Adderall shouldn’t be taken during pregnancy without first discussing it with your doctor.

Adderall is a stimulant made up of amphetamine and dextroamphetamine used to treat narcolepsy and forms of ADHD. Since it’s a newer medication, there’s limited data on the safety of Adderall specifically in pregnancy, so most of the safety data comes from studies on general amphetamine use in pregnancy (not amphetamine plus dextroamphetamine). 

Amphetamines don’t appear to be associated with an increased risk of birth defects, but some studies suggest that amphetamines are associated with poor fetal growth, neonatal behavior, and brain development. It’s not clear if this is due to the medication itself or the fact that most data came from patients using amphetamine illicitly, and the adverse effects seen may have been due to other drug use or lifestyle factors.  

However, most data on amphetamine/Adderall in pregnancy for therapeutic use (treating diagnosed conditions such as ADHD and narcolepsy) are reassuring, so you should talk with your doctor to see if it may be reasonable to continue Adderall in pregnancy for therapeutic use. 

For up-to-date information on the safety of medications in pregnancy, see www.reprotox.org ¹