Prenatal substance abuse has become a rising epidemic worldwide. This abuse causes significant health risk towards developing fetuses, which carries over from birth onto childhood. Developmental delays, physical and mental, create challenges for both the child and provider.
More than 50 percent of pregnant women use prescription or nonprescription drugs, or use social drugs, like tobacco and alcohol during some time while pregnant. As said by doctor Ravinda Gunatilake “Drugs are highly toxic and should never be used by pregnant women, because they cause severe birth defects.” These drugs can be opioids, amphetamines, or marijuana (Gunatilake). Drugs can have contributed to birth defects, premature birth, under weight babies, and still born …show more content…
Many alcohol-exposed children may not show full signs of FAS, but if they show only one or two signs then they may have “fetal alcohol syndrome” (FAE). In a series of paper done by Seattle Longitudinal Study on alcohol and pregnancy, Ann Streissguth and her colleagues at the University of Washington have traced several developmental problems to prenatal exposure to alcohol. These studies have shown that mothers who drank more heavily, their babies had lower mental and motor development scores than infants of less heavy drinkers …show more content…
Babies born to mothers who smoke cocaine are given the term “crack babies”, but much like the Trojan horse, they may look well, but on the inside, they have their own set of physical and mental problems of their own. The National Institute of Drug Abuse have stated that “exposure to cocaine in the womb can lead to subtle, yet significant, deficits later to children.” Cognitive performance, information-processing, and attention to task are deficits that can occur (Gaither). Thus, cocaine exposure to the development of the fetus will be expected to result in permanent changes in brain structure and function, leading to challenges in later in life (Behnke). Opiates are the most common among substance abuse. Newborn infants of opiate-using go through withdrawal, called “neonatal abstinence syndrome,” which consist of central nervous system and digestive system syndrome that include irritability, poor feeding, poor weight gain, ineffective sucking, yawning, sneezing, tremulousness and sometimes seizures. Conditions associated with increased risk for later developmental problems are, low birth weight and small
Stevens
More than 50 percent of pregnant women use prescription or nonprescription drugs, or use social drugs, like tobacco and alcohol during some time while pregnant. As said by doctor Ravinda Gunatilake “Drugs are highly toxic and should never be used by pregnant women, because they cause severe birth defects.” These drugs can be opioids, amphetamines, or marijuana (Gunatilake). Drugs can have contributed to birth defects, premature birth, under weight babies, and still born …show more content…
Many alcohol-exposed children may not show full signs of FAS, but if they show only one or two signs then they may have “fetal alcohol syndrome” (FAE). In a series of paper done by Seattle Longitudinal Study on alcohol and pregnancy, Ann Streissguth and her colleagues at the University of Washington have traced several developmental problems to prenatal exposure to alcohol. These studies have shown that mothers who drank more heavily, their babies had lower mental and motor development scores than infants of less heavy drinkers …show more content…
Babies born to mothers who smoke cocaine are given the term “crack babies”, but much like the Trojan horse, they may look well, but on the inside, they have their own set of physical and mental problems of their own. The National Institute of Drug Abuse have stated that “exposure to cocaine in the womb can lead to subtle, yet significant, deficits later to children.” Cognitive performance, information-processing, and attention to task are deficits that can occur (Gaither). Thus, cocaine exposure to the development of the fetus will be expected to result in permanent changes in brain structure and function, leading to challenges in later in life (Behnke). Opiates are the most common among substance abuse. Newborn infants of opiate-using go through withdrawal, called “neonatal abstinence syndrome,” which consist of central nervous system and digestive system syndrome that include irritability, poor feeding, poor weight gain, ineffective sucking, yawning, sneezing, tremulousness and sometimes seizures. Conditions associated with increased risk for later developmental problems are, low birth weight and small
Stevens