Q: My wife is 3 months pregnant and had fever and cough last week. The doctors prescribed the following medicines: C-Mox, Paracetomol, Acucal, Fesovit and Benadryl Syrup. I want to know whether these tablets and syrup are safe for the baby?

A:No harm will be done due to consumption of amoxycillin (C-Mox), paracetamol and Benadryl Cough Formula for short period. Please see the general note on selection of brands at the bottom of this response. For the future please exercise discretion while consuming brands. I do not know why your wife is taking calcium (Acucal) etc unless there is proven, documented deficiency; otherwise unnecessary consumption of minerals and vitamins can cause problems (overstrains, kidney stones etc). During the course of pregnancy, your wife needs to take only iron and folic acid such as Fecontin-F Continus - one daily, till labour. Please make sure that folic acid is not missed under any circumstances. I am a bit surprised that she had not been taking folic acid ever since she started expecting. Folic acid is mandatory to prevent deformity in the baby. General statement on selection of brands: There are scores, sometimes hundreds, of brands of the same medicine. Against about 300 pharmaceutical manufacturers in western countries like Britain, there are over 20,000 producers in India that market more than 40,000 brands. Most manufacturers do not have quality testing laboratories. Hence selection of brands is important. Many companies give incentives to prescribers to patronise their products. Patients should check the reputation of manufacturers before consuming medicines.