Medicine safety information for mothers – Teratological information service
Keywords:Our service will be closed on 1st November at 11:30 am
Our specialist Heidi Sormunen-Harju will defend her thesis on 1st November for which the Teratology information service is open only between 9 and 11:30 am. Our chat service is also closed. We are back to normal operating hours on Monday 4th November. You can find useful information on our homepage. In more urgent matters, please contact your own maternity clinic or the hospital maternity clinic.
We provide information on medications and other external factors that have an adverse impact on fertility, pregnancy and fetal development. We also advise you on all medication issues during breastfeeding. You can contact us when you are only just planning the pregnancy.
Pregnant and breastfeeding people
On our website you can find general information about medicine safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding. If you cannot find an answer to your question here, please contact us either by phone or via the chat. When the service is not open, please contact your local maternity clinic.
We make no comment on how the mother, the pregnancy, or the child are cared for, and we do not prescribe medications. If you want to talk about exposure and risks at work, please contact your occupational health care service in the first instance.
Teratological information service chat (opens in new window, links to another website)
OUR CHAT IS EXCEPTIONALLY CLOSED ON FRIDAY 1st NOVEMBER
In our chat service, we can provide generalized answers concerning the suitability of particular medications for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
Health care professionals
We can also be contacted by health care professionals, pharmacies, the authorities, and the media. Health care professionals may also contact us with patient-related queries via the online contact form bellow. We do not respond to questions sent by the general public by e-mail.
Online contact form for health care professionals (opens in new window, links to another website)
Health care professionals can contact us via the online contact form. The form is available only in Finnish, but can be filled in in English. The service needs identification.
Hoping to get pregnant
Many exposures can affect fertility and the weeks during the first trimester of pregnancy are a vulnerable time for fetal malformations. Already when planning pregnancy, it is important to pay attention to what can adversely affect fertility or fetal development.
Pregnancy and folic acid (opens in new window, links to another website)
Adequate intake of folate (dietary form), a vitamin of the B complex, and folic acid (a form in vitamin supplements) is important for the normal development of the fetus. In several population-based studies, the adequate intake of folic acid has been shown to reduce the...
