How can I Prevent Another Preterm Delivery?

Experiencing a preterm birth for the first time can be a scary, stressful experience. Whether you delivered at 24 weeks or 34 weeks of pregnancy, bringing a baby into the world sooner than you were mentally prepared for can really make thinking about future pregnancies somewhat frightening.

Fortunately, there are some steps you can take when it comes to preventing a second (or third) preterm delivery, including:

Don’t get pregnant again too soon. When a woman becomes pregnant 18 months or less after she just gave birth, her risk of preterm birth increases. This may be due to not having quite recovered from the previous birth, or that mom’s nutritional stores haven’t replaced themselves enough before having to grow another baby again. Make a plan with your doctor or midwife on how best to space your pregnancies, especially if you are high-risk from having given birth to a preterm baby before.

Quit smoking! We know that smoking is bad for a number of reasons, and women who smoke are at a higher risk of delivering early, including in the very preterm time period when risks to baby are highest (before 32 weeks). If you smoke, talk to your doctor or midwife ASAP about how you can get on track to cut down or quit.

Get to a healthy weight before getting pregnant, and stay on track. Being underweight or overweight can also cause pregnancy complications that can lead to a preterm birth. Not yet pregnant? Have a preconception visit to make sure you start out in a healthy range and know what your weight gain goals for pregnancy are.

Get other medical conditions under control. Before you become pregnant, go through your health history with your doctor or midwife. If you have any issues like thyroid disease, diabetes, or high blood pressure, get these tuned up before you try to conceive. Doing so will decrease your chance of delivering early, since we know the pregnancy complications these conditions may cause might mean a woman needs to deliver early to protect her own health.

Have a plan about how to manage your pregnancy … even before you are pregnant. The things you may need to do in a future pregnancy to give yourself the best chance of delivering a healthy full-term baby may seem daunting: early ultrasounds, progesterone injections (17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate), frequent doctor’s visits, and maybe even a stitch around the cervix. Rather than waiting to get this all sorted out once you are pregnant, meet with your obstetrician or high-risk OB/GYN to make a plan together before you start trying to conceive. This will make sure you have a good plan in place and can be ahead of the game even before you see those two pink lines.

Sources:

• Kyrklund-Blomberg NB et al
• Maternal smoking and causes of very preterm birth
• Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand
• 2005 Jun. Family planning: Getting the facts about pregnancy spacing
• The Mayo Clinic.

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