Drug Addiction and Child Development

Drug Addiction and Child Development: The Consequences

When a pregnant woman takes drugs of any kind she is posing a risk to her unborn baby. This is why prenatal care is so vitally important. Even aspirin and cough syrup can have harmful effects on fetal and later child development. Of course, under a doctor’s care and advice it can be safe to take certain medications.

Imagine if a basic medication such as aspirin can harm a developing baby, how harmful addictive and more potent drugs can be.

A pregnant woman who is addicted to alcohol, meth, or other drugs during pregnancy should seek help for her addiction. If a woman refuses to seek support for her addictions she may lose the pregnancy (miscarry). If she manages to make it through the whole nine months of her pregnancy, not only will the birth be a high-risk birth, but her baby may have seriously-troubling disabilities.

Addictive drug use can cause a host of improper development issues for a baby. Following are some addictive drugs and the consequences they can have on fetal and baby development.

Alcohol Addiction During Pregnancy

Alcohol addiction during pregnancy can cause various developmental delays that range from mild to very severe.

• Miscarriage
• Stillbirth
• Mental retardation
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
• Emotional and psychological problems
• Negative behavioral issues later on
• Various defects involving organ and facial development
• Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
• And more.

Alcohol can cause long-term damages to a baby’s development that will leave them disabled and incapable of a normal life. Alcohol related defects to the organs are most likely to occur when a mother drinks during her first trimester but any alcohol during pregnancy is dangerous. A recent study showed that even one drink a week can have negative developmental consequences for a baby – no matter when during pregnancy that alcohol is consumed.

To learn more visit:

• The March of Dimes FAS page
• The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence

Smoking During Pregnancy

Smoking tobacco may seem less harmful than street drugs or alcohol but it’s still a drug addiction and child development can be compromised.

• Babies born to mothers who smoked tobacco during pregnancy have a much higher risk (30 percent) of being born prematurely. Premature babies almost always have developmental delays that their peers do not.
• Babies often weigh far less which puts them at risk of illness and slowed development.
• Some studies note that baby brain development and later intelligence is affected by prenatal smoking. The verdict on this is blurry though, and more research is needed.

To learn more about the dangers of smoking during pregnancy visit:

• Maternal and Child Health Smoking Attributable Mortality, Morbidity, and Economic Costs (MCH SAMMEC)
• The National Partnership for Smoke-Free Families
• Pregnant? Don't Smoke: Learn Why and How to Quit for Good

Street Drugs During Pregnancy

Street drugs encompass many kinds of illegal drugs. Among them are marijuana, cocaine, heroin, PCP and LSD (hallucinogens), methamphetamine, and any other illegal drug mixes. If it’s illegal, you can be certain that it’s completely unhealthy for your baby’s development.

Street drug addiction and child development is such an in-depth topic that we’d never be able to cover it all here. Following are some of the negative street drug consequences on baby development adapted in part from the American Pregnancy Association . After the consequences are some in-depth resource materials you can visit for more information.

Marijuana:

The most dangerous part about smoking marijuana during pregnancy is that it cuts down on the oxygen your baby receives. Everyone needs a proper amount of oxygen to develop health cells – both brain and body so this is bad. Learning difficulties, behavioral issues, and low birth weight are all common among babies who had mothers who smoked during pregnancy.

PCP and LSD:

Using these types of hallucinogens can cause a pregnant woman to may harm her unborn baby. They can also cause developmental delays, which are also bad news. Brain damage, learning problems, and poor muscle control are prevalent in babies of drug-addicted mothers.

Heroin:

If a baby’s mother does heroin during pregnancy the baby is almost always born with severe withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms are bad; including convulsions tremors, fever, sleep abnormalities, diarrhea, and joint stiffness. However, the biggest development problem for babies of heroin addicted women is death. Many babies simply don’t make it to term if their mother is addicted.

Cocaine:

Long-term cocaine use during pregnancy conclusively can cause physical and mental disabilities. Cocaine use during pregnancy can cause developmental problems like physical deformities of the genitals and kidneys as well as affect brain development which of course causes learning disabilities.

Methamphetamine:

Long-term studies on meth addiction are inconclusive as related to most baby disabilities. It blocks oxygen, so it’s thought to lead to learning disabilities. Inconclusive studies or not, meth is absolutely considered unsafe during pregnancy though. Use of this drug is known to lead to miscarriage, premature births and withdrawal symptoms at birth.

To learn more about street drug use during pregnancy visit the following:

• Organization of Teratology Information Services
• Motherisk.org
• March of Dimes – Illicit drug use information