Substance abuse by the mother or father can be linked to behavior problems and disabilities in children. A woman's use of alcohol during pregnancy may result in her infant's having fetal alcohol syndrome or alcohol related disorders. With fetal alcohol syndrome, children have facial abnormalities, droopy eyelids, heart defects, small size, and usually some degree of mental retardation. Physical anomalies and growth deficiencies such as these persist in later childhood and adulthood. Alcohol-related disorders are more difficult to detect as causes, but the disability may appear as significant learning disorders.

Expectant mothers who use heroin may give birth to premature or low-birth weight infants. The infant may go through severe withdrawal symptoms and will be at risk for disabilities. Heroin and cocaine appear not to cause disabilities in utero but may cause premature births. The problems associated with the conditions at birth of low birth weight and prematurity may lead to physical or behavioral irregularities as the child matures.

Substance abuse by the mother or father can be linked to behavior problems and disabilities in children. A woman's use of alcohol during pregnancy may result in her infant's having fetal alcohol syndrome or alcohol related disorders. With fetal alcohol syndrome, children have facial abnormalities, droopy eyelids, heart defects, small size, and usually some degree of mental retardation. Physical anomalies and growth deficiencies such as these persist in later childhood and adulthood. Alcohol-related disorders are more difficult to detect as causes, but the disability may appear as significant learning disorders.

Expectant mothers who use heroin may give birth to premature or low-birth weight infants. The infant may go through severe withdrawal symptoms and will be at risk for disabilities. Heroin and cocaine appear not to cause disabilities in utero but may cause premature births. The problems associated with the conditions at birth of low birth weight and prematurity may lead to physical or behavioral irregularities as the child matures.

In a study of forty-nine children who were exposed to drugs prenatally, it was found that half did not display any of the negative behaviors that one-quarter of the group did: anger, aggressiveness, and unoccupied behavior. It appears that there is wide behavioral variability among children prenatally exposed to drugs. Physicians and other health-care workers caution expectant mothers to avoid the use of drugs.

If the expectant mother smokes two packs or more of cigarettes a day, she risks giving birth to a premature or low-birth-weight infant. Major national campaigns have been mounted to discourage pregnant women from smoking and using substances that may harm their fetuses.

The Effects of Substance Abuse on Unborn Children

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