Planning for a Healthy Baby: A Guide to Genetic and Environmental Risks

Family lifestyles have undergone many changes in recent decades. There has been a trend toward smaller families, with more attention being paid to the matter of pregnancy. Planning for a Healthy Baby is designed to meet the concerns about pregnancy that people have today. Of interest to anyone contemplating having a baby, it will be of particular value to those over thirty-five, those who have had problems with an earlier pregnancy, and those with a family history of genetic disorders.
In a question-and-answer format, Dr. Richard M. Goodman, an internationally known medical geneticist, provides up-to-the-minute information on the 400 most common concerns about pregnancy. He covers environmental as well as genetic factors, maternal illnesses, birth defects, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and ethical issues. The questions are drawn from Dr. Goodman's own experience as a physician specializing in clinical genetics and range from the risk of maternal diabetes to the effects of a vegetarian diet on the developing fetus and the potential problems associated with the diagnostic tools themselves, including amniocentesis and ultrasound. The book concludes with a general checklist of risk factors, a table of occupational hazards in pregnancy, a bibliography, a glossary, and a list of addresses for additional information.