Prenatal Environment Analysis

Throughout the first five weeks of this class, Developmental Psychology, we have covered many important topics both on blackboard and throughout the first eight chapters in our book. The topic I am going to discuss is on The Prenatal Environment: Threats to Development in Chapter 2. One article I found only focuses on one teratogen: an environmental agents such as a drugs, chemicals, virus, or other factor that produces birth defects. The article is called “Prenatal Methamphetamine Exposure and Childhood Behavior Problems at 3 and 5 years of Age.” I got this article from a pediatric journal, an official one of the American Academy of Pediatrics. There are many authors all with either a MD or PhD and first one on the list is Linda L. LaGasse …show more content…
On a personal level, if I am aware of the of all the prenatal environments that could impair my child 's development, I could save myself and my child many problems psychological and psychically. When it comes to the prenatal environment, I mainly focused on drug use, but there is more than just that. A mother’s diet, a mother’s age, a mother’s prenatal support, her health, drug use, and use of alcohol and tobacco, all have a possibility of disrupting the development of an unborn child. For example, when I plan to become a mother, I should be aware of my own health first, I should assure that when I am pregnant that I have a proper diet for supporting the developing child, I should assure my body is healthy enough to care for a child at my age, and be sure to stay away from chemicals, drugs, and alcohol. However, it 's not only the mother that could have affect on the prenatal environment but also the father. The father can influence prenatal environment of the fetus by, for example, smoking around the mother. This could lead to second hand smoke which could affect the mother’s health, which then could influence the unborn child’s development. In the book, it gives the example of the greater the second hand smoking level, the lower the birthweight which can be very critical. Also, if a father is physically and emotionally abusive to the mother, that can also impair the development of an unborn child. Overall, I will want to assure that when I am pregnant that I will do anything to make sure my child is in the best prenatal environment, so I can assure they will develop properly and enter the world healthy. I would also, use this knowledge to inform others, especially from having my own family experiences under some of these