Antibiotics in pregnancy
Pregnant women, unfortunately, are also not immune from disease. Usually doctors try not to prescribe antibiotics during pregnancy, but there are times when they can not be avoided. When antibiotics can not be avoided? What antibiotics can be used during pregnancy and in what dosage? When can I get pregnant after antibiotics, if during the planning I had to undergo a course of treatment? Do antibiotics affect pregnancy? What side effects for the pregnant woman and the consequences for the fetus may be as a result of taking antibiotics?
Antibiotics are medicinal substances that kill bacteria and microbes.
Treatment with antibiotics during pregnancy is usually tried to postpone, since many of them penetrate the placenta and can affect the development of the fetus. But if a pregnant woman has tonsillitis or pneumonia, urinary tract diseases or bacterial complications against a background of a viral infection or flu, antibiotics can not be avoided during pregnancy.
The medication must be chosen by the doctor, considering the duration of pregnancy, the severity of the disease, what antibiotics can be drunk during pregnancy, and to what drugs the bacteria found in the body will be sensitive. When choosing antibiotics during pregnancy, it is better not to read reviews about preparations, but to completely trust the treating doctor.
Sensitivity to antibiotics in pregnancy
Physicians distinguish:
- Antibiotics of a wide spectrum of action, suppressing various groups of microbes;
- Antibiotics, which act only on certain types of bacteria.
Pregnancy is not the time to experiment and choose a drug at random. In pregnancy, you can take antibiotics, if with the help of tests the causative agent of the disease has been identified and its sensitivity to specific drugs has been determined.
If the study is not possible for any reason, and the treatment should be started, the doctor will determine which antibiotic to choose in pregnancy - most likely, it will be a broad-spectrum antibiotic.
Some pregnant women think that the effect of antibiotics on pregnancy can be reduced if the dose is reduced. But the dose of an antibiotic for a pregnant woman and a non-pregnant woman is the same. It is designed in such a way as to suppress the multiplication of bacteria. Independently reducing the dose, you will not defeat the pathogen, but only "accustom" it to the drug. Treatment will have to be repeated, moreover, by choosing another antibiotic.
Antibiotics approved during pregnancy
There are so-called safe antibiotics in pregnancy - drugs, the negative impact of which on the fetus is not revealed:
- Antibiotics of the penicillin series (Amoxicillin, Oxacillin, Ampicillin);
- Cephalosporins (Cefazolin, Cefatoxime);
- Macrolides (Erythromycin, Azithromycin).
Antibiotics used in pregnancy, in the future can be prescribed to a woman and during breastfeeding. They are also suitable for kids of the first year of life.
The use of antibiotics in pregnancy
It is undesirable to take antibiotics at the beginning of pregnancy, when laying and forming internal organs and systems, and in the 2nd and 3rd trimester and during breastfeeding, antibiotics are possible, if there is a need for the mother.
It should be remembered that it is advisable to drink antibiotics during pregnancy only if the disease is not of a viral nature but of a bacterial nature, and this is confirmed by analyzes.
How do antibiotics affect pregnancy?
There is an opinion that antibiotics can cause genetic abnormalities and cause congenital malformations in the fetus, but modern research shows that this is not the case. However, some antibiotics in the early stages of pregnancy can indeed have toxic effects on the embryo and cause hearing and vision impairment or affect the internal organs of the fetus.
Antibiotics and pregnancy planning
If a woman or her partner has been ill and has been taking antibiotics and other medications, doctors advise postponing pregnancy planning after antibiotics for 3 months. During this time, the medicines will be completely removed from the body, the health of partners will be restored, immunity will grow stronger and pregnancy after antibiotics will proceed easily and without problems.
But if planning for pregnancy after taking antibiotics could not be postponed, it is necessary to consult a geneticist: some types of antibiotics can affect the conception and formation of the fetus.
Antibiotics in early pregnancy
In the first trimester of pregnancy, antibiotics are undesirable, since during this period the basic fetal systems are formed. But many future mothers take antibiotics in the first weeks of pregnancy simply because they do not yet know about their situation, and then worry - can you keep the pregnancy?
In the first two weeks, the embryo is not associated with the blood of the mother, so if you have drunk a course of antibiotics, without knowing about pregnancy, there are no threats to the fetus.
If it becomes necessary to drink antibiotics during pregnancy, the first trimester is not the best time. If there is an opportunity - the treatment is postponed. So, for example, urogenital infections, found during registration in pregnancy, begin to be treated after the 20th week. If treatment is necessary urgently, the least toxic preparations are selected.
Antibiotics in pregnancy 2 trimester
During the 2nd and 3rd trimester, the laying of internal organs and fetal systems has already occurred, so the list of antibiotics that can be used is significantly expanded. During this period it is desirable to treat the detected infections so that they do not harm the child.
Can antibiotics be used during pregnancy?
If a woman took antibiotics during pregnancy, this does not mean that the child will certainly have any health problems. The main thing is that the doctor prescribes the treatment after carrying out the necessary tests.
Untreated bacterial infections can pose a serious threat to the fetus, while pregnancy after taking antibiotics and even pregnancy while taking antibiotics usually occurs without complications and with the right approach to treatment for the future mother, there is nothing to be afraid of.