I never smoke and don’t drink any alcohol. But when my practitioner handed me the materials about the information of the damage of alcohol, drugs, smoking to pregnancy, I still carefully read it over.

I think this information might benefit other expectant mothers; therefore I share this information here, hoping it will be helpful to you and your baby. 

Alcohol:. The World Health Organization recommends that alcohol should be avoided entirely during pregnancy, given the relatively unknown effects of even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy.

When you drink an alcoholic beverage, the alcohol is quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. The alcohol circulates in the blood until it is completely broken down by the liver. It may take more than an hour for the liver to break down the alcohol in one mixed drink, glass of wine or can of beer.

If you are pregnant, the alcohol in your bloodstream passes through the placenta to the baby so that when you have a drink, the baby has one equal in strength. Because of the baby’s size and its developing system, this “drink” of alcohol can be more harmful to the baby than to you.

A woman who drinks alcohol during pregnancy risks giving birth to an abnormal child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). A child born with FAS has a pattern of mental and physical defects.

Growth deficiency is one of the most common physical defects of FAS. Most infants with FAS weigh less and are shorter than normal infants. The head size is smaller than normal too. These youngsters never catch up to normal growth and will always be smaller than other children of the same age.

FAS babies may have malformed faces. They have narrow eyes, low nasal bridges, short upturned noses and thin upper lips. Many of these babies also have heart and joint abnormalities.

Mental retardation is the most serious mental defect associated with FAS. In Seattle, Washington where much of the research on FAS has taken place, FAS has been reported to be the third most frequently recognized disorder involving retardation.

It seems that intellectual development is related to physical malformation – the most severely malformed children also have the greatest intellectual handicap. Many FAS children are poorly coordinated and have short attention spans and behavioral problems.

None of these defects corrects itself as the child grows older.

Drugs:. Don’t use drugs of any kind, unelss they are ordered by the doctor. This includes over the counter drugs, prescription drugs, street drugs (crack, cocaine, marijuana,…), and etc.

Babies born to moms who take drugs may:

• not grow well
• be mentally retarded
• have more sickness as an infant with a greater chance of death
• be addicted to dthe drugs taken by the mother
• look different from other children

Smoking:. Tobacco has detrimental effects that are dose related upon pregnancy.

There is increasing evidence that the harmful products of tobacco smoking kill sperm cells. Smoking tobacco increases intake of cadmium, because the tobacco plant absorbs the metal. Cadmium, being chemically similar to zinc, may replace zinc in the DNA polymerase, which plays a critical role in sperm production. Zinc replaced by cadmium in DNA polymerase can be particularly damaging to the testes.

A number of studies have shown that tobacco use is a significant factor in spontaneous abortions (miscarriage) among pregnant smokers, and that it contributes to a number of other threats to the health of the fetus.

Second-hand smoke appears to present an equal danger to the fetus. Secondhand smoke is connected to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Infants who die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome tend to have higher concentrations of nicotine and cotinine (a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure) in their lungs than those who die from other causes.

While smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, infants exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are also at a greater risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome whether or not the parent(s) smoked during pregnancy.

Other problems have been associated with the use of tobacco in pregnancy include:

• Growth retardation in the baby
• Abnomal of the placenta (previa)
• bruption of the placenta (coming loose from the uterine wall)
• Abnomal bleeding in pregnancy
• Premature labor
• Preterm delivery (ealry delivery)

Switching from regular cigarettes to low tar, low nicotine cigarettes is also not good because it increases the carbon monoxide level in the mother’s blood.

Caffeine:. The Food Standards Agency has recommended that pregnant women should limit their caffeine intake to less than 300 mg of caffeine a day – the equivalent of four cups of coffee a day. A higher intake may be associated with miscarriage.

Pregnant mothers should limit caffeinated beverages such as tea, coffee and soda to no more than 1-2 cups per day.

Artificial Sweeteners:. Avoid artificial sweeteners such as Equal or NutraSweet during pregnancy, especially if you have never used them before. If you have used them prior to pregnancy, limit your intake to 2-3 servings per day.

Tags: Healthy Pregnancy | Early Pregnancy, From Lina, Healthy Pregnancy, Mid-Pregnancy | Lina | February 14, 2008 2:08 pm | Comments (0)