FAQ

Should I stop my medicine if I am pregnant or think that I may be pregnant?

No. It is very important that you do not make any changes to the medicines you are using without first consulting your doctor or midwife.

Stopping a medicine that is important to your health could cause more harm to you and your baby than any possible risks to the baby from the medicine itself. Some medicines need to be stopped gradually. Your own doctor is the best person to advise on what is best for you.

Regardless of how ‘safe’ a medicine is thought to be it is important that your doctor reviews the medicines you are taking if you are planning a pregnancy, or if you become pregnant.

It is advisable that you contact your doctor or other health care advisor as soon as you think you may be pregnant.

Who should I talk to if I’m worried about taking my medicines whilst pregnant?

It is best to speak to the healthcare provider that prescribed the medicine or your GP. If this is not possible then your midwife or a pharmacist may be able to help you.

Every pregnancy is unique. Your doctor will be able to take into account aspects of your health and pregnancy that are specific to you. The advice that you are given as to whether to stop or continue a medicine may not be the same as the advice given to another pregnant woman, even though you are both taking the same medicine.

Your doctor will help you to decide whether or not taking a medicine is the best option for your and your baby’s health.

What should I do if I can’t find a bumps leaflet for a particular medicine or chemical?

If you can’t find what you are looking for under our A-Z index, try entering either the name of the medicine into our search facility. If you still have no luck, it may be that there is no bumps information leaflet about your medicine yet.

If you live in the UK you can ask your healthcare provider to seek information from the UK Teratology Information Service on your behalf.

It is useful for us to know what products women are looking for information about and how useful they found the website.  Please use our feedback form to give us this information.

Is more information likely to become available on bumps?

The numbers of bumps leaflets on the website will increase with time, so please keep checking bumps for new information. We will also review which medicines we receive requests for information about through our feedback form.

I'm not pregnant yet, is there any point to reviewing my medicines with my doctor before I start trying to conceive?

Absolutely! The best time to review any medicines you are taking is before you are pregnant.

When deciding whether or not to use a medicine in pregnancy it is important to weigh up how the medicine might improve your and/or your unborn baby’s health against any possible problems that the medicine may cause. Reviewing the medicines you are on before you are pregnant gives you and your doctor the chance to discuss this and to consider whether to make changes to your medicines before you conceive.

Can I ask the bumps team for advice directly?

UKTIS, who produce bumps, does not provide advice to members of the public directly.

Your GP or specialist is the best person to help you to decide whether taking a medicine in pregnancy is the best option for you and your baby’s health. The information we provide on bumps will help to give you the scientific facts about the effects that a particular medicine may have on a baby to help you make this decision. If necessary, healthcare providers in the UK can access our more detailed UKTIS scientific documents which contain details of the studies and information referred to in the bumps information leaflets.

If you live in the UK you can ask your healthcare provider to seek information from the UK Teratology Information Service on your behalf.

I’m a healthcare provider, how do I get more information?

The first place to look is the UKTIS website (www.uktis.org), where abstracts written for health professionals on approximately 350 medicines and chemicals are freely available.

Detailed scientific documents on these drugs and chemicals are also available via TOXBASE. This is only available to UK health professionals and registration is needed. This is free of charge for NHS staff.

If you are a healthcare provider in the UK you can telephone UKTIS, which is the service for health care providers only. The telephone service is available between 09:00-17:00 Monday-Friday (excluding bank holidays) for routine enquiries. Urgent enquiries are answered 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Contact details are available in the British National Formulary.

If we do not already have a UKTIS scientific review (monograph) of the medicine or chemical you are asking about, please contact UKTIS and we will compile a review of the available information to answer your query.

I'm not in the UK, where can I get advice?

There are a number of Teratology Information Services around the world.  Try the European Network of Teratology Information Services (www.entis-org.eu) or the American and Canadian Organisation of Teratology Information Specialists (www.mothertobaby.org) website to find a service in your area.

Who writes the bumps information leaflets?

bumps information leaflets are researched and written by a team of health care professionals and scientists at the national UK Teratology Information Service, a not-for-profit organisation funded by Public Health England. 

How do I know that the information from bumps can be trusted?

All bumps information leaflets are researched and written by the UK Teratology Information Service (UKTIS) team of healthcare professionals and scientists. UKTIS is a publically funded, not-for-profit organisation which has been providing information to healthcare professionals since 1983.

The team of teratology specialists conduct a literature review of all peer-reviewed publications on a given subject. The scientific information identified is then synthesised and condensed to provide an unbiased and factual bumps information leaflet.

What is a my bumps record?

Information on the use of medicines in human pregnancy is generally lacking, especially for new or infrequently used products. Over the years pregnant women have asked to report their details to UKTIS directly so that this information is available to other pregnant women who may need to consider whether or not to take a certain medicine in the future. Our new online reporting facility offers all pregnant women (not just those taking certain medicines or whose pregnancies did not result in a healthy baby), or women who have been pregnant in the past, the option to create their own password protected ‘my bump’s record’. The information entered into these records is stored by UKTIS and reviewed periodically to help better understand how the medicines, a woman’s lifestyle or the illness for which she was taking the medicine, may affect her baby’s development in the womb.

When should I start entering information into my bumps record?

If you are currently pregnant:
The earlier in pregnancy that you start entering information into your record the better! The most important piece of information to enter into your record when you login for the first time is your LMP date (or an estimate of how many weeks pregnant you think are).

Your bumps record is designed to enable you to enter or update your details at any time throughout your pregnancy. This is important as it is much more scientifically accurate to record things as they happen rather than to rely on memory. Any information you enter will be saved and will still be there for you to see when you next log in.

If you are currently only a few weeks pregnant you may only be able to complete the first few sections of your record. Please remember to come back and update it with any new information, for example relating to a change in your health, a scan result, or to tell us that the dose of a medicine you take regularly has been changed.

If you are not currently pregnant:
If you are not currently pregnant but would like to tell us about a previous pregnancy please go directly to the Previous Pregnancy section of the questionnaire and select 'NO' in response to the question ‘Is this your first pregnancy?’. It would be very helpful if you were able to provide brief details about all your previous pregnancies, not just one or two specific pregnancies that you may have concerns about.

What if I forget to update my bumps record?

Don’t worry – we send all bumps members reminder emails at regular intervals! If you have forgotten to update your record straight away please do so as soon as you remember.

How do I enter information about a previous pregnancy on my bumps record?

If you are not currently pregnant but would like to tell us about a previous pregnancy please go directly to the Previous Pregnancy section of the questionnaire and select 'NO' in response to the question ‘Is this your first pregnancy?’. 

It would be very helpful if you were able to provide brief details about all your previous pregnancies, not just one or two specific pregnancies that you may have concerns about.

If you become pregnant in the future, please come back to your bumps record and fill in details in the Current Pregnancy section.

My bump’s record

Create your own ‘My bump’s record’.

Provide information about your pregnancy to help women in the future.

Login to my bumps

Join my bumps

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