EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
Before Baby Series
|
||||
|
One of the most exciting experiences of pregnancy has to be the moment you see your baby for the first time – not at delivery, but at 18-20 weeks when you catch your first glimpse of his tiny body parts and hear his precious heartbeat. Ultrasounds are a miracle of modern science, allowing doctors to gauge infants’ development, more accurately predict due dates and investigate the possibilities of birth defects. Eager moms and dads make use of medical technology to start planning nurseries and buying baby clothes months before Junior’s trip home from the hospital. There’s even a burgeoning industry of 3-D and 4-D ultrasound providers who specialize in lifelike photos and videos of baby in utero. With so many plusses for peeking in on Mother Nature at work, is there any reason to worry about the safety of ultrasounds for mom or baby? The answer is a qualified “no” – qualified, because some studies have shown a link between exposure to ultrasounds and problems such as low birthweight, dyslexia and delayed speech development. Furthermore, performing and interpreting an ultrasound is not an exact science. It’s possible for doctors to diagnose a problem that is ruled out upon further examination or vice versa. At my first ultrasound appointment, I was told my son had several markers for Down syndrome. The fact that he arrived a perfectly normal, healthy little boy is a miracle considering how that misdiagnosis adversely affected his mother! More than 60% of pregnant women today receive at least one ultrasound, and as the saying goes, there’s safety in numbers. The consensus among medical professionals is that ultrasounds ordered by doctors and performed by trained technicians are harmless. The American College of Gynecology, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine dissuade women from receiving non-medical ultrasound exams (like those offered at commercial sites) because technicians may not have the proper training and may offer misleading information regarding the health of the baby. – By S. Danyelle Knight |
||||
RSS Subscribe
Digg This ArticleSEARCH THE SITE
