Identify birth defects well in time

Birth defects can be structural or functional abnormalities that develop during the development of the baby in the uterus. Most of the time these can be identified during pregnancy or at birth. The prevalence of birth defects in our country is 6-7% which accounts to 1.7 million birth defects annually. Common defects include congenital heart disease, congenital deafness and neural tube defects.

Dr Sunil Eshwar, Lead Consultant, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aster RV Hospital shares, "The month of January is recognized as Birth Defects Prevention month. The theme for the year 2021 is "Best for you. Best for baby".

Taking care of yourself and doing what is best for you is also best for your baby. Not all birth defects are preventable. But here are a few tips that can increase your chances of having a healthy baby."

Preconceptional Folic Acid supplementation

Folic acid is a vitamin that helps in prevention of major birth defects of baby's brain and spine. It is recommended that this important vitamin that is 400mcg of FA is started 3 months prior to pregnancy and continued until 12 weeks of pregnancy. High dose of 5mg FA is recommended in those with previous neural tube defects and certain other risk factors. Obesity increases your risk of certain birth defects and pregnancy complications. Optimizing your body weight prior to conception therefore plays an important role in preventing birth defects. Preconceptional counselling is a must for all couples planning pregnancy.

If you are on certain regular medications for medical conditions such as antiepileptic, antihypertensive, anticoagulants these need to be changed to safer medications and doses optimized prior to conception.

For those with Diabetes mellitus, adequate control of blood glucose levels prior to pregnancy reduces incidence of anomalies in baby.

Maternal infections such as rubella, chicken pox, syphilis, Zika virus are also causative agents for birth defects. Taking measures to avoid infections such as vaccination, Preconceptional screening for infections and finally avoiding travel to regions where there is outbreak of infections known to cause birth defects. It is prudent to avoid substances such as alcohol and smoking which are known to cause birth defects.

Taking care of yourself and following all preventable measures can prevent Birth defects in your baby to a large extent.