Covid 19 is scary enough when the only person you have to worry about is yourself. But when you’re pregnant, the fear is doubled. Now you must be concerned about how this virus will affect your child. In this article we answer the question: is getting covid 19 while you’re pregnant dangerous for the baby?
Are Pregnant Women More Susceptible To Coronavirus?
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, states that pregnant women in general are more susceptible to catching respiratory infections. This is because pregnancy changes a woman’s cells and may affect her immune system so that it’s not as strong. But there is not yet any hard data that pregnant women are more at risk than other people for contracting covid 19 specifically.
A woman who is with child should eat a healthy diet and take vitamins to support a healthy immune system. This may help her stave off a covid 19 infection, as well as other types of respiratory illnesses.
Can The Symptoms Of Coronavirus Cause Pregnancy Complications?
Like any other serious infection, coronavirus can cause pregnancy complications if the symptoms are severe.
Covid 19 can come with a host of potentially debilitating symptoms, including but not limited to: shortness of breath, coughing, high fever, fatigue, and loss of taste and smell. A high fever, in particular, is a troubling symptom to have during pregnancy because it can lead to congenital defects in the baby. A lack of oxygen due to coughing and shortness of breath can also be dangerous to the health of the baby.
According to the CDC, women who were infected with other types of coronaviruses showed higher rates of miscarriages, stillbirth, and other devastating outcomes of childbirth. But this is true of any type of intense illness that a woman may come down with while she’s pregnant. There is also not any data showing that women who come down with covid 19 are more likely to experience pregnancy complications.
So the answer to this question is, “Yes,” but it’s not something to panic over. Women who had covid 19 have delivered healthy babies, so the virus itself is not a guarantee that something serious will happen to the mother or the child before, during, or after birth.
Can The Baby Be Born With Covid 19?
If you deliver your baby while you’re still infected with covid 19, there is a small chance that the infection could pass on to your newborn. The coronavirus is transferred from person to person through liquid droplets, like saliva (although there is currently no evidence that it passes through breast milk, which is good news for nursing mothers). So it’s entirely possible that you could transmit it to your baby straight out of the womb. It may also become infected before delivery, but the CDC does not yet know at which point during pregnancy that the virus is transmitted.
To prevent disease transmission to your newborn, the CDC recommends you wear a mask and wash your hands frequently. It’s a good idea to do this at least until you test negative for coronavirus.
Verdict: Covid 19 Is Not Any More Dangerous For Babies In The Womb Than Any Other Infection
While there’s good reason to be cautious when it comes to being pregnant and coming down with covid 19, the CDC also says that newborns being born with the coronavirus is uncommon. Furthermore, most of the babies that were born with it had zero or mild symptoms and experienced a full recovery in a short span of time.
The best thing you can do as an expectant mother is to take preventative measures against covid 19, such as boosting your immune system with diet, vitamins, and FDA-approved vaccinations. But even if you do become infected with it, you can feel safer knowing that your baby is unlikely to be in any danger.
