ELI5- When a mother is pregnant and is given drugs in hospital before giving birth to reduce pain etc, do the drugs have an affect on the baby? (However minor it may be)

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ELI5- When a mother is pregnant and is given drugs in hospital before giving birth to reduce pain etc, do the drugs have an affect on the baby? (However minor it may be)

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4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

A very simple answer is yes.

However, you need to understand that drugs are organic molecules, which differ in size. There is a blood-placental barrier between the mother and the baby, which is specifically designed to regulate chemical flows. It does a pretty good job blocking a lot of chemicals and drugs. Unfortunately, some drugs are small enough to bypass the barrier and thus affect the infant’s growth. Which alcohol is one of them.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Anything that affects the moms body is going to have some individual affect on the baby. How much it affects the child is hard to say for most things and it usually depends on the individual’s specific dna.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Are you talking about an epidural? If so, super loaded question and likely to be a hot topic.

I am not a professional.

The epidural will affect the baby in the sense that it enters the bloodstream.

But what I heard more of back when my kids were born was the debate on “natural” birth and how many people are against the epidural because of the “natural birth” aspect and theories on how the point of birth affects all kinds of long term development. This is where I found it to be most hotly contested.

But again, I am not a professional. That was just my experience.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Yes. The drugs given during labor can and do cross the placenta. Hospitals keep narcan handy in case the newborn baby is overdosing on opioids.