Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia - Screening and Prevention - Screening and Prevention

Taking steps to ensure a healthy pregnancy might prevent your newborn from being born before his or her lungs have fully developed. These steps include:

• Following a healthy eating plan
• Managing any medical conditions you have
• Not smoking and avoiding tobacco smoke, alcohol, and illegal drugs
• Preventing infections
• Seeing your doctor regularly during your pregnancy

Your doctor may give you injections of a corticosteroids medicine if he or she thinks you may give birth too early. This medicine can speed up development of the lungs, brain, and kidneys in your baby and surfactant production. Usually, within about 24 hours of your taking this medicine, the baby's lungs start making enough surfactant. This will reduce the newborn's risk of respiratory distress syndrome, which can lead to BPD.