems," Dadd writes."Aspartame is not recommended for use by pregnant women as it is known to cause birth defects."
Many women may not realize that they are not up-to-date on their immunizations and are susceptible to diseases that can harm them or their unborn child. Pregnant women should talk to their doctors to figure out which vaccines they may need and whether they should get them during pregnancy or wait until after their child is born.All vaccines are tested for safety under the supervision of the FDA. The vaccines are checked for purity, potency and safety, and the FDA and CDC monitor the safety of each vaccine for as long as it is in use.
Some people may be allergic to an ingredient in a vaccine, such as eggs in the influenza vaccine, and should not receive the vaccine until they have talked to their doctor.A number of vaccines, especially live-virus vaccines, should not be given to pregnant women because they may be harmful to the baby. (A live-virus vaccine is made using the live strains of a virus.) Some vaccines can be given to the mother in the second or third trimester of pregnancy, while others should only be administered either at least three months before or immediately after the baby is born.
