It is the most terrible thing for a mother to find out that her baby has a birth defect. One of the most frequent birth defects is a congenital problem of the baby’s heart. Nowadays these problems can be treated by modern surgery, even if the baby is new born.
But what are birth defects? Birth defects can be defined as abnormalities of function, structure or body metabolism which are detected at birth. These problems have as results physical or mental disabilities or are lethal. There are over 4,000 different birth defects which range from minor to significant, and even if many of them may be cured or treated, they are the main cause of death during the first year of life.
But what are birth defects? Birth defects can be defined as abnormalities of function, structure or body metabolism which are detected at birth. These problems have as results physical or mental disabilities or are lethal. There are over 4,000 different birth defects which range from minor to significant, and even if many of them may be cured or treated, they are the main cause of death during the first year of life.
According to statistics, about 150,000 babies are born having birth defects every year in the United States. Birth defects may be produced by environmental, genetic, unknown factors.
Metabolic or structural defects are those which appear if a specific part of the body is missing or it is formed incorrectly or if there is a native problem in the chemistry of the body. Apart from heart defects, there are some other popular structural defects like spina bifida and hypospadias, a disfunction in which the opening of the male urethra, where urine gets out from the penis is not in the right place. Metabolic defects influence one in 3,500 babies and often means a missing enzyme or an enzyme which was incorrectly formed. This kind of defect may be harmful or even lethal, but doesn't always produce any obvious abnormalities in the baby. A metabolic defect is also Tay-Sachs disease, a lethal disease which influences the central nervous system, and phenylketonuria, that influences the way the body handles protein.
Most of the times mothers are guilty because of these birth defects, as they don’t stop smoking during pregnancy, or they drink alcohol or they don’t respect a healthy eating diet. Moreover birth defects occur in regions with a highly radioactive structure of the atmosphere like Cernobil.
Finally mothers should avoid X ray consultations during the pregnancy, as well as the consumption of medicine or dying their hair or their eye brows and eye lashes.
