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Women with thyroid problems may need more aggressive treatment during pregnancy. It's important for brain development in the baby.
As many as one in ten women will develop a thyroid condition that means they produce less thyroid hormone. And that hormone is critical during pregnancy.
But there's a debate whether all expectant mothers should undergo thyroid testing.
Every parent wants their baby to be born healthy.
But hypothyroidism in expectant mothers can lead to learning disabilities, even death in their offspring.
The thyroid is a small butterfly shaped gland that lies just under the Adam's apple.
When a woman is pregnant, she needs to produce enough thyroid for herself and the fetus during the first trimester.
The hormone is essential for fetal brain development.
Thomas Musci, MD/Calif. Pacific Medical Center: "If the mother has very low levels of thyroid hormone early in pregnancy, that could (affect) overall brain development of the fetus."
Women with hypothyroidism need to take hormone supplements.
As reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Harvard found women taking thyroid supplements before pregnancy needed half again as much hormone during pregnancy. It's all the more reason to plan ahead.
The study found increased need started as early as five weeks in pregnancy, and that women may need to increase their dose as soon as a pregnancy is confirmed.
Perinatologist Dr. Thomas Musci specializes in high risk pregnancy.
Thomas Musci, M.D./ California Pacific Medical Center: "Women shouldn't be alarmed, but like any medical problem that predates a pregnancy, they should be in contact with a physician early."
So is it time to start screening all women of reproductive age for thyroid problems? Dr. Musci says no.
"Overall studeis haven't been done to look at the cost effectiveness of doing that. How much we would spend to screen everyone, pick up a small number of women with inadequate thyroid hormone."
In the U.S. alone, at least sixteen thousand babies are born every year to women who were not adequetely treated or didn't know they had hypothyroidism. And pregnant women are at a higher risk for hypothyroidism.
Unfortunately for pregnant women, the symptoms are just like being pregnant: you're tired, you gain weight.
So if you have a history of thyroid problems in your family or type one diabetes, you should get screened before you get pregnant.
