Can you take 500mg paracetamol while pregnant

Home Pregnancy Pregnancy Health Paracetamol in pregnancy — is it safe? Comments Please read our Chat guidelines. They can access more detailed medical and scientific information from www.

Do you have 3 minutes to complete a short, quick and simple 12 question user feedback form about our bumps information leaflets? To have your say on how we can improve our website and the information we provide please visit here. Up to 1 out of every 5 pregnancies ends in a miscarriage, and 1 in 40 babies are born with a birth defect. These are referred to as the background population risks. Most medicines used by the mother will cross the placenta and reach the baby.

Sometimes this may have beneficial effects for the baby. How a medicine affects a baby may depend on the stage of pregnancy when the medicine is taken. If a new medicine is suggested for you during pregnancy, please ensure the doctor or health care professional treating you is aware of your pregnancy.

Our bumps leaflets are written to provide you with a summary of what is known about use of a specific medicine in pregnancy so that you can decide together with your health care provider what is best for you and your baby. Every pregnancy is unique.

The decision to start, stop, continue or change a prescribed medicine before or during pregnancy should be made in consultation with your health care provider. It is very helpful if you can record all your medication taken in pregnancy in your hand held maternity records. Disclaimer: This information is not intended to replace the individual care and advice of your health care provider.

New information is continually becoming available. Whilst every effort will be made to ensure that this information is accurate and up to date at the time of publication, we cannot cover every eventuality and the information providers cannot be held responsible for any adverse outcomes following decisions made on the basis of this information.

A trusted health care provider can help reach an informed decision. Paracetamol is no different. Paracetamol is the active ingredient in hundreds of prescription and non-prescription products. It has been widely regarded for many years as safe to use during pregnancy. Some, but not all, observational studies in humans suggest paracetamol use during pregnancy may alter fetal development.

The new statement notes that paracetamol has been linked to increased risk of certain neurodevelopmental, reproductive and urogenital disorders. But these studies have limitations. Researchers have found it hard to distinguish the effects of paracetamol from the effects of underlying illness. And there are potential inaccuracies in recording the amount and timing of paracetamol use across an entire pregnancy as are highlighted in the accompanying editorial.

Possible risks of paracetamol use in pregnancy are supported by a number of animal studies, the authors say. For this reason, caution regarding paracetamol use has been advised until a definitive link can be proven or disproven. As highlighted by the review article, most increased risks have been linked with use in pregnancy for more than two or four weeks. Acta Pol Pharm. Toda K. Is acetaminophen safe in pregnancy? Scand J Pain. Aust N Z J Psychiatry.

JAMA Psychiatry. Am J Obstet Gynecol Use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and risk of preeclampsia, hypertensive and vascular disorders: a birth cohort study. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med. Maternal use of drugs and preeclampsia. Pre-eclampsia is associated with increased risk of stroke in the adult offspring: the Helsinki birth cohort study. Gestational hypertension is associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes in adult offspring: the Helsinki Birth Cohort Study. Am J Obstet Gynecol.

Pain Pract. Duodecim T. Duodecim medication database. Use of acetaminophen during pregnancy and risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Int J Epidemiol.

A review of the literature on the effects of acetaminophen on pregnancy outcome. Reprod Toxicol. Pre-eclampsia part 1: current understanding of its pathophysiology.

Nat Rev Nephrol. Pre-eclampsia part 2: prediction, prevention and management. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. Download references. Box , FI, Kuopio, Finland. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. HvH checked out hospital medical records of each individual woman who had used paracetamol. SH analyzed the whole study population. Correspondence to Heidi Sahlman. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Reprints and Permissions. Increased risk of preeclampsia after use of paracetamol during pregnancy — causal or coincidence?. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth 21, 24 Download citation. Received : 25 May Accepted : 10 December Published : 06 January Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.