Will a cold during pregnancy affect the baby?

When women are pregnant, their body's resistance will be greatly reduced. If they are invaded by viruses or bacteria at this time, it is easy for women to catch a cold. Most of the time, it will manifest as runny nose, cough, nasal congestion, and sometimes fever of varying degrees. It may cause some adverse effects on the fetus. Let us learn about some of the main disadvantages and treatments of colds in pregnant women.

If a pregnant woman has a cold and nasal congestion, it depends on the severity of the condition to determine whether it will have adverse effects on the fetus. Generally speaking, if it is a mild cold and the pregnant woman only has symptoms such as nasal congestion, runny nose, and cough, the cold will not have adverse effects on the fetus; if the pregnant woman has a cold accompanied by a high fever and the high fever persists, the cold virus can easily be transmitted to the fetus and affect fetal development. Therefore, if the pregnant woman has a serious cold, she should seek medical treatment in time.

1. Common cold

If a pregnant woman catches a common cold, the main symptoms are sneezing, nasal congestion, runny nose, cough, etc., without fever and the symptoms are mild. In this case, she does not need to take cold medicine and will recover on her own in about a week. In this case, a pregnant woman's cold will have no effect on the fetus.

2. Severe cold

When a pregnant woman's cold symptoms are more severe, such as persistent high fever, or the cold is caused by influenza virus infection, the cold will have an impact on the fetus.

If a pregnant woman has severe cold symptoms, accompanied by headache, sore throat, asthma, etc., it is recommended to identify as soon as possible whether it is a cold caused by wind and cold or wind and heat, and take symptomatic medication under the guidance of a doctor.

In the early stages of pregnancy, because the fetus's organs are not yet fully developed, after catching a cold, bacteria and viruses can pass through the placenta and affect the development of the fetus's organs, causing serious consequences such as congenital heart disease, cleft lip, hydrocephalus, anencephaly and microcephaly.

In the late stages of pregnancy, although the fetus is basically fully developed and the chance of a cold causing malformations or congenital defects in the fetus is reduced, the high fever caused by the cold and the toxins produced by metabolic disorders will stimulate uterine contractions, easily cause premature birth, and increase the neonatal mortality rate.

If a female friend finds that she has a cold during pregnancy, it is best to go to a professional hospital for examination and medication in time. Generally, a mild cold will not have much impact on the fetus, but if you abuse drugs when you have a cold, the toxins produced by the drugs will cause a lot of harm to the health of the fetus.