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RESEARCH: Some antacids during pregnancy could increase the risk of your baby developing asthma.

Heartburn and indigestion are common during pregnancy but doctor’s are concerned about the risks to a unborn baby.

recent study, published in the journal Pediatrics, examined the impact of two types of antacids: proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as Prilosec and Prevacid, and histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) such as Pepcid and Zantac.

Researchers pooled data from 8 other studies involving more than 1.6 million women in Europe and Israel. They concluded that women taking PPIs during pregnancy had a 34 percent increased risk of having children who developed asthma than women who didn’t take these drugs.

Women who took H2RAs during pregnancy had an even higher risk: they were 57 percent more likely than women who didn’t take the drugs to have a child who developed asthma, the researchers concluded.

NOTE: The study only relied on information from records like government health registries or prescription databases. These studies included women in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel and the UK.

HOWEVER  it could be, for example, that indigestion and heartburn in pregnancy – not the drugs themselves – increase the risk of childhood asthma, an accompanying editorial pointed out.

The authors said more clinical studies are needed to confirm the findings and it’s too early to recommend restricting the use of antacids among pregnant women. However, they suggested parents and healthcare providers use caution when deciding whether to take acid-suppressing drugs during pregnancy.

Please remember to take caution with any medication during pregnancy. “All women should use caution when taking acid-suppressing drugs during pregnancy,” said senior study author Dr. Huahao Shen of Zhejiang University in China.

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  • Heartburn can be so painful and intense that it can feel as though it’s coming up to the back of your throat. Sometimes changing to a bland diet helps some.

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  • Such great information – I was always told to take as little as possible medication wise as the harmful effects don’t come out sometimes for years.

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  • I had awful heartburn but never took anything because they just made me feel sick. My son still has asthma.

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  • Thanks for the informative article, cheers.

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  • Always good to take caution and minimalise where possible with medication when pregnant

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  • Wow I interesting read. I think if pregnant woman can try to not take any medications the better it is. Who knows what damage it is doing to us or our unborn children or our children afterwards.

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  • Very interesting, I have had 6 children and I had chronic heart burn with 2 of them which took antacids, both of them are bad asthmatics and my 4 other children don’t have asthma. Will be interested in seeing more studies on this.

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  • Interesting! I experienced heartburn for the first time during pregnancy… and it stayed! Funny thing, as I’d never had it before it took ages for me to understand what it was. Mylanta was very handy. My son has asthma — noone in our family has ever had it before.

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  • I had shocking heartburn with my first baby. I used a teaspoon of bicarb in half a glass of water. I used it so much I worried about the effect on my baby. The dr said it was fine and bub is fine too

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  • Oh! If it’s confirmed that it can bring to asthma, better be careful indeed!

    Reply

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