You may be wondering why. Well, some women say that they have irresistible or hard to resist urge to drink during pregnancy. Be it as it may, knowing the effects of alcohol use in pregnancy to the unborn child should make the hard to resist or irresistible urge die naturally.
Another thing which is obtainable among some pregnant women is drug use. By drug use, we mean recreational drug use. This is contextual anyway. That is, using it to make one happy, sleep or to change mood. Self-medication is still included here.
In pregnancy, especially in its early stage, women experience ill-health a lot. So, some tend to use over the counter medicines to treat themselves.
Our question is: is alcohol and drug use good in pregnancy? If no, why?
The why is what the article will tackle.
So, let’s get started already
1. Safety of most drugs is unknown or questionable in pregnancy
The best thing for any right thinking woman who is pregnant should do is to avoid drug use in pregnancy. Remember, in this article, “drug use” means recreational drug use and/or self-medication. So, ones you are pregnant, limit as much as you can, the use of OTC drugs and alcohol intake.
2. Some drugs are harmful to unborn babies
An example is tetracycline and its derivatives. Examples of harmful drugs are just too enormous to be listed in this article. It should be a stand alone article. Back to tetracycline: it stops bone growth both in unborn babies and infants, deposit in their bone and discolors their teeth. This inhibition of bone growth leads to dwarfism in children. Another example that is worth mentioning is thalidomide which leads to failure in limb development in babies in the womb.
3. Alcohol use results in brain developmental malfunction
When a baby’s brain didn’t develop well as a result of too much drinking of alcohol by the mother,the baby’s mental ability will be below average. Although, this happens at excessive consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, it is best to avoid it totally during pregnancy.
Literature has it that alcohol use during pregnancy also leads to
- blood changes
- muscular hypotonia (that is low muscle tone)
- withdrawal effect
- hypoglycemia and
- intrauterine growth restriction
So, to have a brilliant, a bouncing and an intelligent baby, try as much as you can to avoid excessive consumption of alcohol if you cannot avoid it completely.
4. It is better to prevent than to regret or cure
Have you ever wondered why animals rarely give birth to deformed babies? Have you given it a thought before?
Well, I feel that it is because they don’t drink nor use drugs. Every drug has side effects of which some are harmful in pregnancy. It is important to note that some drugs whose side effects might not even be harmful might be for the delicate baby (embryo or fetus) in the womb. It is therefore important that you protect your baby in the womb.
Don’t swallow things that will harm him or her. They will not like it if they grow to discover that their deformity is as a result of your carelessness; because you used drug that is not prescribed by a qualified healthcare professional.
Say no to soaking your unborn child in alcohol or drug. Say no to harming your unborn child.