I was told epilepsy drug wouldn't harm my baby. Now we live with the consequences

Rosemary Nayler says she was repeatedly told that taking the epilepsy drug sodium valproate while pregnant would not affect her unborn child.

But it is thought thousands of children in the UK have been left with disabilities caused by the medication since the 1970s.

Her daughter, Nadia Williams, is now 37, registered blind and deaf, is autistic and has mobility issues.

Nayler is among thousands of parents calling for the government to "admit where they've gone wrong".

Over the last decade, instructions for doctors and patient leaflets have stated valproate should not be used during pregnancy unless there was no safer alternative and only after a careful discussion of the risks.

Rosemary, from Evesham in Worcestershire, had her first epilepsy attack when she was about 30.

"I'd already got three young children by this stage who were all born perfectly normal and quite happy and have developed no problems throughout their lives. They're all way into their 50s now."

But by the time she became pregnant with Nadia, aged 34, in the late 1980s, she was already taking sodium valproate on the advice of doctors.

"Every time I had an epileptic attack I was told that it was 'far better for me to... keep on taking the tablets' and they just kept increasing the dosage.

"We queried... if it was going to affect the foetus in any way and we were clearly told that 'no, there was no effect on the children'."

Rosemary said she wants "the government to admit where they've gone wrong, the fact that we should have been told about these things and these possibilities way back then".

Her daughter added she was "terrified of the future".

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Source: BBC News, 9 November 2026

Further reading on the hub:

• First Do No Harm. The report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review (8 July 2020)

• Mums v Big Pharma (BBC iPlayer, 9 November 2026)

• Sodium Valproate: The Fetal Valproate Syndrome Tragedy