Pregnancy and Drugs Don’t Mix!!

Healthcare Science Technology I

Mrs. Burgstiner

Why drugs and babies don’t mix!!

1. The drugs and alcohol used by a pregnant woman passes through the placenta to her baby.

2. Drugs and alcohol also pass through the mother’s breast milk to the baby as he/she nurses.

FACTS ABOUT FAS

Drinking ETOH at anytime during pregnancy can damage fetal brain tissue

The #1 cause of mental handicap and birth disorders in North America

All women of child bearing years that consumes ETOH is at risk for having a baby with FAS

Causes permanent and irreversible brain damage and causes developmental challenges for these children

Cost us a lot of money Small children Joint problems ADHD, ADD Memory problems Low IQ/problem solving skills Many in trouble with the

law,school, mental health

SMOKING AND BABIES

Causes: SIDS Sudden Infant Death

Syndrome Increased stillbirths Cleft Lip/Palate Low birth weight Premature birth Reduces fertility

2nd Hand Smoke: Low birth weight Often develop

asthma later in life

Marijuana and Herione

Marijuana:

premature labor\ Low birth weight increased risk of birth

defects leukemia in babies behavior problems decreased attention span

Herione:

stillbirths miscarriages low birth weight NAS (Neonatal

Abstinence Syndrome) diarrhea, fever, yawning,

tremors, seizures, irritability, irregular breathing

Danny B, one day old, is a crack addict. Swaddled in his soft hospital blankets, he spends each moment of his new life struggling through painful drug withdrawal.

Delivered prematurely at San Francisco General Hospital, Danny suffers from low birth weight and smaller-than-normal head size. He rubs his face against the sheets in his isolette until the end of his nose is red and chapped. He furls his brow and continually yawns, sneezes and cries. Danny's high, shrill cry is different from that of other babies in the nursery. "The cry is high-pitched, and sounds so urgent," explains Liza Fernandez, acting head nurse at San Francisco General Hospital's nursery. "Drug-exposed children cry louder and more often than normal newborns."

Exposed to the drug in the womb and born addicted to crack cocaine, this child experiences severe withdrawal symptoms. Conservative estimates suggest that at least 11 percent of all newborns in the United States today were exposed in the womb to one or more illicit drugs. The number is even higher in urban areas. Birth and hospitalization of a normal newborn cost approximately $2,000. Birth and hospital care of a crack exposed neonate, with round-the-clock nursing, monitors, blood and urine tests, high-tech equipment and social service evaluations, costs $11,000. Who pays the bill? The government, since crack-addicted mothers are unlikely to carry insurance.

The San Francisco police department makes 10,000 drug arrests a year. The majority involve cocaine in rock form-crack. To inhale the crack, users put a piece in the white rock on the short pipe and smoke it. When a pregnant woman takes a hit of crack cocaine, the fetus loses sufficient blood and air - and suffocates briefly. For the mother, the drug's euphoric effect lasts only about 20 minutes. For the growing fetus, the cocaine stays in its system for more than two weeks. In the womb, the child is often re-exposed because the cocaine does not pass through the placenta to the mother but remains in the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby.

Cocaine Use Continued..

Prenatally drug -exposed newborns cry more frequently than unexposed babies. This 'at-risk' baby suffering though moderate to severe withdrawal, was hard to console. Typically, these children, when held, tend to arch their backs, pull away and cry until they exhaust themselves. Experts note that these behaviors interfere with child-parent bonding. "The worst problem in working with these babies is that they have the jitters," says Nancy Shatz, a San Francisco General nurse who works extensively with prenatally drug-exposed newborns. "They cry because they are in pain and suffering," she observes. "They don't even like to be touched."

Bathing Helps

Bathing is one of the few ways nurses have found to comfort drug-exposed newborns. Soap and warm water soothe the frantic babies. The bath also removes the sweat that envelops them as they go through withdrawal.

Wrapping Tight helps

Following the bath, the infants are wrapped tightly in blankets so that when they cry their arms won't flail about and cause the babies to re-stimulate themselves. Short-staffed, nurses place the babies on mechanical rocking beds. The large cylinders on either side of the baby assure that the infant won't slide as the bed tilts back and forth.

CRACK BABIES GROW UP (Part II)

Photostory by Ken Kobre

For some "crack" children, the slightest disruption will set-off a temper tantrum. Children in this type exhibit extreme mood swings. Because they can not use adults for solace, they become withdrawn. Researchers have learned that early intervention that provides interaction with other children, individualized work on children's problem areas and parent counseling can help at-risk children improve significantly.

Emotional/Social Problems

At the Parent Child Intervention Program preschool, one youngster gives another a swift kick for no apparent reason. Thirty-four percent of at-risk children exhibit "extreme emotional and behavioral tendencies along with a low tolerance for frustration," according to a recent study. In one-on-one situations, most of the children were able to focus their attention. The behavioral problems occurred during less structured times.

Over stimulation

The Parent Child Intervention Program is a preschool in East Palo Alto, California, established specifically to help prenatally drug-exposed youngsters. Teachers try to provide a carefully monitored and highly structured environment for the students. Here, a teacher's instructional aide, Inga Garland, intervenes to control a child who has just kicked a classmate. Teachers report that cocaine-exposed children are unable to deal with many different stimuli at once and tend to act out aggressively or withdraw completely when overstimulated.

Naptime or Wartime?

To calm some of the at-risk children at nap time, a teacher stretches her legs across one child, holding the youngster down while massaging the back of another student. The first group of students in the early intervention program now being "mainstreamed" into classes with average children are showing signs of keeping up.

Prescription Drugs

Prescription Drugs can be just as dangerous if caution is not observed

Always check with a physician before taking anymedications while pregnant

Statistics

More than 5% of 4 million women who gave birth in the US used illegal drugs while pregnant in 1992

820,000 smoke while pregnant 757,000 drank alcohol 113, 000 whites used illicit drugs 75,000 African Americans used illicit drugs

STD’s and PREGNANCY

Hepatitis B: 90% infected at birth become

chronic carriers liver disease cancer given immunoglobulin's and

vaccine at birth

More STD’s

Chlamydia Premature birth infant pneumonia neonatal eye infections

from transmission during birth

Gonorrhea:

•blindness•meningitis•eye drops to prevent blindness that can occur during birth due to infections.•All babies get these drops due to this disease in order to prevent any misdiagnosed cases

STD’s Continued

Genital Herpes herpes forever brain damage premature death

HIV(AIDs):

•20 - 30 % are born with AIDs•s/sx develop within 1 year•20% are dead by 18 months•antiviral drugs are given during pregnancy to prevent the transmission from mother to child.

Others:

Human Papilloma Virus

warts develop in the throat and cause an airway obstruction

have this for life fast spreading STD

Syphilis:•if untreated fetus will get from Mom•25% are stillborn•40 -70% will have active syphilis when born•causes heart and brain damage

Trichomoniasis

Premature rupture of membranes premature delivery STD’s can cause a lot of damage to the

baby. Many people do not even know that they have a STD. Part of prenatal care is to check the mother for STD’s so to prevent harm to the baby as it develops and is born.

The table below show the estimated number of pregnant women in the US per

year with specific STD’s

Bacterial Vaginitis 800,000 Herpes: 800,000 Chlamydia: 200,000 Trichinosis: 80,000 Gonorrhea: 40,000 Hepatitis B: 40,000 HIV: 8,000 Syphilis: 8, 000

More Statisitics

134,000 new cases of syphilis are occurring each year, the highest infection rate in 40 years.

1.3 million new gonorrhea cases occur annually.

24 million new cases of human papilloma virus (HPV) occur annually, including a high percentage among teens.

63% of all sexually transmitted disease (STD) cases occur among people less than 25 years of age.

AIDS is the leading killer of Americans between the ages of 25 and 44.

Condoms provide virtually no protection against an STD called the human papilloma virus (HPV). HPV is the most common medical problem seen by gynecologists and causes almost all cervical cancer in the U.S.

STD’S AND DRUGS ARE REAL DANGERS!!

BE SMART STAY CLEAN BY NOT DOING DRUGS andBEING SMART ABOUT SEX