During pregnancy, you and your baby are both vulnerable to infection, so avoid risk and skip the soft cheese. Toxoplasmosis can also be transmitted to a fetus through the placenta, but the fetus is presumed to be at risk only if the mother has a primary, active infection during the pregnancy. Toxoplasmosis can also cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and pre-term birth. It takes from one to six weeks for a serious case of listeriosis to develop, although flu-like symptoms may occur 12 hours after eating contaminated food. If you drink alcohol, it can hurt your baby's growth, and your baby may have physical and behavioral problems that can last for the rest of his or her life.
Children born with the most serious problems caused by alcohol have fetal alcohol syndrome.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, when a pregnant woman uses drugs, she and her unborn child face serious health problems. During pregnancy, the drugs used by the mother can enter the baby's bloodstream. The most serious effects on the baby can be HIV infection, AIDS, prematurity, low birth weight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, small head size, stunted growth, poor motor skills, and behavior problems. The Baby Corner For more articles and features visit the resource center on Pediatrics .