Prenatally-Exposed Children: A Case Study

Substance abuse during pregnancy can have a negative force on the health and wellness of not only the fetus, but that of the mother. The harmful effects of medications, alcohol and illegal drugs on an unborn child can be devastating and can have significant consequences to its use. Sometimes the effects can be faced and treated, and other times the outcome is a lifelong challenge. During the prenatal period, it is important that new mothers are informed of the different types of abuse, how they may affect the fetus, and the adverse conditions their child may be faced with before and after birth.

Although throughout the United States activist and educational campaigns have flooded U.S citizens with education on the detrimental effects of maternal alcohol consumption, women are still continuing to consume alcohol while pregnant. Fifty three percent of non-pregnant woman drink alcohol, and despite health warnings, twelve percent of pregnant mothers in the United States still consume alcohol (Pruett &Waterman & Caughey, 2013, p. 62). Fetal alcohol exposure is also believed to be widely underreported in the United States (Pruett et al., 2013, p. 66). Current research concludes that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, nor a safe time during gestation for alcohol consumption to take place (National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [NOFAS], 2014). Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term used for the various conditions that maternal alcohol consumption causes. Although each case of FASD can present differently, cognitive disabilities, facial deformities, and growth retention are a few of the hallmark adverse effects that alcohol has when it enters fetal circulation (Paley & O’Connor, 2011, p. 64). The United States is impacted economically by these debilitating conditions as well, as it costs our nation $746 million dollars annually to care for these children (Bhuvaneswar, Chang, Epstein & Stern, 2007, p. 3). Nurses in America, and across the globe have a key role in helping to eliminate, and minimize adverse effects of these conditions

The quality of life for these children is unfortunately not the best. They can have limb, facial, and organ defects, and will have stunted physical growth throughout young adult life. Prenatal exposure can also have a negative effect on motor skills, especially fine motor tasks such as writing and balancing. The disabilities depend on the mother and her drinking habits. The children of heavy drinkers while pregnant, have many more developmental problems than of those whose mother was a light drinker. The most common problems among these children with alcohol exposure are with balance, coordination, and how they are able to play and handle a ball.

Growing up in the household under substances influence can cause severe damage to the child. Parental substance abuse has a significant impact on family function, and it may also contribute to child maltreatment. It heightens the risks to both of the physical and emotional safety of the children, and it generates children’s problematic outcomes. Children who grow up in such families may also experience mental health issues, social isolation, financial difficulties, and exposure to stressful life events and so on.

The use of illicit drugs and abuse of alcohol exact a steep price from our society. Substance abuse is a factor in many serious ills such as crime. More upsetting, however, is the affects that it has on children born affected from their dependent mothers. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 60 percent of women of childbearing age consume alcoholic beverages despite the fact that alcohol consumption during pregnancy is implicated in a wide range of birth defects and developmental disabilities, including mental retardation, physical abnormalities, and visual and auditory impairments. (Nevitt, 1996)

Sood, B., Delaney-Black, V., Covington, C., Nordstrom-Klee, B., Ager, J., Templin, T., . . . Sokol, R. J. (2001). Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Childhood Behavior at Age 6 to 7 Years: I. Dose-Response Effect. Pediatrics, 108(2). doi:10.1542/peds.108.2.e34

Alcohol, even at small portions, have a great effect on an infant. Toddlers become uncontrollable and hostile towards parents due to the consumption of liquor. In particular, mothers who drank while pregnant have increased the risk of having a daughter who has a mental illness. Drinking during pregnancy causes impairment to vital organs and causes permanent health problems to the soon to be born

Even though there are many studies that highlight the damaging effects of maternal alcohol use on a fetus in utero, there are a multitude of other substances that are used by pregnant mothers that have similar and even, in some cases, more extreme repercussions such as marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. When speaking about pregnancy and drug use, the most common drug that comes to mind is alcohol. During 12 years of schooling, most people are exposed, at one point or another, to the idea of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and the detrimental effects of alcohol on a fetus in utero. The effects of maternal use of the aforementioned illicit drugs is less studied, partially because they are used less frequently. It is important, however, that as a population, we become more educated about these drugs and the potentially life threatening outcomes for babies in utero.

would not be able to live a normal life for the rest of its life. The

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is a preventable disorder that affects many youth in our society. It is a cognitive disorder that affects their lives in many different ways such as relationships, education, employment, financially and socially. Olson, Feldman, Streissguth, Sampson, and Brookstein (1998) describe “Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) as a serious developmental disability caused by the teratogenic effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on the growing fetus. FAS are defined by a characteristic pattern of prenatal and/or post-natal growth deficiency, specific cranio facial malformations and variable central nervous system (CNS) dysfunction”. One of the most debilitating affects of the disorder is that it is an invisible disorder if not detected

Sood, B. Delaney-Black, V. (2001). Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and Childhood Behavior at Age 6 to 7 Years: I. Dose- Response Effect.

The newly reauthorized CAPTA introduced a new category of “safe care plan” and “referral” of infants with potential exposure of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). This is a progressive stride considering early identification and assistance of infants at risk of such harm. According to the 2011/13 CDC statistics 1 in 10 pregnant mother report alcohol use. Despite CDS study did not

Forty-three adolecence aged 13 to 18, 28 of them having a history of prenatal alcohol exposure, participated in this study. The type of developmental research that this article presents is a cross-sectional study because the study is done in a short amount of time so the results can get published quicker and also because the adolecence that are being studied are different ages. Data is collected from each participant and is being studied at the time being, they are not going back years later to collect more data from each of the participants. The study is not done over a long amount of time and the data is not being collected at multiple intervals throughout their lives, therefore it is not longitudinal, it is a cross-sectional study.

Prior to conducting the study it was expected that prenatal drug and/or alcohol exposure would have a negative impact on a child’s academic performance, later in life. The study supported the original hypothesis. There was a very strong, negative correlation between prenatal exposure and academic performance (r=0.9).

Children can be subjected to the negative effects of parental substance use in a variety of different ways. For example, substance use during pregancy can cause detrimental outcomes for newborn infants by placing them at a higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), being born with birth defects, developing behavioral and developmental delays, being born premature, etc. Children with addicted parents, are placed at a higher risk of: lacking appropriate supervision; lacking basic needs such as: food, clothing, housing, and medical care; exposure to violence; developing substance abuse issues themselves.