Pregnancy: What's Safe? What's Not?

Painting

With the nesting frenzy, the safety of painting always comes up. The biggest risk is in using things like paint thinner on your hands to take the paint off, which exposes you to absorption through your skin. The fumes of the paint aren't a problem in a well-ventilated area, but if they give you a headache, then it's not ventilated well enough.

BOTTOM LINE: Ventilate. Use water-based paints. Avoid paint thinner exposure to hands and skin.

Weight Loss Drugs

Pregnancy isn't the time to try to lose weight. A lot of these OTC drugs have ephedrine in them. These aren't without significant risk and shouldn't be taken.

BOTTOM LINE:Don't use ephedra-containing drugs or any OTC weight loss medicine.

Illegal Drugs

BOTTOM LINE: See "Cigarettes," above.

There are many things, legitimate and illicit, for which there just aren't any studies. In my book, The Anxious Parent's Guide to Pregnancy, I explain something called the babysitter test: Would you hire a babysitter who forced your infant to inhale a lit cigarette? No? Then you shouldn't either. Would you hire a babysitter who gave your infant cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or a stiff drink? Then you shouldn't either. When in doubt, use the babysitter test. It works.