Environmental Influences

• Teratogen is an environmental agent that can interfere with normal prenatal development
• Teratology is the field of study that investigates the causes of birth defects
• Maternal Weight:

  • Women of normal weight are less likely to have birth complications
• Malnutrition results in fetal growth restriction and low birth weight
• Physical Activity and Work:

  • Moderate exercise is recommended to reduce back pain, risks for gestational diabetes, and other complications
• • Omega-E, DHA, and Folic Acid are important for the development of the nervous system
• Overweight women have risks of longer deliveries, needing more health care services, gestational diabetes, cesarean delivery, and birth defects
• Thalidomide intake can cause stunted limbs, facial deformities, and defective organs
• Drugs harmful for pregnant women include:

  • Antibiotics
  • Certain Barbiturates
  • Opiates
  • Acutane
• Opioids are associated with small babies, fetal death, preterm labor, and aspiration of meconium
• Babies born to drug-addicted mothers may experience withdrawal symptoms once they are born and no longer receive drugs
• Neonate Abstinence Syndrome symptoms include sleep disturbance, tremors, difficulty regulating the body, irritability, and crying
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is characterized by retarded growth, face and body malformations, and central nervous system disorders
• Maternal smoking is identified as the most important factor for low-birth weight babies
• Tobacco increases the risks of miscarriage, growth retardation, stillbirth, and SIDS
• Caffeine slightly increases the risk for miscarriage, stillbirth, and low birth weight babies
• Rubella infection can almost certainly cause deafness and heart defects in babies
• Toxoplasmosis, caused by a parasite in the bodies of cattle, sheep, and pigs, and in the intestinal tracts of cats, can lead to fetal brain damage, impaired eyesight, seizures, and miscarriage
• Diabetic mothers are most likely to have babies with heart and neural tube defects
• Stress and anxiety in mothers have been associated with more irritable and active temperament in newborns
• Chronic stress in mothers can result in preterm delivery
• Depression in mothers may cause premature birth or developmental delays
• The chance of miscarriage or stillbirth rises with maternal age
• Adolescent mothers tend to have premature or underweight babies
• Outside environmental hazards that can affect pregnancy include air pollution, radiation, and chemicals
• Fetal exposure to low levels of environmental toxins may result in asthma, allergies, or lupus
• X-Rays during pregnancy could triple the risk of having full-term, low-birth weight babies
• Paternal factors affecting pregnancy:

  • Exposure to lead, marijuana, tobacco, radiation, pesticides, etc., may result in abnormal or poor quality sperm
• • Older fathers may be a significant source of birth defects due to damaged or deteriorated sperm, such as dwarfism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, ASD
• Babies whose fathers had diagnostic x-rays within the year prior to conception or had high lead exposure at work tend to have low birth weight and slowed fetal growth