Smoking And Drinking While Pregnant

may become unable or unwilling to adequately care for their children . Children often times experience a loss of parental availability and as a result, feel lonely and Isolated. More often

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.

Effects may vary depending on family structure, manifesting differently in individual family members; According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse both alcohol and drugs can have dramatic negative effects on a developing fetus. They have been linked with premature birth, decreased head circumference, brain functioning difficulties and low

The fetus is not the only one harmed by alcohol consumption during pregnancy, but the mother is as well. In fact, many doctors urge women who think they are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant to stop drinking (“Fetal Alcohol”). “One percent of all mothers consume fourteen or more drinks per week during the three months before pregnancy” (Walsh 3). To the average person one percent is not too large of a proportion. However, the volume of alcohol consumed is high during

During pregnancy - The low alcohol exposure group represented the larger part of the sample, and the moderate/heavy group accounted for a very small part of it. This would suggest that a significant number of moderate/heavy users of alcohol periconceptional reduced their consumption during pregnancy. There was only a difference in about half a drink a day between different groups. These results suggest that children who are exposed prenatally to any alcohol at all have significantly higher odds of having delinquent behavior. Pregnant women should be advised at the onset of their prenatal care that there is NO safe amount of alcohol which can be consumed during pregnancy and that should they choose otherwise, that their child will be 3.2 times more likely to develop Delinquent Behavior versus those who have had no exposure at

Among factors to consider, alcohol consumption is frequently associated with drug abuse, smoking, and malnutrition. All of these factors can cause serious harm to the developing embryo of a child. It is difficult for researchers to decide which effects are caused by alcohol alone.

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

Starting from the pregnancy of an alcoholic mother, her poor diet, and constant alcohol intake and possible cigarette smoking could lead to a deficiency and health complications of the infant. If both parents in this situation do not meet the dietary and medical needs of the infant this could lead to mental and or physical problems. If the father of the baby does not compensate for the mothers poor parenting then the baby could suffer or even die. It is very important for the parents and baby to bond so it becomes comfortable with them

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2015), in 2011 to 2013, one in ten pregnant women reported consuming alcohol in the past 30 days. Additionally, one in 33 women admitted to binge drinking during pregnancy (CDC, 2015). Consummation of alcohol during pregnancy is one of the leading causes for developmental disabilities. The term fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is being increasingly used to refer to the full range of problems caused by prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) (Paley & O’Connor, 2009).

Well according to National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism there are many thing that can go wrong with your body while do alcohol and pregnant but one of the issues is that it can effect or brain with communication, your mood, behavior and your movement coordination. Not only can alcohol effect your brain but, it can also affect your heart by making your heart muscles droopy which can cause a potential heart attack (National Institute of Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism). Third alcohol can also mess up r liver which is very important because it helps you live but, alcohol can effect it by making fat on your liver, and all these different types of diseases (National Institute of Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism). Therefor alcohol is very dangerous because it can also affect your pancreas and that is a very important organ and alcohol can cause it to swell and make very little blood vessels (National Institute of Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism). These things are very important to consider while being pregnant not only do you hurt the baby but you also can hurt your own body which is not only causing physical and emotional problems for the baby but also those problems for the mother. So should you look at the effects for not only for the baby but, also for yourself as a

Drinking can also cause the baby to be born with certain features that are different from a non-alcoholic pregnant woman such as being skinny and the head size being smaller than

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

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.

This means they are at increased risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, hemorrhagic stroke, and certain forms of cancer.Adolescents who use alcohol are more likely to become sexually active at an earlier age, to have sex more often, and to engage in unprotected sex, which places them at greater risk of HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.One study showed that students diagnosed with alcohol abuse were four times more likely to experience major depression than those without an alcohol problem.Alcohol use among adolescents has been associated with considering planning, attempting, and completing suicide. Research does not indicate whether drinking causes suicidal behavior, only that the two behaviors are correlated.Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can lead to serious and permanent brain damage in the unborn child. This can result in mental retardation and severe emotional problems as the child grows up.