Substance Abuse and Pregnancy
Addiction is a disease that has no known cure and it does not discriminate. It can happen to any individual race, religion, age group, and even mothers of unborn children. Having the disease of addiction does not make you a bad person; it simply means you need help. This includes women who are pregnant. A mother who abuses drugs does not want to hurt her baby, she just doesn’t know how to stop. Sherri is a mother of two and abused drugs during both pregnancies merely because she didn’t have the tools and knowledge to maintain her disease. Although her first born suffered no repercussions of her using the consequences of using drugs while pregnant are significant.
How can Drugs and Alcohol Affect your Pregnancy?
Drugs and alcohol can cause problems before pregnancy occurs, including:
- Infertility, which means a woman is incapable of having children.
- Placenta problems. The placenta is produced in a woman’s uterus and supplies the baby with food and oxygen through the umbilical cord. Drug and alcohol abuse can cause a woman to be incapable of feeding a fetus before it is even conceived.
Alcohol and drug use by the expecting mother can lead to long-term effects on the unborn fetus, including:
- Miscarriage. A miscarriage is when an unborn child dies in the womb.
- Stillbirth. A stillbirth is when a child is born or had died in the womb after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
A baby born to a mother who has abused drugs and alcohol can have fatal problems, including:
- Low birth weight.
- Premature birth is when a baby is born before 37 completed weeks of pregnancy.
- Heart defects.
- Birth defects. A birth defect is a condition that presents itself at birth. Birth defects can deform one or more parts of the baby’s body. They can cause problems with how the baby develops, how his or her body works, and their overall health.
- NAS or Neonatal abstinence syndrome. This is a fatal health condition where the baby has, unfortunately, become addicted the drugs and/or alcohol. NAS can happen to the baby in the womb and when he or she is born, he or she will go through withdrawals.
- Infectious health conditions, including Hepatitis C and HIV. These health conditions can occur when the mother has used and shared needles with others who have the infection. A mother can pass the infection to the unborn fetus during pregnancy or at birth.
Abusing drugs and alcohol can also cause problems for the child later in life, including:
- Sudden infant death syndrome, also called SIDS. This is a condition where the child dies unexpectedly in its sleep.
- Slow growth rate.
- Learning and behavioral problems.
There is a multitude of ways drugs and alcohol can affect the unborn, just born, and growing child. It is vital to get treatment to save your baby from health and even fatal conditions that can occur during pregnancy or after birth. Sherri had to experience her child going through withdrawals first hand. This also caused Sherri trouble with the law. She got her children taken away and fought for a long time to get them back after she cleaned herself up in treatment.
Treatment while Pregnant
Getting treatment for addiction is vital when it comes down to your health and your baby’s health. It’s important to go to your health care provider because a sudden stop of drugs and alcohol can cause a miscarriage or a stillbirth. You will need to ween yourself off properly in order to have a safe and effective treatment. If you or a loved one is pregnant and looking for treatment- you do not have to go through this alone. We are here to help. Just call the addiction hotline and we ca guide you in the direction you desire. Addiction Hotline: (866) 578-7471.
34 comments
It was a good information especially for the females. Placenta is badly affected due to drugs or alchol.
Taking drugs during pregnancy also increases the chance of birth defects, premature babies, underweight babies, and stillborn births. Exposure to drugs such as marijuana — also called weed, ganja, dope, or pot — and alcohol before birth has been proven to cause behavior problems in early childhood.
I cannot believed pregnant ladies still have the courage to take alcohol and drugs. It is really hard to know that some people do not care with what they are carrying.
All of the reasons in this article are why when a woman is pregnant she should if she can stay clear of drugs or alcohol especially for the sake of the baby. Thanks for sharing.
Oh impact from abusing drug and alcohol for the Fetus in the womb really bad,,and make sure you are not pregnancy while abusing drug and alcohol
Power to you for sending this important message! Reproduction is the secret for ongoing life, which is why straightening out your addictive habits is so vital in preventing miscarriages and stillbirths. I’m glad Sherri is sharing her story and setting a good example.
Yes and the sad thing is it is the child that suffers!!! Imagine if he will have defects thanks to moms drinking who do you think will deal with it? Not the mom directly speaking but the kid. This is heartbreaking to be honest.
Every single girls and women need to read this post. Drugs and alcohol is very bad for health, especially for pregnant women.
To me being pregnant is a lot of work, and I see no reason why one should make things complicated with alcohol or drugs. Taking these things is like putting a burden on you and the baby. I do hope pregnant mothers understand the consequences of taking these substances.
It’s sad that some pregnant woman do this because they can’t control their addiction. Please do remember that these are the effects on your pregnancy. Thank you for sharing this helpful and informative blog.
This log is very important to read. This contains useful information for others to read especially pregnant women. The devastating effect of alcohol and drugs may lead to danger to an unborn child. And even f you are not pregnant, alcohol and drugs were never good.
I feel like people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol should not be making babies. Having children is a responsibility. If you cant take good care of your own body, how can you take care of a child?
Fetal alcohol syndrome can be really dangerous. Pregnant women should restrict themselves to just a shot of alcohol only on occasions, if need be.
This drug addiction is very lethal to the female group particularly. She explained the dangers on taking those stuffs quite clearly.
I never knew this could lead to infertility, that’s really dangerous. I shit in my pant reading through this. Wow
Thank you for pointing out the effects drugs can have on an unborn baby. Just like you stated in the article, a pregnant woman’s intention is not to hurt the baby but it’s just difficult to stop taking drugs when someone is addicted to it. I hope pregnant women who are addicted to drugs will understand the effects it will have on their unborn child and seek help. This is an eye opener
An expecting mother shouldn’t try this please even the unexpecting ones. This can cause everlasting infertility problem.
Right from time i knew these two evil twins are not good for any pregnant woman. so those pregnant should take this precaution and desist from ever taking alcohol while pregnant.
If you are into this while pregnant, the baby can be deformed. Even ordinary misuse of proscribed drugs during pregnancy is bad not to talk of doing drugs. Please let us all be guided.
Drugs or alcohol and pregnancy does not go hand in hand. It will be harmful for the mum and baby especially. Thanks for sharing the effect of addiction on pregnancy. Thanks for your help.
Surely there are going to be immesurable negative consequences for either a pregnant woman or not when they deal in consumption of hard drugs. Just pleased that this info is spreading wide through the internet and hope that it will benefit everyone to learn from it
Thanks a lot for drawing this information about what alcohol and drugs can effect in the health of pregnant woman. With this said things, a pregnant or woman hoping to conceive babies shouldn’t be addicted to drinking excessively or smoke.
Yeah taking excessive amount of drugs or abusing drugs during pregnancy and as a woman is so dangerous
Please take drugs according to doctors prescriptions
Meanwhile this article is so amazing…… thanks for writing a wonderful piece.
This is great. Generally speaking, pregnant women should be careful of anything they consume during pregnancy period, it tell on the foetus. Seeing the effects of alcohol and drugs really scared me as infertility is sure and other things follows. In order to have a sound and healthy children, abstinence is the best.
In take off drugs while pregnant is very bad and should be stopped. Well I’m glad it all became better.
Yeah I know taking drugs and alcohol can affect a pregnant woman most especially the baby. It is now a question of if the life of the child is greater than the mother’s addiction.
Oh really drugs can bring infertility problem didn’t know about this. I need to watch my intake now. Reducing to the barest minimum will help
Thank you for this piece of information. In fact, when I see a pregnant woman smoking and drinking, I always feel uncomfortable.
This is an enlightenment that will help both married woman and single ladies. It is good to avoid than looking for remedy.
It’s always advisable to stay off alcohol and any unprescribed drugs when pregnant.
Oh wow, I had heard about the horribles effects that a baby can suffer when his mother consumed drugs during pregnancy, but I had no idea that the baby could die. That’s terrible.
Drugs is very bad things, we never use this it not only ruins his life although whole family get shattered.
It is sad that there are some pregnant women taking drugs and affects the baby inside their body. Thank you for this blog, it can help prregnant women not to try drugs.