Is it possible that the medication
prescribed for premature labour can cause
brain damage in the unborn baby? My baby
was born at 35,5 weeks and I was given
high blood pressure madication to keep him
back longer. I was given a dosage of 2
Nifedipine 10mg tablets every 15 minutes
the night I went into labour and again the
night after. The contractions didn't stop,
only got worse. I was also given pain
medication (not usually prescribed to
pregnant women) and sleeping tablets. He
was born a couple of hours later through
c-section. Barely a pulse, no crying,
blue, no movement. They didn't tell me at
first, had to find out slowly. The
neurologist said his brain looked like
someone who had a massive stroke and his
calcium was high. I can't remember
everything, was very drugged the first two
days. I just want an explanation. Could it
have been the drugs or is it definetely
not?
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DoctorAnswer
Doctor Answer
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Miscarriage and Stillbirth Answer A4171 Posted: 05-23-08 11:35am
Nifedipine is used for treating high blood
pressure but also for preventing pre-term
labor (tocolytic therapy). If you had
high blood pressure you might have had
pre-eclampsia. I don't know which
medicines for pain and sleeping they gave
you. Those medicines are basically given
not to sleep but to relax your muscles.
All these medicines are given to delay
delivery for 2 more days – time
necessary to stimulate lung maturation
with corticosteroids. Although a trial of
acute tocolysis may be initiated,
aggressive tocolytic therapy is generally
not recommended after 34th week of
pregnancy because of potential maternal
(not baby’s) complications.
Your baby probably had intraventricular
hemorrhage. There is no data that
medicines they gave you can cause bleeding
in the brain.
You may want to consult a neonatologist
about this case.
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