Yet such fears are groundless. Medication from inhaled preventers and relievers acts only on the lung tissue, so virtually nothing is absorbed into the body, and there's no possibility of it reaching the baby. Steroid tablets are also proven safe during pregnancy at doses of up to 45mg per day, and even higher doses are not necessarily harmful. If asthma is allowed to get out of control during pregnancy, however, there's a chance that the baby could be smaller at birth because it hasn't been getting all the oxygen it needs. So if you try to cut down on medication yourself you could be doing more harm than good.
Many women worry about the chances of their baby having asthma.
And of course, it is vitally important not to smoke during pregnancy. This increases the chances of your child developing breathing and other health problems. Once the baby is born, there is some evidence to suggest that breastfeeding may reduce the risk of your baby developing asthma. A child has a one in ten chance of inheriting the condition from its mother, which rises to one in three if both parents have asthma. But a recent long-term study showed that breastfeeding for the first six months of life significantly reduces the risk of the child's developing allergic breathing problems by age 17, compared to babies who are breastfed for less than six months.