Pregnancy FAQs

Like pregnancy itself, asthma varies enormously from woman to woman. Around one third of women find their asthma symptoms improve in pregnancy, one third stay the same and one third find their asthma gets worse. If your asthma gets worse, you may need to increase your asthma medicines.

No. Your baby will do best if you are breathing well and easily, so it is important that your asthma is well controlled.

Most asthma medicines are inhaled. These are entirely safe for your baby.

If you want to give your baby the best start in life, neither you or your partner should smoke.

Women who smoke during pregnancy:

• Are more likely to have babies who have breathing problems, including asthma
• Are more likely to have a miscarriage
• Are more likely to go into premature labour
  
• Are more likely to have babies who are under weight

During pregnancy it is important to have a healthy, balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables. This will help make sure that your baby gets all the nutrition they need.

• There is no convincing evidence that avoiding any foods during pregnancy will help prevent your baby from developing asthma
• There is some research that suggests that allergy to peanuts may develop in the womb. Current government advice is that if anyone in the immediate family has an allergic condition such as asthma, hay fever and eczema, the mother should avoid eating peanuts and food containing peanut products during pregnancy and while breast-feeding.

It is unusual for asthma to cause problems in labour. When you are in labour your body produces extra natural steroid hormones (cortisone and adrenaline), which help to prevent asthma attacks.

• If you do find yourself getting asthma symptoms during labour, use your reliever inhaler as normal. It will not harm the baby in any way
• Talk to your doctor or midwife beforehand about drawing up a birth plan. This will take your asthma into account and can help to reduce any fears you may have about giving birth

There are a number of different ways to control pain during labour, including epidurals, all of which are safe for women with asthma. If you need to have an operation, it will not cause problems providing the anaesthetist knows that you have asthma.

Some, but not all, studies have shown that breast-feeding in the first few months of life may reduce the chance of your baby developing allergic conditions, including asthma. Breast-feeding also reduces the risk of babies developing intestinal illnesses and other infections.

• Your inhaled asthma medicines will not affect your baby when you breast-feed. Usual doses of inhaled medicines do not enter the bloodstream, so they won't be found in breast milk
• The medicine in steroid tablets can sometimes be present in very small quantities in breast milk. However, there is too little to have any harmful effect on your baby
Medicines prescribed for asthma do not affect your ability to produce breast milk

If you decide to bottle-feed your baby you should talk to your doctor or practice nurse about the best milk formula to use.

Department of Health guidelines suggest that the possibility of developing food allergy is less likely if certain foods are introduced into a baby's diet later rather than sooner. The guidelines suggest that babies should be breast-fed or bottle-fed until they are at least four months old, and that other foods should be introduced as follows:

• At 4-6 months: vegetables, fruit other than citrus fruit, rice, meat, chicken and pulses (eg lentils)
• At 6-12 months: foods containing wheat (eg pasta, bread, biscuits), fish, eggs, yoghurt, cheese and citrus fruit
• Over 12 months: ordinary cows' milk

If members of the family have allergies, peanuts and foods containing peanuts should ideally not be included in the diet until a child is three years old.