January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month.
“About two to four percent of all live births, there will be a congenital malformation or birth defect,” Dr. Amy Richards said. “Some of these are as minor as an ear tag or an extra finger and some of them are severe enough to require surgery.”
Dr. Richards is an OB/GYN at Covenant.
“One of the best things that an expecting mother can do is before she becomes pregnant to visit with her OB/GYN to review her medical history if she has any health problems to get them well controlled or review her medication list before she becomes pregnant, because a lot of congenital defects come from medications or environmental exposures that we can prevent before conception occurs.”
She said there are certain tests that can be done during pregnancy.
“Once you become pregnant, there are a multitude of genetic tests that can be done with ultrasound or blood work or the two together to look for any birth defects that the baby might have,” she said. “There always an option for the mother, they are never a requirement. They never say that the baby definitely has a problem but maybe show an increased risk.”
She also said women can take a pre-natal vitamin right away. “Folic acid has been shown to decrease the incidence of neural tube defects and actually over two decades ago, the United States government fortified wheat and grain products so that women who didn’t know that they were pregnant but eating cereal, bread, things that are part of the American diet for most people, they would still be getting some folic acid supplementation.”
