Does antenatal steroid injection treat preterm labour?

Preterm labour is labour that starts before the pregnancy reaches full term. Corticosteroids are given to support fetal lung maturation when clinicians judge that an early birth may occur. They are not a medicine that stops contractions or delays labour on their own. The maternity team may consider other treatments to allow time for assessment or transfer, depending on your pregnancy, contractions, cervical changes, infection concerns, and the baby's condition. The injection is one part of a wider plan.

Contact your maternity unit immediately if you have regular tightening, period-like cramps, pelvic pressure, new backache, fluid leakage, or bleeding before your expected due date. While travelling for assessment, follow the unit's advice and take your pregnancy records and medicines list. Do not take leftover medication to delay labour. At hospital, monitoring may include your contractions, cervix, temperature, fetal heart rate, and signs that your waters have broken.

Get urgent maternity help for regular painful contractions, suspected fluid leakage, vaginal bleeding, fever, severe abdominal pain, or reduced fetal movement. Emergency help is appropriate for heavy bleeding, severe breathing difficulty, fainting, or feeling suddenly very unwell. Early assessment matters because the safest treatment depends on what is causing the symptoms and how labour is progressing.

Ask why steroids are recommended, what other treatments may be considered, how fetal wellbeing will be monitored, and which signs mean you should return without delay.