Essay on Teratogen Affects on Pregnancy

In this case, when a woman smokes cigarettes during her nine months she is passing all of the chemicals found in cigarettes to her unborn baby. This exchange of chemicals from mother to baby is harmful for both of their health, but especially for the baby’s health. The chemicals from nicotine poisoning that are getting passed on to the baby deprives that fetus from getting the nutrients it needs from its mother. By the time the baby is born its lungs will be in terrible condition because the nicotine chemicals have destroyed any healthy enzymes that the baby had in its body. The baby may have respiratory issues where it cannot breathe on its own. The baby will then have to be hooked up to a ventilator and placed in an incubation tube until its oxygen levels are high enough to where it can breathe on its own. In the worst case scenario, the baby might have to be placed on an organ donor transplant list to receive a new lung or lungs because the damage from the mother smoking cigarettes has completely ruined the baby’s lungs to where they are not able to be corrected by doctors. This can cause a baby to stay in the hospital for several weeks to months. A long term effect of smoking cigarettes while pregnant can cause the baby to develop asthma once it is born. The baby’s asthma can be contributed to its lungs and respiratory issues it had presented at the time of birth, which was triggered by the nicotine poisoning. A newborn can also be born with heart defects

Warnings and dangers of alcohol abuse have been recognized since biblical times. “Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son: and now drink no wine or strong drinks” (Holy Bible, Judges 13:7, 1970, p.261). There was even mention from Aristotle who noted “that foolish, drunken and harebrained women most often bring forth children like unto themselves, morose and languid.” (Buxton, 2004, p.42). Alcohol abuse is not easily recognized by a mother or easily identified at birth. Some mothers continue to drink because they are unaware they have actually conceived a child. It is important that once pregnancy is

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.

Smoking during the first trimester of pregnancy could lead to the placenta not developing fully. As the placenta carries oxygen and blood to the foetus this may impair growth and link to low birth weights. Babies born to smoking mothers are 30% more likely to have a premature baby which could lead to respiratory distress, problems feeding and they could have difficulty regulating their body temperature. Babies undergo withdrawal like systems and tend to be more jittery and harder to settle. Babies being brought up in a smoking household are at increased risk of cot death and may go on to develop asthma during childhood.

For our other target audience of pregnant women, we dedicated two slides to smoking during pregnancy and the repercussions of smoking around their new young baby. We gave them information such as a low birth weight, smaller organs, likelihood of cot death and an increased risk of miscarriage. After they have had their baby, we gave them other information. This information included things such as meningitis, hearing loss, cot death, asthma and breathing problems. As well as this, we also wanted to emphasise the mothers health and how it would effect them.

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

The effects of excessive alcohol consumption has been proven to have had negative and persistent effects on babies, born from mothers who have consumed alcohol throughout their pregnancy, evidence linking that low to moderate amounts have put the fetus at risk for delays and have lifelong complications. (Nathanson, & O'Brien, 2000)

Smoking while pregnant can cause a various of issues to the fetus and to the child while they are in their young ages. It can cause the child to be born 162-226 grams. This weight is lighter than a baby whose mother did not smoke. For example, while the baby is in the womb, it will slow the development of the baby’s organs, due to the toxins entering the baby’s bloodstream (Holmes ?). Another way it can harm the baby while he/she is still in the womb is by causing the baby to be stillborn (not cited yet). This sympathetic damage would have lasting impact on the mother psychologically. This could be especially painful when she has done everything right to protect her unborn

Over the years, statistics show that smoking cigarettes can cause many serious health issues. These issues compound when the smoker is expecting. Fourteen percent of U.S. mothers smoke while pregnant despite knowing the fact that smoking causes harm to both mother and child. In younger mothers, age 25 and under, that number rises significantly to 20 percent. If a woman smokes then becomes pregnant, she must decide whether or not to quit. Woman are aware that cigarettes are not good for them or their baby, but do they understand the severity of smoking while carrying their unborn child in their womb? In this paper I will evaluate how women who smoke while pregnant are at high risk for early miscarriage, preterm birth, and birth defects. Is smoking a cigarette worth risking the life of your unborn child?

" Prenatal exposure to alcohol can damage the developing fetus and is the leading preventable cause of birth defects and intellectual and neurodevelopmental disabilities" read the

Even a small amount of alcohol has the potential to hurt the child. The unborn child of a person who occasionally drinks is at risk of receiving fetal alcohol effects. This condition causes children to receive some of the same of the same effects that come from fetal alcohol syndrome. A child may not receive any of these conditions due to a mother’s alcohol consumption, but there are still some potential effects. Evidence shows that when a pregnant mother consumes an average of two alcoholic beverages per day, her child may have a lower amount of intelligence and is also at risk for having mental retardation. Also, there is research that suggests that even low quantities of alcohol consumed during pregnancy can have contrary effects on the child’s behavioral and psychological functions, and can cause a child to exhibit behaviors such as hyperactivity, unusual nervousness or anxiety, and poor impulse control. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can also cause children to have less accuracy in their spatial and visual reasoning later in their lives. Due to these results, Sarah should be advised to not drink alcohol while she is

Infants born from mothers that smoked are three times more likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), a condition in which babies who appears healthy die suddenly while sleeping, as are babies whose mothers do not smoke during pregnancy. This is also a point of contention between researchers as well. "Children born to mothers who smoked while pregnant, and possibly children whose grandmothers smoked while pregnant, have a higher risk of developing childhood asthma (Child)." Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely to be born with birth defects such as cleft lip or palate and to have low birth weight.

Among the many environmental factors that can affect infant learning, prenatal cigarette exposure has proven to be a topic of interest in behavioral teratology due to the large number of health effects it is associated with. Some of the health effects of prenatal cigarette exposure include: lower birth weight, smaller head circumference, lower IQ, attention dysfunction, hyperactivity and other conduct problems, as well as school failure (Mezzacappa, E., 2011, p. 881-891). There are some human studies that investigate the cognitive deficits related to prenatal cigarette exposure which include: auditory, visual attention, and working memory issues.

Air pollution can be undoubtedly harmful to pregnancy. Substances such as carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, benzene, emissions from solid biomass, and nitroarenes all contribute to air pollution. Studies done in North Carolina, California, and East India all conclude the same thing; air pollutants do affect the health of babies during pregnancy. The most severe affects from these toxins include cancer, short-and-long-term morbidity, and stillbirth. Still damaging, yet less traumatizing effects include low birth weight, small for gestational age, and preterm birth. PM2.5 is particulate matter in the air. One study shows it reduces birth weight by 3.1 g (Gray, 2013). Because most of air

Some of the secondary disabilities included mental illness, anti-social behaviors, and attention deficit disorders including, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. According to the study it was concluded that children of binge drinking mothers exhibited especially severe cognitive and behavioral deficits. Although, some of the studies reviewed had vague definitions of binge drinking, potential recall and reporting biases. As you can see here binge drinking while pregnant is not only not healthy to the developing fetus, but it will cause many developmental problems for the future.