If you are pregnant, planning to become pregnant, or are breastfeeding, you may have questions and concerns about the safety of medications, drugs, chemicals, or other environmental agents you may have been exposed to. "Teratogens" are exposures during pregnancy or breastfeeding that may harm your developing baby and may cause a higher risk of miscarriage or stillbirth, birth defects, pregnancy complications, and/or developmental problems over the background risk. 

In our Teratogen/Perinatal Exposures Clinic, our genetic counselor and maternal-fetal-medicine specialists, who are specially trained in teratogen counseling, will address these concerns. Our team may make recommendations to you and your doctor about what to do next and how to minimize risks to you baby.   

Some of the common exposures that can affect your baby include:

• Medications: blood pressure meds, seizure meds, anxiety meds, over-the-counter
• Substances of Abuse: tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana
• Infections: syphilis, CMV, listeria, Zika, parvovirus
• Chemicals: lead, benzene, mercury, pesticides
• Supplements: herbal, homeopathic, dietary
• Other Agents: radiation, heat, hypoxia

Once you have scheduled an appointment, please complete the patient forms (Family History, Exposures) and bring to the appointment.