Cocaine And Pregnancy Essay

The full extent of the effects of cocaine use during pregnancy are not known. This is partially due to the fact that mothers are not usually truthful about drug use during pregnancy. Another issue is the fact that cocaine quickly leaves the body making it harder to detect use via urine drug test. It is also difficult to determine the effects of cocaine use during pregnancy, is that cocaine is rarely used exclusively. It is commonly accompanied with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and/or other illegal drugs. Not to mention the amount (if any) of prenatal care received during pregnancy, exposure to violence, nutrition of the mother, sexually transmitted diseases exposure and other health conditions of the mother all can play a factor into what …show more content…
Studies have shown that the use of cocaine by mothers often results with premature delivery, small head circumferences, low birth weight, and the babies tend to be shorter than babies not exposed in utero ("Cocaine”, 2010). Nervous system dysfunction such as jitteriness, high pitched cry, tremors, excessive sucking and more feeding difficulties have been attributed to cocaine exposure in utero (Davidson, 2012, pp.420). It is also known that the use of cocaine during the first trimester can decrease the blood supply to the placenta and uterus, by impeding the reuptake of norepinephrine, thus causing arterial vasoconstriction. A majority of studies also point to spontaneous abortion as a result of current cocaine use by the mother. With the absence of a dose- response association, this suggest that any amount of the drug can lead to spontaneous abortion of the pregnancy, regardless if the exposure was a low or high level (Ness, p. 333,337). In another study the concentration of cocaine in the mother’s hair samples did not show a drop in birth weight at low levels, however, there was a noticeable decrease in birth weight at higher levels. An estimated 27 gram decrease in birth weight with the increase in each log –unit of concentration. In the same study using urine samples the log-unit increased to an estimated 32 gram decrease with the higher concentrations. Head circumference also decreased with higher levels of cocaine in hair samples, but the length of gestation did not regularly lessen with the increase in dose related patterns of higher concentrations if the drug. It is estimated that with positive test at delivery, indicative of recent and more likely frequent use during pregnancy, birth weight was diminished by 182 grams, increased intrauterine growth retardation and smaller head circumferences. It was also noted that the infants of women