Asthma

If you have asthma, you may well be concerned about how it will affect you and your baby while you're pregnant. In the vast majority of cases, as long as it's well controlled, asthma doesn't cause problems in pregnancy.

•   Will pregnancy affect my asthma?
•   Will my asthma affect my baby?
•   Are asthma drugs safe to take in pregnancy?
•   What if I have an asthma attack in labour?
•   Can I breastfeed my baby?
•   Will my baby have asthma too?

Unfortunately, there is no way of predicting how being pregnant will affect your asthma. In around a quarter of cases the asthma improves, in another quarter it gets worse, and in the rest there's no change.

Many women who have asthma know the things that commonly trigger an attack. If you can, try and avoid these as much as possible while you're pregnant.

No, not if it's kept under control. But because your baby needs a good oxygen supply, you need to control your asthma so that the supply doesn't become restricted.

Yes - they won't harm your baby. In fact, suffering severe or prolonged asthma attacks during pregnancy may well cause more harm to your baby than the drugs you take to control or treat it.

If you use an inhaler to control your asthma, very little of the drug gets into your bloodstream, so it won't pass through to your baby. If you take tablets, there's a possibility that the drug may reach your baby, although only in small amounts.

If you use an inhaler for asthma attacks, this won't affect your baby either. But if you're worried about whether your particular medication might have an effect on your baby, especially if you have to take high doses of it, talk to your doctor.

This is extremely unlikely to happen, because while you're in labour your body naturally produces hormones (adrenaline and a steroid) that work in the same way as your medication and will keep your asthma in check.

Some, but not all doctors recommend delivering your baby with forceps if you have asthma. This speeds things up and minimises the effort involved in pushing the baby out. If you'd prefer to avoid this, discuss it with your doctor.

There's no evidence that any of the drugs taken for asthma are harmful to your baby, so it's quite safe for you to breastfeed.

Because asthma runs in families, there's a chance that your baby will develop it, especially if your partner has it too. Breastfeeding may provide some protection against it, but unfortunately this is not guaranteed.

You can get more information about asthma from the National Asthma Campaign