In asthma, the decision to continue treatment is relatively straightforward. The Guidelines note that ‘in general, the medicines used to treat asthma are safe in pregnancy [...] The risk of harm to the fetus from severe or chronically under-treated asthma outweighs any small risk from the medications.’ Therefore, nurses should advise expectant mothers with asthma to continue using short- and long-acting β2 –agonists and inhaled steroids as normal during pregnancy. For instance, the guidelines point out that there is ‘no significant association’ between inhaled steroids and major congenital malformations or adverse perinatal outcomes, such as pre-term delivery, low birth weight or pregnancy-induced hypertension. In general, oral steroids are not teratogenic. Some studies suggest a slightly increased risk of oral clefts in children exposed to oral steroids in utero, although the evidence is mixed and inconclusive. The Guidelines note that any association is ‘not definite and even if it is real, the benefit to the mother and the fetus of steroids for treating a life threatening disease justify the use of steroids in pregnancy’ (BTS/SIGN, 2009).