The duty of the mother to protect and nurture the developing fetus inside her womb is sometimes taken too lightly. So many different factors in the environment of the mother can be extremely harmful to the fetus, if not fatal. To describe the broad spectrum of environmental agents that have the potential to cause damage or death in the prenatal period of fetus development, the term teratogen is given. Teratogens can be things such as drugs, tobacco, alcohol, radiation, environmental pollution, viruses, and bacterial or parasitic diseases just to name a few examples (Berk, 2014).
One of the most important stages of brain development occurs between eight and sixteen weeks. During this time of development, neurons and glial cells are beginning to form inside the fetus’s brain. The glial cells and neurons are the most vulnerable at this time. Eighty percent of damage to the brain from teratogens occurs during this stage. Specific instances of mass cases of retardation were reported after the Chernobyl …show more content…
Alcohol, drug, and tobacco use should be discontinued as soon as the new mother finds out she is pregnant or even if she feels she is having symptoms of pregnancy. The only way to eradicate these preventable problems in fetal development is to eliminate the cause. Before watching these videos, I never knew how serious Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was. I never knew all that happened with brain functioning. I learned about brain matter in my Speech and Hearing Sciences classes last semester, so seeing in the video the absence of the white matter in the brain of infant with Fetal alcohol syndrome is astounding. Knowing the function of the white matter of the brain I almost cannot even comprehend how the infant’s brain would ever be able to function properly. Going into this class, I did not know that the most crucial brain development occurred between eight and sixteen weeks of the gestational
One of the most important stages of brain development occurs between eight and sixteen weeks. During this time of development, neurons and glial cells are beginning to form inside the fetus’s brain. The glial cells and neurons are the most vulnerable at this time. Eighty percent of damage to the brain from teratogens occurs during this stage. Specific instances of mass cases of retardation were reported after the Chernobyl …show more content…
Alcohol, drug, and tobacco use should be discontinued as soon as the new mother finds out she is pregnant or even if she feels she is having symptoms of pregnancy. The only way to eradicate these preventable problems in fetal development is to eliminate the cause. Before watching these videos, I never knew how serious Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was. I never knew all that happened with brain functioning. I learned about brain matter in my Speech and Hearing Sciences classes last semester, so seeing in the video the absence of the white matter in the brain of infant with Fetal alcohol syndrome is astounding. Knowing the function of the white matter of the brain I almost cannot even comprehend how the infant’s brain would ever be able to function properly. Going into this class, I did not know that the most crucial brain development occurred between eight and sixteen weeks of the gestational