Teratogens During Pregnancy

Teratogens During Pregnancy

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Running Head: TERATOGENS DURING PREGNANCY Teratogens During Pregnancy Nicole Carter PSY 2103 – Human Development Mary Wilson November 9, 2010 | Teratogens During Pregnancy Teratogens are substances that don’t impact prenatal development positively, causing birth defects and other problems.

The impact of teratogens depends on its intensity and time during prenatal development when it is present. Teratogens have the highest consequences during the period of the embryo. During this time, there are critical periods when certain body structures develop.If alcohol or other harmful agents interfere with development during a critical period, the body structures will not form properly, nor will it develop later. Alcohol is one form of a teratogen. Drinking alcohol heavily during pregnancy can cause the baby to be born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

Babies with this syndrome are mentally retarded. They also have abnormally small heads with wide-set eyes and short noses. These babies exhibit behavioral problems such as hyperactivity.Some children who are prenatally exposed to alcohol have fetal alcohol effects. Even though the label on alcohol warns pregnant women not to drink during pregnancy, about 20% ignore the warnings made by the surgeon general. Smoking is a second form of a teratogen. Smoking decreases the amount of oxygen and increase the amount of carbon monoxide crossing the placenta barrier.

The baby is then exposed to nicotine and thousands of other chemicals that are in cigarettes. Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of having a premature or low weight baby.The surgeon general’s warning on the pack of cigarettes also state that smoking cause’s lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy; and yet women still ignore the warnings. Illegal drugs are a third form of teratogen. The use of heroin, cocaine, and crack during pregnancy has been linked to miscarriage, prematurity, low birth weight, breathing defects and fatal death.

It can also cause stillbirth, prenatal complications, and abruption of the placenta; most likely due to increased blood pressure caused by the drugs.The bleeding that occurs in an abruption can cause acute decrease in blood supply to the fetus, and this in turn can cause serious fatal damage or even death. Most babies that are born with these types of drugs in their system suffer from withdrawals. When the baby suffers from a withdrawal syndrome, the baby is craving for the drug that it was exposed to in pregnancy.

Prescription drugs are a fourth form of teratogen. The prescription drug depakot (divalproex) is an anticonvulsant used to manage bipolar symptoms.Depakot used during a critical period during pregnancy may cause some very dreadful side effects such as; cleft palate, hypo plastic right heart(a condition that results in an under developed right side of the heart), dysplastic ribs (abnormally developed ribs), hand malformations, undescended testes, spina bifida (a condition that results in the spinal column failing to completely enclose the spinal cord), hypospadia (a condition in male babies that causes the opening of the urethra to occur in the wrong place), and the worst; fatal death.

In conclusion, most teratogens are associated with low birth-weight or preterm infants.Low birth-weight babies are those weighing less than

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5. 5 pounds. Infants of this weight born at or before the thirty seventh weeks are considered preterm infants.

Being exposed prenatally to teratogens leads to a greater risk of problems that range from subtle learning and behavior issues in babies closer to normal birth weight to “severe retardation, blindness, learning loss and even death” in the smallest newborns. So if mothers really care about the little one inside of them, mothers would try to protect their baby from as many teratogens as they can control such as; smoking, drinking, and taking drugs.Below are pictures to show what happens when a baby is predisposed to teratogens. Spina bifida Cleft palate Undescended testes Hand malformations Hypospadia Dysplastic ribs. Hypo plastic right heart References Boyd, D. R, and Bee, H.

(2009). Lifespan development. (5th Ed.).

Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Disability Insurance Research Center. (2010). Depakote Birth Defects. Retrieved October 15, 2010, from http:/www.

lawyersandsettlements. com/case/depakote. html Koren, G. (2004). The complete guide to everyday risks in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Toronto, Canada: Robert Rose, Inc. B

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