Safe / Unsafe Medicines in Pregnancy

Maternal medication	Effect on foetus	Use in therapy
Alcohol	Retardation of growth, small eyes, ear defects, multiple congenital defects	Avoided
Amphetamines	Congenital heart disease	Avoided
Antimetabolite drugs	Eye abnormalities	Avoided
Aspirin	No effect on foetus	Safe upto 37 weeks
Aneasthetics	Depresses vital foetal centers	Used with care
Ampicillin	No effect	Safely
Antithyroid drugs	Causes goiter	Avoided
Anticonvulsants	Cleft lip/palate, congenital heart disease, abnorm- lities of the fingers, toes	Avoided
Chloroquine	Affects the ears	Avoided
Chlorpropamide	Intrauterine death	Avoided
Chloramphenicol	Neonatal grey baby syndrome	Avoided
Chlorthiazide	Decreases blood count	Avoided
Chlorpheniramine maleate	No effect	Safely
Caffeine	Stillbirth, abortion, growth retardation	Better avoided
Carbamezipine	Neural tube defects	Avoided
Cocaine	Growth retardation, uterine rupture, affects placenta	Avoided
Diazepam	No effect	Safely
Frusemide	No effect	Safely
Glucocorticoids	Intrauterine growth retardation	Avoided
Isotretinoin	Affects ears, eyes, brain, blood vessels, muscles	Avoided
Lithium	Heart defects	Avoided
LSD	Chromosome abnormalities	Avoided
Metronidazole	Embryotoxic	Avoided in 1st trimester
Methyldopa	No effect	Safely
Meclizine	Embryotoxic	Avoided
Methotrexate	Congenital abnormalities	Avoided
Nitrofurantoin	No effect	Safely
Oestrogen (stilbesterol)	Vaginal carcinoma	Avoided
Progestogens	Masculinisation of female foetus	Avoided
Penicillin	No effect	Safely
Phenobarbitone	Foetal bleeding (rarely)	Used with Vit K
Promethazine (phenargan)	No effect	Safely
Prednisolone	Cleft palate, foetal death	Used with care
Phenytoin	Multiple anomalies	Avoided
Reserpine	Foetal nasal congestion	Avoided at term
Streptomycin	Foetal deafness (rarely)	Used with care
Sulphonamides	Neonatal jaundice	Avoided at term
Steroids	Congenital deformity	Used with care
Smoking	Teratogenesis	Avoided
Tetracyclines	Effects on bones and teeth	Avoided
Trimethoprim	Anti-folate action	Avoided
Triflupromazine	No effect	Safely
Thalidomides	Limb Deformities	Avoided
Tolbutamide	Multiple deformities	Avoided
Valproic Acid	Neural tube defects	Avoided
Warfarin	Skeletal and limb defects, low birth weight	Avoided

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CARE DURING PREGNANCY

Safe / Unsafe Medicines in Pregnancy

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