A Healthy Pregnancy - Essay Sample

Introduction

Various challenges face a pregnant woman when she smokes and uses alcohol before delivering the baby. Several illegal drugs including marijuana, cocaine, and bhang among others have detrimental effects on the development of the fetus. Caffeine and alcohol abuse will have lasting impacts on the unborn child in the future. Pregnant mothers should avoid using drugs and alcohol to avoid giving birth to drug babies who would be faced with developmental problems. A healthy pregnancy entails using prescription drugs well according to the FAD guidelines and will result in giving birth to babies with high IQ and limited health problems.

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According to studies, when taking any form of drug whether alcohol or cigarette, the fetus would also ingest. The unborn child also feels the impacts of dangerous drugs used by the mother. Addiction to any drug, therefore, puts both the life of the mother and the baby at risk. Among other challenges, the child would encounter heart attacks, failure of the respiratory system, seizures and stroke (Mick et al., 380). The intake of drugs as well by a mother while pregnant is associated with issues such as premature babies, underweight babies, and stillborn births. The impacts of alcohol and illegal drugs such as marijuana had been related to abnormal behaviors especially to the unborn child due to the fact they can affect the memory of the child as well as her attentiveness. There would also be long terms effects to the children born under drugs such as variances in the structure of their brains.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse describes that smoking cigarette affects the children later in their cognitive performance, processing of information, and limited attention to various tasks. It is clear that these are the necessary areas for a child to succeed in life and therefore it will negatively affect her in school and real life. Other complications that result from smoking cocaine while pregnant include giving birth to babies with low IQ and heart problems (Briggs et al., 34). Cigarette components such as nicotine cause narrowing of the blood vessels among unborn babies and therefore few nutrients as well as oxygen will be reaching the fetus. This situation would later lead to heart problems in the affected children. Smoking cigarette while further pregnant points to the development of babies that have colic, asthma, and obesity, and the impacts are long-lasting.

Furthermore, there will also be adverse impacts that result in the development of FAS and FASD which are associated with large intakes of alcohol while pregnant. The child, in this case, would later have problems in her development stages as well as challenges on the central nervous system. Children associated with drugs during pregnancy tend to have learning problems as well as hearing and vision difficulties.

Prescription drugs ought to be adequately used during pregnancy to avoid any complexities to the unborn child. The FDA must ensure that drug companies can follow the desired guidelines while offering any drugs to pregnant mothers. Pregnancy registries are essential for these companies and pregnant women have to be involved so that they can understand how to use the drugs (Chasnoff et al., 668). It is necessary for pregnant women to take prescription drugs to help them address complications such as epilepsy, asthma, and depression. Effectual use of these drugs would finally ensure a healthy pregnancy and facilitate the development of bright children with high intelligent quotient. The use of caffeine among pregnant women should be regulated frequently to reduce issues such as irritability and low birth weight.

Conclusion

The use of particular prenatal vitamin among pregnant women should be addressed because they are safe for the unborn child and the mother. Avoiding aspirin and ibuprofen in the last three months of pregnancy is necessary to ensure that little complications are revealed while delivering. Drinking alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, bang and cocaine smoking as well as abuse of other drugs while pregnant has not only adverse effects to the mother but also to the unborn baby. Pregnant mothers should consult their doctors before taking any prescription drugs and avoid any abuse of illegal drugs while pregnant to achieve a healthy pregnancy.

Work Cited

Chasnoff, Ira J., et al. "Cocaine use in pregnancy." New England Journal of Medicine 313.11 (2016): 666-669.

Briggs, Gerald G., Roger K. Freeman, and Sumner J. Yaffe. Drugs in pregnancy and lactation: a reference guide to fetal and neonatal risk. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2015.34

Mick, Eric, et al. "Case-control study of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and maternal smoking, alcohol use, and drug use during pregnancy." Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 41.4 (2017): 378-385.