The risk of passing an abnormality on to your baby raises with your age. If you are over 35 and want to have a baby, follow these steps:

  • See a doctor three months before you try to have a baby. Go over your health problems, health past, drugs, and immunizations.
  • Take one prenatal vitamin a day for the three months before you become pregnant. It should have 400 micrograms of folic acid. Take it through the first month you are pregnant.
  • Keep all visits with your doctor.
  • Eat healthy foods. Eat foods that have folic acid like breakfast cereals, grain products, leafy greens, oranges and orange juice, and peanuts.
  • Start at a healthy weight.
  • Do not smoke or drink alcohol.
  • Don't use any drug unless given the okay by a doctor who knows you are pregnant.
REFERENCES:

Chromosome abnormalities. National Human Genome Research Institute website. Available at: http://www.genome.gov/11508982. Updated January 6, 2016. Accessed July 30, 2018.

Last reviewed May 2018 by EBSCO Medical Review Board Kathleen A. Barry, MD