Tylenol During Pregnancy

Right now there is a lot of speculation and worry about Tylenol causing autsim in children if the mother takes Tylenol during pregnancy.

Is there cause for concern about taking Tylenol during pregnancy?

At this stage, no.

There have been studies that have looked at maternal intake of Tylenol and some have found that some of those children happen to be diagnosed with autism. However, there is no evidence that Tylenol causes autism.

Wait? How can you say that some children of mothers who took Tylenol during pregnancy end up with autsim, but that Tylenol doesn't cause autism?

Research studies are very difficult to design to eliminate what are called confounding factors, or other things that can also be true at the same time that a link between A and B exist.

Consider a simple example. Let's say you wanted to do an experiement on yourself to see if A) watching TV for 2 hours made you B) sleepy. So you watch TV tonight for 2 hours and you get sleepy. Does that mean watching TV caused you to become sleepy? Maybe.

But maybe there were other confounding factors like working all day, a poor night's sleep, getting a lot of exercise, having a glass of wine, having too many carbs at dinner, etc. It may also be a combination of factors like A) watching TV for 2 hours and eating a lot of carbs at dinner. You can't prove that watching TV alone made you sleepy.

Maybe you experiment 9 more times and 6 out of the 10 times you got sleepy after watching 2 hours of TV. You may feel that TV caused you to get sleepy. But it didn't 40% of the time. Again, there could have been other factors. You don't want to rule out the theory that 2 hours of TV may makes you sleepy, but you can't necessarily say it causes sleepiness, especially if it doesn't happen close to 100% of the time.

This is similar to what we see in studies such as the Tylenol-Autism theory. It's a theory, but a lot more research is needed to get us closer to concluding that Tylenol is a cause of autism when taken by mothers during pregnancy. As of right now, studies looking at siblings whose mothers took Tylenol during pregnancy helps eliminate some confounding factors, and these study results show NO link between Tylenol and autism.

Confounding factors include:

• genetics of both the mother and father

• the mother's biology and how she reacts to certain substances

• maternal diet

• the mother's environment

• the likelihood the mother could be ingesting other substances that may have effects on neurodevelopment of a fetus

• the mother's activity levels

• a combination of these or other factors

In fact, research now shows us that sometimes what the grandmother or great-grandmother ate can affect the outcomes of the child. This area of study if called epigenetics and suggests sometimes there are things out of the mother's control that affect her child. What happened generations ago can actually have influence on a baby.

Best Advice on Tylenol During Pregnancy

Right now the best advice is to consult with your doctor before taking any substances including pain reliever, herbal tea, or protein shakes. The doctor can review your medical history and recognize potential interactions between substances.

While the last thing you want to do is cause harm to your baby, keep in mind there are always costs and benefits. Trying to manage a lot of pain or fever is also a cost to mom and baby that needs to be weighed, and acetaminophen may be the best option.

Little is black and white and it's ok to consider options with a qualified health care professional without feeling shame, guilt, or political about it.

Remember that research on women's health is just getting started. There is a lot we don't know.

Bottom Line

Before taking health advice from unqualified males from previous generations who don't have access to research needed to make public health statements nor the health literacy to understand what research we do have available about women's health, consider having a chat with your doctor first.

In fact, these males fliip-flop on their statements based on their audience.

Read More and Educate Yourself

I'd like to gift this article to my readers who are concerned or curious to learn more. It does a great job of explaining this topic further and links to studies so that you can read them for yourselves or share them with your doctors.

Is Tylenol Safe During Pregnancy? Experts Say It’s the Best Option.

By Maggie AstorDani Blum and Christina Caron

Until I can write more on the topic, read or listen to this article and please email me your questions. I will answer them in an FAQ below as I get them!