Birth Defects

Most of the families usually feel happy when a woman in the family gets pregnant but they also remain concerned regarding birth defects

Types of Birth Defects

A defect of birth is irregularity of structure, metabolism and function that exists at birth. Many cause mental and physical disability, however some birth defects are actually harmful.

Account to report of March of Dimes nearly 150,000 children take birth with birth defects every year in USA. There are more than 4000 birth defects which range from simple to serious. Commonly nearly one out of every 28 children are affected.

Popular Birth Defects

There are three different categories of birth defects. These involve metabolic and structural abnormalities, inherited infections and many other defects.

Structural and Metabolic Abnormalities

Structural defects include the body of baby with any part malformed or missing. The important examples involve bifida, spina, problems and heart defects include urinary area and the genitals.

March of Dimes mentions mentabolic defects as incapability of cells to create an enzyme required to alter specific chemicals into some others chemicals or to take material from one place to other. Its examples are Phenylketonuria and Tay-Sachs.

Congenital Infections

Some abnormalities occur due to bacterial and viral infections during period of pregnancy normally during first trimester. Its examples are bacterial and viral infections involve STDs, rubella and Cytomegalovirus. This type of infections can become reason of abnormalities involving deafness, blindness, bone effects and mental retardation.

Other

The other category of problems involves abnormalities which occur due to drug abuse or alcohol. One example is Rh disease. This disease takes place due to incapacity between the blood of baby and its mother. The babies can be affected by brain damage, anemia and jaundice.

Causes

There are two main reasons of defects of birth such as Generic and Environmental. Sometimes a mixture of environmental disorders and genetic predisposition is problematic. The key examples involve cleft palate and clubfoot. Nevertheless, according to report of March of Dimes, 60-70% of time the main reason is unknown.

Environment

The problems related to environment such as infection, alcohol abuse, smoking, drug abuse and exposure to specific medicines and chemicals can become a reason of problems in an unborn baby. The main examples of these problems are mental retardation, heart defects and blindness and the deafness.

Genetics

Some abnormalities occur when mother or father transfers any defected gene. This is referred as dominate inheritance. The main example of it is Dwarfism. The other takes place while both father and mother transfer affected gene. This is referred as recessive inheritance. The examples of genetic disorders are cystic fibrosis and Sachs disease.

There are abnormalities which occur due to problem with structure and number of chromosomes. For example, the babies have taken birth with Down Syndrome possess extra chromosome.

Avoiding the Odds

Before one gets pregnant, just make sure that the vaccines are latest and you are taking 600mcg folic acid on daily basis. You and your partner have been tested to assure that both don’t have STDS.

After getting pregnant:

• Stop smoking and drinking alcohol or consuming recreational drugs after becoming pregnant. Avoid taking second hand smoking involving marijuana.
• Consume parental vitamin that involves folic acid to have protection against defects in tube such as spina bifida.
• Acquire constant parental care.
• Consume nutritious food and do proper exercise.