How can I reduce the risks of passing on birth defects to my children?
Some birth defects are due to genetic makeup not cooperating and sometimes a baby can have downs syndrome even if there is no family history, however, you can do many things to reduce risks of other defects. 1. No smoking or drinking well before you try to conceive, both you and your husband. 2. Take prenatal vitamins prior to conceiving. 3. Have a family history checklist done and go over with your doctor prior to conceiving. 4. Be under 35 years of age… chances increase after this age. 5. Make sure you eat a healthy diet as a life habbit and get plenty of sleep and exercise to increase healthy cells in the body that promote healthy menstrual cycles and eggs. 6. Get tested for HIV and STDs prior to conceiving. Some STDs can cause hearing loss and blindness if not taking care of while pregnant. Best wishes to you!
Don’t use anything that is teratogenic. Teratogens affect the development of your offspring. Some teratogenic materials are cigarettes, alcohol, asbestos, drugs like heroin and marijuana, some medicines for sickness. and many others. Consult your physician about which medicines are teratogenic or not. Also, developing certain diseases at a time of pregnancy can be teratogenic. Measles on the time of pregnancy can make your child blind or deaf. After you give birth, try getting them checked or screened by a geneticist after birth. You can also lessen the rate of genetically transfer such defects if you marry someone without the same defect. But baldness isn’t really a dreaded genetic predisposition like hemophilia, congenital dwarfism and the like so you don’t have to worry about passing it to your children.
