Birth defect

A woman who smokes while she is pregnant has a greater chance of having a premature early birth, a small baby, or a stillborn baby. If the mother smokes while pregnant, there is also an increased risk of the baby dying during the first year of life. Some types of birth defects have been linked to the mother’s smoking. Birth defects that may be increased when the mother smokes include: cleft lip, cleft palate, clubfoot, limb defects, some types of heart defects, gastroschisis an opening in the muscles of the abdomen that allows the intestines to appear outside the body, and imperforate anus there is no opening from the intestines to the outside of the body to allow stool or gas to be passed.

Talk with your health care provider about ways to help you quit smoking if you are pregnant or can get pregnan Women who use illegal drugs, or street drugs, can have babies who are small, premature, or have other health problems, such as birth defects. Women who use cocaine while pregnant are more likely to have babies with birth defects of the limbs, gut, kidneys, urinary system, and heart. Other drugs, such as marijuana and ecstasy, may also cause birth defects in babies.
Women should not use street drugs while they are pregnant. It is also important that women not use street drugs after they give birth because drugs can be passed through breast milk and can affect a baby’s growth and development. Talk with your health care provider about ways to help you quit using street drugs before you get pregnant.The MMR is a vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella. If a woman gets one of these viruses while pregnant, it may cause her to have a miscarriage or to have a baby with birth defects. The MMR, like some other vaccines, is made with viruses that are alive but very weak.

Because these viruses are alive, there is a very slight chance that they may cause harm to the baby. For this reason, a woman who may be pregnant should not get an MMR or other vaccine unless she is at high risk of getting a serious illness without it. She should talk about the risks and benefits of getting the vaccine with her doctor. A woman who has just gotten the vaccine and then learns she is pregnant should also talk with her doctor. Vaccines such as those for tetanus and hepatitis are made from dead viruses or parts of dead viruses and do not cause infection in the mother and should not harm the fetus.