For phenylalanine levels to remain adequate without risk to the health of the baby, it is important to control the intake of the phenylalanine amino acid that is present, especially in foods such as fish, eggs, meat, milk, beans, corn, peanuts, oats.
Therefore, it is necessary to consult the nutritionist to make the diet with the appropriate level of phenylalanine and also to meet all nutritional needs during pregnancy.
Phenylketonuria rarely passes from mother to child, but only when the baby is born, when performing the test of the foot, parents can know if the baby has phenylketonuria and adapt their diet.
How to have a healthy pregnancy with phenylketonuria
The woman who was born with phenylketonuria should, at least 2 months before becoming pregnant, have to consult the obstetrician to do a blood test that evaluates the amount of phenylalanine in the blood, to have guidelines for a correct feeding and if necessary to do nutritional supplementation because the feeding is restricted in protein, which is an important nutrient during pregnancy.
Phenylketonuria during pregnancy should be controlled because it can cause mental retardation, microcephaly or heart disease in the baby.
To control phenylketonuria during pregnancy
Before Pregnancy
The blood test to monitor the amount of phenylalanine before pregnancy is done twice a week for 6 weeks and if the values are below 4 mg phenylalanine per dl of blood the woman can get pregnant without risk of the baby being born with health problems .
During the pregnancy
During pregnancy of the woman with phenylketonuria it is recommended to perform the blood test to monitor phenylalanine levels every 15 days until the baby is born.
Maternal phenylketonuria syndrome is the increase in the amount of phenylalanine in the bloodstream of the pregnant woman who was born with phenylketonuria. For the phenylketonuic woman to become pregnant and have a healthy baby it is important to have specialized medical follow-up prior to pregnancy and throughout pregnancy.
Learn how to feed in this case:
- Diet for phenylketonuria
- Food for phenylketonuric
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