What Pregnant Mothers With Hepatitis Should Prepare For A Safe Pregnancy

It is important to take good care of your health and follow your doctor's instructions. This will ensure the health of mother and fetus throughout pregnancy.

Diet: What should pregnant women with hepatitis B eat?

Pregnant women with hepatitis B should maintain a nutritious, diverse diet. In addition, you should increase good foods to help keep your immune system strong, such as:

•     Green vegetables and fresh fruits are rich in vitamin C and iron.
•     Milk and dairy products: Supplement calcium and essential nutrients.
•     Nuts: Provide nutrients and fiber to support digestion. Reduce the burden on the liver.
•     Protein-rich foods that do not contain fat: chicken breast, salmon, lean beef, nuts and beans, mackerel, etc.
•     Increase dark green, orange and red vegetables because they contain many vitamins and nutrients that are good for the liver.

What should pregnant women with hepatitis B avoid eating?

Besides, pregnant mothers should also limit foods that are difficult to digest, increasing the burden on the liver such as: soft drinks, greasy foods, dishes containing a lot of sugar,...

Use of alcohol, alcoholic beverages and stimulants should be completely limited during pregnancy. These substances will cause the hepatitis B virus to grow stronger. Causes more damage to the liver. When taking care of pregnant women with hepatitis B, you need to absolutely remember this information.

Things to absolutely avoid

Early detection of the disease is very good to prevent infection, treatment and care still help the mother give birth to a completely healthy baby.

You should not work too hard for long periods of time because hepatitis B often makes your body tired.

Do not arbitrarily use medication without a prescription, the ingredients of some medications can affect the fetus.

The time a mother becomes infected during pregnancy will affect the risk of the child being infected. If a pregnant mother is infected with hepatitis B in the first 3 months, the fetus has the lowest risk of infection, and in the later stages the risk of infection is higher.

Should a mother with hepatitis B give birth naturally or have a cesarean section?

Many people believe that pregnant women with hepatitis B should have a cesarean section to limit the risk of infection to the newborn. However, experts say that a cesarean section is not necessary. Because this method does not completely limit the risk of transmitting the virus to children.

The transmission route of hepatitis B virus from mother to baby is based on the presence of the virus in the mixture of body fluids passed through the baby at birth. Therefore, whether born naturally or by cesarean section, newborns are still at risk of disease. Effective prevention is vaccination and proper care for both mother and baby.

What should pregnant mothers with hepatitis B do?

Many pregnant mothers only worry about the risk of infection to the fetus, but need to pay attention to complications caused by hepatitis B such as premature birth, miscarriage, underweight children, malnutrition, and liver damage in children. ,…

So what should pregnant mothers with hepatitis B do to limit this risk?

    Vaccination for newborns

This is a mandatory measure that mothers must take with their newborn babies when they have hepatitis B to protect them from the risk of infection. Children are vaccinated immediately after birth from 12 to 24 hours, with 2 doses including:

– One dose of 5 mcg hepatitis B vaccine.

– One dose of hepatitis B immune globulin injection 0.5 ml.

Two injections will be given in two different limbs, then the child will be vaccinated again at 1 month, 2 months, 1 year old and older if the body is not immune enough.

    Treatment of hepatitis B during pregnancy

Doctors need to perform blood tests to accurately diagnose whether pregnant women have hepatitis B. As well as checking for high or low levels of hepatitis B virus in the blood. Based on this diagnosis, the doctor can recommend appropriate treatment.

    Post-pregnancy treatment

Babies are vaccinated to prevent diseases when they are born, and pregnant mothers can still breastfeed and take care of their babies as usual. However, treatment needs to be maintained to control the amount of hepatitis B virus to a safe level. Medical treatment is still recommended. In addition, it is necessary to regularly return for testing and recheck the concentration of hepatitis B virus in the blood.

What complications can occur when pregnant women have hepatitis B?

Complications can occur in both mother and fetus when pregnant women have hepatitis B. Therefore, mothers need active treatment to prevent complications.

    Complications for pregnant women

When infected with hepatitis B virus, because the mother's body's resistance during pregnancy is reduced, the body is more sensitive, so the risk of the disease progressing more severely, causing many effects on liver function as well as health. Be careful when hepatitis B in pregnant women progresses to cirrhosis, liver failure or gestational diabetes.

    Complications with the fetus

Hepatitis B virus is not transmitted through the placenta but is transmitted through secretions during birth. Therefore, the development of the fetus in the mother's womb is not directly affected. However, poor nutritional absorption and poor diet in pregnant mothers can affect the child.

In addition, the presence of this virus increases the risk of: premature birth, miscarriage, low birth weight, susceptible to liver damage during the fetal period, etc. If the child is born with congenital hepatitis B, the risk of developing develop into a very chronic condition. Causes deterioration of children's health.