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Are Vaccinations Safe While Trying to Conceive?

QUESTION

Dear Midwife,
I recently had the following vaccinations: Polio, DPT and MMR as requirements for my immigrations papers. My husband also had them.

My question is, do I need to wait before getting pregnant? Can these vaccinations cause birth defects?

I conceived my first child rather quickly and I was planning on getting pregnant again this month.

ANSWER

I'm sorry I don't know the wait period for sure, and would advise you to check with your local health department. I know the MMR is not recommended during pregnancy.

-- Cynthia, CNM

Cynthia Flynn

Cynthia Flynn, CNM. PhD, is the General Director of the Family Health and Birth Center which provides prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to underserved women and their families in Washington, D.C. Recently Cynthia served as Associate Professor of Nursing at Seattle University. There she not only taught, but remained in full scope clinical midwifery practice at Valley Medical Center where she cared for pregnant and birthing women, and practices well-woman gynecology, family planning, and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.

Cynthia founded Columbia Women's Clinic and Birth Center, where she took care of pregnant women and infants up to two weeks of age and attended both birth center and hospital births. Before Cynthia earned her CNM, she worked as a registered nurse in labor and delivery and postpartum and is a certified Doula and Doula trainer.