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i had my 20 week sonogram and found out my baby has a cleft lip and palate. I am devastated to say the least. I did take a few xanax, not consecutively in the month prior to finding out i was pregnant. If i knew what i know now i would have had them look earlier for these types of birth defects, it can be detected early if they look for it. The doctors will always tell you not to worry becasue you are already pregnant and they dont want you to stress about something that they know if it happened it has already happened and there is nothing you can do about it anymore. The lip and palate are the most common defect due to when the palate closes which would be the 4th to the 8th weeks when most people dont know they are pregnant like me. I am not afraid of the cleft lip, i am concerned about he cleft palate, and any other 150 syndroms they say are associated with it, and long term side affects associated with it. If anyone has any more info for me i would greatly appreciate it.

when is it time for me to get an ultrasound done?

Broken, I am so sorry that your baby has these problems but honestly I dont think that the reason your baby was born with this is because of the xanax. I think that your doctor can give you some answers why this happens. Some evidence suggests there may be a genetic factor, as cleft lip and palate can run in families.
I know some people that were born with this and are just as normal as you and me.. stop seeing your baby as having a deffect, you should see your baby as a blessing...Good Luck

I've just discovered this site and started freaking out, as I to have taken xanax in my first 5 weeks and will stop today as I've already had one miscarriage and dont want another. So I did some research and heres what I found. Reproductive data on xanax...Human studies do exist for alprazolam (xanax), 411 women who where exposed to xanax in there 1st trimester did not suggest an increased frequency of malformations. 133 and 149 women respectively found no increased risk of malformations nor any pattern. Neonatal withdrawal symtoms have been noted after exposure in late pregnancy. This made me feel better and hope it does to you too!!

Calm down my sister in law is a druggie and took xanax until her second trimester and drank so you will be fine baby will be fine just don't take anymore if you want a baby keep this one it will be fine my sister in law has a healthy baby boy.

Hi all, I know it has been sometime since anyone has posted on the site but I thought "what the hell", i'll give it a a shot and maybe we can get this topic started again.
Broken....I know that you have already had your baby by this point but I just wanted to assure you that the few Xanax that you did take was most likely not the reason for your baby's cleft lip/pallete. My sister-n-law had a baby with the same thing, its genetic. Now, he is almost 3 yrs old and you can't hardly tell he ever had a thing wrong with him and his was real severe. Of course he has many more surgeries to go through but all in all he is a very healthy intelligent little guy.
Now this is my whole reason for coming to the board: We found out we were pregnant in April, i was just like 3 weeks when we found out. I am currently on 95 mg of Methadone a day for opiate dependency /addiction...have been for 7 yrs now. I am also prescribed 1mg Xanax 3 times a day, i have been taking that now for 5 yrs. I have already had 1 perfectly healthy little boy while on methadone but i was not taking the xanax with that pregnancy. I have read horror stories about Xanax and scared to death about not taking them and withdrawing but I did wean myself to just 1/2 of 1mg a day in 2 weeks time. I was 11 1/2
weeks pregnant on Mother's Day when I started miscarrying. The very nexy day...my sons b-day they scheduled me for surgery, the D&C! We were devestated, we wanted this sooo bad! The Dr. told me when I went in the day I started bleeding and found no heartbeat that there was nothing I did or nothing I could've done to prevent the miscarriage. But then after the surgery, while I was in recovery he came in the speak with the family and my hubby asked what may have caused it and he said that we would talk more about that my follow-up visit which is this coming Thursday. So, it makes me think that maybe when he got in there during surgery that maybe he did find something out of the ordinary. I know that the Methadone had nothing to do with my miscarriage and maybe not even the Xanax but I can't help but to think that the Xanax had alot of factors in this. Now, my pregnancy wasn't normal from the beginning though...my progestrone level was low they called me in meds to make them rise and they did and I cramped severely with this pregnancy as well, not the normal cramping. So, i think odds were against me more than not with this pregnancy. Do you think that the withdrawals from the Xanax may have made me miscarry? Or maybe taking the Xanax and my body rejecting it? I would like some closure as well as opinions on this. Thanks, Bridget

I had to be weeined of xanax for pregnancy ...PLEASE do not just jump off this med if you have been on it with out help from your doc! It has serious side effects when stopped suddenly. You are so early, I had the same fear and my doc said most women on this med who get preggo dont even know. I have many famly members ( nice huh) who took xanax and then found they were preggo. Everything was fine. Again DO NOT STOP this med on your own. that can cause sezures and many other problems that could hurt you and the baby! Please dont stress! This is a common occurance. ( I consulted both my OB and perscribing doc and they said the same thing)