Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

When asking is Cephalexin safe during pregnancy, the best thing you could do is to discuss the matter with your doctor.

The same thing applies if you are breastfeeding or you are planning on breastfeeding.

Warnings

One of the biggest concerns regarding the medication is that it is able to cross the placenta, reaching the unborn baby.

During one of the studies, the amount of medication has been measured in the babies, and the levels of the drug were quite high.

In the same time the doctors are also concerned about the possibility of the drug causing congenital defects. This concern is supported by two distinct larger studies.

In one case 127 defects were noticed, 19 of which were cardiovascular. In the second case, there were 176 cases and 44 of these were cardiovascular defects.

Another defect that was observed was cleft palate. As a result both of these studies support the theory according to which the drug increases the chances of such defect.

However, it is possible for the defects to be caused by an underlying disease of the mother or the use of other medication.

The FDA

In case you are interested in taking Cephalexin during pregnancy, you should know that according to the FDA it is a category B drug. The animal studies show that there is no harm done to the fetus. Nonetheless there is no actual data in case of humans. A lot of women used the same drug during their pregnancy without any negative effects on the baby.

Naturally Cephalexin should be taken while being pregnant only if it is really needed and in case the benefits outweigh the risks. This is why you should talk to your doctor about taking the drug. It is possible that he or she can give you information about recent studies.