Summary: Effects Of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure

The use of heroin, cocaine, and other illicit drugs has become a public health concern especially during pregnancy. Maternal substance abuse has become an issue during the crack epidemic in the 1980’s; however, there is an alarm rate of infants born addicted to heroin. More than 3.7% women have indicated the uses some form of illicit drugs during their pregnancy, as well as 1.9 % reports binge drinking (Bhuvaneswar el at., 2008; Grant el at., 2009). With this in mind, more than 375,000 infants are born to maternal substance abusers each year costing over $100,000 in medical expenses covered by the state (Reitman, 2002).

Prenatal exposure of a child to harm due to the mother’s use of an illegal drug or other substance.

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.

When America came through the 1980’s heroin and cocaine were being used very often, and then other drugs started to come about like Ecstasy and crack (newsnarconon, 2009). Crack was the alternative to cocaine because it was cheaper to buy, but it was also highly addictive (newsnarconon, 2009). Crack became so popular because it could be smoked instead of snorted, and when it was smoked, it would absorb more quickly across the blood brain barrier, in about six seconds (newsnarconon, 2009). Crack then became a huge because of how cheap it was and that is when “crack babies” we being born, which were babies who were

It is a proven fact that cocaine use during pregnancy leads to serious complications. Cocaine can cross the placenta and enters the baby’s body, where it stays for longer because the elimination system is not fully developed. It leads to various complications and cocaine use in any form should be avoided throughout the pregnancy.

Through the years, substance misuse in the United States has turned into an industrious issue influencing numerous people. In 2008, it was assessed that 17.8 million Americans beyond 18 years old where substance subordinate. Women who use medications during pregnancy can have an enduring impact on fetal. Medications can have an impact of maternal and child wellbeing, yet there are a lot of different variables, which influence it, poor social environment, nourishment, cleanliness, and sexual abuse. Regenerative interruption connected with heroin utilization has been shown in both and women and even low dosages of opiates can impede ordinary ovarian capacity and ovulation. The harm that goes hand in hand with substance utilization comes either straightforwardly from the impact of the medication itself or from issues identified with development and/or unexpected labor. The entanglements of jumbling components clamorous way of life, poor nourishment, liquor utilization and cigarette smoking influence the appraisal of the impacts of cocaine in pregnancy. In obstetric practice, 100% of pregnant women utilizing cocaine or heroin are cigarette smokers. Cigarette smoking is presumably the most well known manifestation of substance utilizes and is noteworthy corresponding considering ladies who use unlawful medications. Babies whose moms smoked in pregnancy have a tendency to have lower conception weights and diminished length, cranial and thoracic

The National Health Institute (NIH) explains that addictive drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine, barbiturates, diazepam, and opiates consumed during pregnancy pass from mother to the fetus by crossing the placenta. This causes the baby to become addicted to these drugs along with the mother. Once born, the newborn no longer receives these drugs which then results in NAS (“Neonatal abstinence syndrome”, 2012a).

Roberts’s response fails to satisfy the individuals that cocaine affects the most. Fetal endangerment requires further study and Roberts fails to identify the “amalgam of racial and class biases” (Kennedy, 1997, p.361) in illicit drug use to determine who is in

The Adoption Encyclopedia “ Estimates of the percentage of pregnant women using cocaine have ranged from 10% to as high as 28% in some areas.” Cocaine is one of the oldest drugs known to man. This is a powerfully addictive stimulant, and is derived from coca leaves, and this drug has been abused for thousands of years. Crack Cocaine's worst damage to the fetus is its effect on the brain. It causes the brain's of both the mother and the fetus to experience the typical surge of dopamine. Since the fetal brain is still in the process of development, it can result in serious psychological addiction, attention deficit disorders, lack of cognitive abilities and developmental problems. Also crack's effects on the fetus result in seizures. Babies that are exposed to crack are at increased risk of birth defects, which include heart deformities. Crack causes an unborn baby to have a stroke or a heart attack. Cocaine abuse by mothers during pregnancy is linked with abnormalities in the development of the heart both before and after birth. Crack Cocaine

It has been reported that gestational exposure to cocaine results in long-term reductions in metabolic activity in the hypothalamus and limbic regions postnatally. There is also a reduced responsiveness to a catecholaminergic challenge, and an increase in the affinity of

During the 1980s and 1990s a crack epidemic started to occur in the united states consequently the amount of Prenatal cocaine exposure, also commonly known as “crack babies”, started to rise as well (“Ferguson”). In the year 1989 a hospital in South Carolina decided to start performing urine test on pregnant mothers in the hopes that they would be able to find the mothers using cocaine and refer them to counseling. Shortly after the testing was introduced the Medical University of South Carolina decided that these mothers would also be passed over to the city of Charleston's police for prosecution (“Ferguson”).

Over the last two decades, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has estimated that consistently 40,000 infants every year are destined to moms who have utilized cocaine amid their pregnancy. Sadly, the result is out of line for these kids, in light of the fact that the mothers do not understand that they are also in charge of a life separate from their own. These kids usually have different levels of comprehension of things and do not understand the way to behave in our “normal” society. The levels of comprehension differ in every child as per the mother's utilization of cocaine, leading to a drastic social defect that takes place in later years of the child. The question that can be asked regarding this aspect is “What are the characteristics

Many women, including teens, abuse drugs while they are pregnant. This rate is especially high to those who are homeless, underprivileged, or live in a broken home. In order for drug abusers to even have a chance at beating their addiction they have to have support whether it’s family, friends, or boyfriend/spouse. They must also let the abuser now all the consequences to themselves and the unborn child. There are many consequences when using drugs during pregnancy such as miscarriage, health risks to baby, and health risks to the mother. And learning disabilities and brain damage to the fetus.

Teresa is a four year old child who tested positive for crack cocaine at birth. She was immediately taken into custody. For the first three months of her life, she was placed in foster care. During this time, her mother, Emilia, was remanded into drug treatment, which she did not complete. Her father was nowhere to be found, so she was placed in kinship care with her grandparents at the age of three months. They are currently in the process of adopting her. Her mother states that she would like to work towards regaining a parental role in Teresa’s life, but acknowledges that her life is currently too unstable to do so.

The harmful effects of cocaine use are seen most evidently in pregnant women. Cocaine use affects the fetuses ability to maintain a healthy pregnancy by inducing “placental abruption and neonatal neurobehavioral abnormalities” on fetus (Das, 1993). According do Das, further effects of cocaine use cause “congenital malformations, intrauterine growth retardations, sudden infant death syndrome, and premature labor and delivery following cocaine uses” (1993). In addition to cocaine use, low income women under Miami’s Women and Children (WIC) program are at a high risk of contracting diarrheal diseases. Davila, Trepka, Newman, Huffman, and Dixon found that pregnant women in their study had a lower frequency of hand washing and had the greatest risk for acquiring a diarrheal illness (2009). “Among pregnant women, diarrheal illness is a concern