Far too many women still take risky drugs during pregnancy – but don’t be so quick to point the finger at the moms-to- be.

Doctors, pharmacists and – of course – Big Pharma get most of the blame for this one.

Researchers studying five years of drug records for 109,344 pregnant women found that 56 percent of them filled at least one prescription during their pregnancy. Just over 6 percent of them – nearly 7,000 women – did so for at least one med known to pose a threat to the fetus.

Those include anxiety and psychiatric meds, drugs that treat severe acne, antibiotics and pills for heart disease.

No woman wants to harm her baby, of course. Many women probably take these meds completely unaware of the potential risk they’ll have on the unborn child.

In fact, men and women alike often take prescription drugs without thinking about them at all – which is a big part of the problem (and exactly how Big Pharma likes it).

When a woman gets pregnant, she undergoes a lot of changes at once – changes to her body, and changes to her lifestyle. It’s safe to say she’s got a lot to think about, and maybe her prescription meds – drugs that have been in the medicine cabinet for years – don’t come to mind at all, much less the impact they’ll have on the baby.

And in too many cases, her gynecologist may never be aware of or even ask about meds that another doctor prescribed before the pregnancy began.

So it’s incredibly easy for a pregnant woman to continue with the familiar parts of her daily routine… wake up, shower, get dressed, take pills, make coffee, go to work… all along unaware of the festering drug problem.

When you’re planning your pregnancy, or if you learn that you’re pregnant, you could simply go over the risks for each one of your meds and find alternative drugs when they’re available… but there’s something far better you could do for yourself and your child.

Work with your doctor on replacing each of your meds with non-drug alternatives. In many cases, you’ll find lifestyle changes, alternative treatments and simple nutrients that can work as good as or better than many common meds – especially if you’re taking drugs to control mood disorders, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and more.

If the dad-to-be is on some meds himself, have him join you – lifestyle changes are much easier to make if you do them together.

After all, the baby will change your life pretty dramatically anyway. As long as change is in the air, turn over a new leaf – and get rid of those meds.