If you’re preparing for pregnancy or nursing a child, you must understand the risks of birth defects. Sometimes, due to factors beyond control, it cannot be prevented. However, prenatal treatment can always help regulate and protect your unborn baby. By the way, check out this professional Florida medical injury attorney.
Birth Defects
A birth defect is marked by an internal, visible, or chemical abnormality of a newborn baby’s body.
Internal: it could be an alteration in the organs and structure inside the baby’s body.
Visible: they are obvious defects.
Chemical: this sometimes arises as an imbalance like phenylketonuria.
Your baby can be birthed with one or multiple birth defects, however, the health specialist may not detect all the defects until your baby is born, or is a few months old.
Causes of Birth Defects
It could vary. It could be:
- Genetic or hereditary reasons: About 20% of birth defects are triggered by genetic factors. It could root from:
Chromosomal Abilities: Each human body houses 46 chromosomes. Each chromosome takes more than a thousand genes. And each Gene is tasked with controlling the functioning of a body part. Thus, excess or even limited chromosomes can alter anatomic functioning.
Supporting that, some other chromosomal factors involve Turner Syndrome, Trisomy 13, Cystic Fibrosis, as well as an accidental condition called Spontaneous Mutation.
- Environmental Factors: Environmental issues, coupled with infection and drugs, could also cause a birth defect. At the stages of formation — the embryo stage and the fetal stage — the baby is vulnerable to defects when the organs are developing. It is important to take adequate caution of drugs and infections two to ten weeks after conception.
- Diabetes & Obesity: You must visit a healthcare specialist to regulate your diabetes and obesity conditions before pregnancy.
- Medical Irresponsibility: This is cornered on the part of the medicals. Some prescribed drugs do cause birth defects. For instance, some drugs are not meant to be prescribed during the first three months of pregnancy. Thalidomide, an anti-nausea drug, could trigger a defect like phocomelia. Isotretinoin, a regular retinol skin condition drug, causes the fetal retinoid syndrome.
Prevention of Birth Defects
As earlier mentioned, not all birth defects can be prevented. Nonetheless, there are certain steps you could take to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Here:
- Visiting a healthcare specialist regularly: this is very important especially when you think you’re pregnant. He will recommend medications and supplications you’re expected to take during such a period.
- Abstain from Alcohol: you love your incoming baby, and would not like to risk anything for the latter. Hence, you’d need some personal discipline in abstaining from Alcohol till you conceive fully, and your baby is kicking.
- Take a Prenatal Vitamin before Conception: if you’re not taking contraception before when you’re trying to conceive, ensure you use a prenatal vitamin of about 400mcg of folic acid. It regulates the body formation of your baby.
- Avoid Unprescribed Drugs: you’d need to strictly adhere to the drug stipulations of your doctor. Unprescribed drugs from quack specialists might cause your baby harm. And remember, he/she could pass such aftermath-defect to generations after.
CONCLUSION
The last thing every parent would like to hear is that there’s a birth defect in a newly conceived baby. Hence, as a parent, ensure you take to the above-mentioned guidelines for preventing such.