Is Ambien Safe During Pregnancy?

When thinking about Ambien and pregnancy you should know that it is a medication approved by the FDA for the treatment of insomnia. The question here is “Is Ambien safe during pregnancy?”

The main point of the medication is that it makes people sleepy. The good thing about it is that it acts differently from other benzodiazepine drugs.

Another advantage of this drug is that the effects of it wear off during the night, so women aren’t sleepy in the morning and they don’t have that hangover-like feeling.

Even more, if it is taken several nights in a row it doesn’t get accumulated in the body.

Taking Ambien during pregnancy

According to the FDA, the drug is of category C. This means that its effects weren’t studied in case of pregnant women.

In the same time it could also mean that it had damaging effects on animals or that there were no animal studies done.

According to a relatively new study, there have been traces of Ambien found in the blood of the umbilical cord of babies.

This means that the drug is able to cross the placenta. As a result we can also assume that the agents of the drug can reach the baby while he or she is still in the womb.

Sleep drugs and pregnancy

There are some concerns regarding the drugs of this kind that pregnant women should take into consideration. One of the possible effects of the drugs is to sedate the baby inside the uterus during the late stages of pregnancy.

In case the mother uses the drug relatively often, after birth the baby could show signs of withdrawal. Because of the drug women could be drowsy during the day and this increases the chances of injury.

As you can see, it’s not such a good idea to use Ambien while being pregnant.