Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Thoughts on Birth Defects


I chose to do this topic for my blog specifically because I have had experience with children with birth defects. My parents have done foster care and have had many young children with problems in their home. Some of the most memorable were the children with fetal alcohol. These children were clearly not in control of their actions. They were extremely impuslive and did not respond to traditional child rearing methods. They also were dealing with learning and mental disabilities. It is sad to see children in such a condition. Through no fault of their own they are going to have to struggle through life. If their mothers had simply not consumed alcohol while they were pregnant they would not be dealing with these disabilites.

Another foster child we had in our home was a Meth baby. while she does not have a particular birth defect, she suffers from a sleeping disorder as well as ADHD. She has also had to have speech therapy peridoicaly. All of these issues could have been prevented if her mother had not used drugs.

So basically preventing birth defects boils down to sexually active women being responsible. If a women is having sex she needs to be taking folic acid, not consuming alcohol or illegal drugs, only taking over the counter and prespcription drugs thave have been approved by her doctor.

For more information about having a healthy pregnancy please visit Womens Health and the Mayo Clinic

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