This book is an obstetric formulary, for doctors and others concerned with the medical care of pregnant women and their newborn babies. It provides specific prescribing information on the drugs necessary to the obstetric management of antenatal patients, women in labour and the puerpurium, and the newborn. It aims to be a readily available source of information for resident obstetric staff and family practitioners who undertake obstetrics. It is also intended to provide guidelines for specialist obstetricians in training their juniors in the safest and most effective ways of using drugs during pregnancy, and for midwives, nurses and pharmacists, who need to understand the drug treatment of pregnant women.;The prescribing sections of this handbook are restricted to agents of known safety and proven efficacy and as well as covering the use of drugs in pregnancy the book includes sections on the transfer of drugs into breast milk. Advice on diet, nursing care and physiotherapy are mentioned where relevant and an account of the procedures involved in providing an epidural service are included. Doses of drugs used for newborn babies are given in the last chapter.;A section on preconception counselling has been added to the second edition and the drugs included in the volume have been revised, some preparations which have become of value to obstetric practice have been added and some which have been found to have limited clinical value have been withdrawn. This edition has been adjusted so that the prescribing procedures are in line with those used in North America.

Everyone involved in obstetric practice at the present time will be well aware oft he complexities of drug interactions in the mother and fetus, and newborn infant. Perhaps the most spectacular manifestations of these drug interactions are those that result in teratogenic effects, but the implications of drug therapy generally in pregnancy range far wider than the hazards of inducing fetal malformation. It must also be realised that there are hazards in withholding some therapeutic agents from pregnant women, and these hazards have to be weighed against the dangers of indiscriminate drug therapy. It is often very difficult to obtain relevant information about any given compound in relation to its use in pregnancy, and it is therefore appropriate to provide a handbook which brings together information about a wide variety of drugs in a form which allows ready access for the practising clinician. Rodney Ledward first discussed this project with me some years ago, and it seemed to me at the time that with his background as both a pharmaceutical chemist and an obstetrician that his talents were particularly well suited to this task. In conjunction with Professor Hawkins, he has produced a concise reference book for use in clinical practice, which I feel confident will prove to be invaluable to all those practising obstetrics at all levels of seniority. The book covers the use of drugs during pregnancy, but it also includes sections on the transfer of drugs into breast milk.