Every woman when pregnant has a 4-5% chance of having a baby born with a birth defect, and these chances increase when the developing fetus is exposed to teratogens, whether it’s intentional or unintentional. Teratogens can cause severe birth defects, malformations, or terminate the pregnancy altogether. The placenta is known as an effective barrier from any detrimental pathogen that can potentially hurt the fetus. The timing of exposure of any teratogen is critical to the impact of prenatal development. The most vulnerable time of the fetus for severe damage is during early pregnancy when all the major organ and central nervous system (CNS) are developing. Miscarriages have an important role in keeping a pregnancy from evolving when there is something serious going on with the developing fetus. Miscarriages are more common than we think and are the most familiar type of pregnancy loss.
A teratogen can be any agent or chemical that has the capacity to cause a miscarriage or abnormalities in the developing embryo or fetus. Teratogens can be anything from alcohol, drugs, environmental factors, diseases, and noninfectious maternal conditions. Furthermore, the timing and effect on the developing organism all depends on the period in the pregnancy in which the fetus is exposed to the teratogen. Besides triggering physical abnormalities and disabilities, teratogens may also cause learning disabilities. A few examples of teratogens exposed to a fetus during pregnancy is alcohol, drugs, medications, smoking, malnutrition, diseases, and stress. Other teratogens that a fetus is likely to be exposed to are known as “CHEAP TORCHES.” Cheap Torches is the acronym for a special group of infections that have severe effects on the developing baby during pregnancy. This includes chickenpox, Hepatits B, C, D, E, and AIDS.
Some known effects of drug abuse can range from low birth weight to developmental deficits, which affect behavior and cognition. It all depends on the drug or drugs being used. Children who were exposed to drugs like cocaine and marijuana during pregnancy often suffer from impaired attention, language, and learning skills, as well as behavioral problems. The use of marijuana has been linked to the development of schizophrenia later in life, although the certain dose of marijuana is not yet known. All the above are known to affect the child’s success in school one way or another.
Some of these babies need the drug to live, and some go through withdraw symptoms if they aren’t given the drug. Unfortunately, these babies reach such a high tolerance for the drug that they may die if they don’t have the drug. As a result of this these babies don’t have a normal developmental growth and may suffer from muscle spasms and or body rigidity. Not all physicians are willing to administer drugs to these babies to avoid withdrawal symptoms and although some may die for not having the drug, there are some who overcome the withdraw phase.
When it comes to alcohol, there is no safe amount or time to consume alcohol, therefore, alcohol should be avoided. Anything an expecting woman does her coming baby does as well, hence if a woman with child drink’s alcohol, so does her expected baby. Alcohol abstinence is highly recommended during pregnancy. There are a range of disorders known to be caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FADs) refer to a group of conditions that occur to someone whose mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is one of the most preventable causes of mental retardation and birth defects. A woman who consumes alcohol during pregnancy has a high risk of giving birth to a baby with FAS. This is a lifelong condition that causes physical and mental disabilities.
Babies who are born with FAS have particular characteristics. They usually have abnormal facial features, growth deficiencies, and central nervous system (CNS) problems. These individuals may also have problems with learning, memory, attention span, communication, vision, hearing, or a combination of these. These problems affect children academically and socially. Moreover, FADs are a permanent condition that has no cure, and it doesn’t only impact the individual with this disorder it affects their whole family. Other diagnoses on the spectrum include partial fetal alcohol syndrome (pFAS), alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND), and alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD).
There are three different ways in which a fetus can be exposed to smoke. This can be if the mother smokes, ingesting tobacco, and secondhand smoke. According to statistics, a minimum of 10% of U.S. women smokes during pregnancy. When a pregnant woman smokes she’s not only hurting herself and her baby, but she is also putting the placenta at risk. Furthermore, when an expecting woman smokes there is a high risk of the placenta not developing normally causing a condition known as placenta previa, which can lead to severe complications during pregnancy, including death during pregnancy and delivery.
Smoking while expecting increases the fetus risk of developing heart defects and being born at a low birthrate. Babies exposed to smoke during pregnancy are known to be difficult to comfort and are sometimes described as nervous or “jittery”. If a baby continues to be exposed to smoke or second-hand smoke after birth is at higher risk of SIDS, asthma, and other lung related problems. In addition, smoking has also been linked to ADHD.
It may seem hard to believe, but stress is also considered to be a teratogen during pregnancy. Stress can really take a toll not only on the expecting mother but on the developing fetus as well. When an expecting woman continually stresses during pregnancy, her unborn baby adapts to high levels of stress, therefore, when the baby is born, they can be faced with a lot of stress-related pathologies. Pre-term births along with low-birth weight are correlated with high levels of stress during pregnancy. These babies are later faced with a range of complications like lung disease, developmental delays, learning disorders, and may cause infant mortality. There are epidemiological studies along with animal research, which show that the babies who experienced stress in utero are more susceptible to develop chronic health problems during adulthood. Babies whose mothers experienced high levels of stress during the first trimester are prone to depression and irritability.
In conclusion, it is evident that the most critical time during pregnancy is the first trimester. During the first trimester a number of vital organs are developing along with the spinal cord and central nervous system (CNS). Anything may compromise the development of the fetus and may have severe consequences during and after birth. Women’s bodies try to fight these abnormalities through miscarriages, but it doesn’t always occur this way. There are some things that are out of the women’s control and are genetic or chromosomal defects. Moreover, there are many other things that are within the control of the expecting mother and should be avoided at all cost.