Effects of Drugs Used by Parents on Infants or New Born Babies - Term Paper Example

? Effects of drugs used by parents on infants or new born babies Effects of drugs used by parents on infants or new born babies Drug abuse is one of the major social problems in all parts of the world, especially in western countries. It has lot of moral, social and ethical dimensions. Many people have the false belief that drug abuse is a personal matter and the society has nothing to do with it. In their opinion, only the abuser will be suffered the consequences of his activities and society need not interfere in it. In fact the major sufferers of one’s drug abuse would be the society and the family members. It should be noted that a drug abuser is staying in a society and his activities may have many influences upon his family members, especially upon infants or new born babies. In other words, drug abuse by the parents during pregnancy and after the birth of the child may have detrimental effects on the development of the infants. Plenty of new born babies all over the world are suffering from autism like physical and psychological diseases as a result of the drug abuse of their mothers during pregnancy. Some mothers have the illusion that drug abuse after the birth of the babies may not cause any damages to their children. Harmful ingredients of the drugs used by the mothers may enter the body of the infants at the time of breast feeding. In short drug abuse both during pregnancy and after the birth of the babies may cause huge problems to the infants. This paper analyses the effects of drug use by parents on the development of infants. Findings of previous researchers Defective development of self esteem is one of the major psychological problems developed among infants as a result of drug abuse by their parents. Rapid development of self esteem is taking place during childhood, which is necessary for the child to meet future life challenges. It should be noted that parents with drug abuse habit may not show much care and love towards their children. Avoidance by the parents may create lot of psychological problems in the minds of the children. Children during their developmental stages need both fatherly and motherly love, care and protection. Fatherly love cannot be substituted by motherly love or motherly love cannot be substituted by fatherly love. Both are complementing each other in the development of a child. Menon et al. (2007) conducted a pilot study to know the effects of avoidance by parents upon children and concluded the following things. High self-esteem may cause avoidant children to behave in ways that elicit real, not imaginary, increased negative treatment by the mother, and the fact that avoidant children with high self-esteem view their mother as monitoring them less and less over time may reflect more successful avoidance of their mother by these children. High self-esteem may also cause avoidant children to perceive and remember maternal behaviors that are consistent with their sense that their mother may not love them or is poised to fight them. It is also possible that avoidant children with high self-esteem are becoming more accurate over time in their perception of a mother who has been rejecting or disengaged all along (Menon et al., 2007, p.1635). Mother’s love is the most important necessity for the development of a child even though father’s love also plays a vital role in doing so. Nothing can be substituted for mother’s love as far as the thinking patters of a child is concerned. The neglect or avoidance of the mother may affect the child more than anything else in this world. Many studies have proved that the children who are facing avoidance from the mothers may become antisocial elements in future. Such children may develop a vengeance towards the society which denied them the luxury of mother’s love. Such thoughts will haunt them throughout their lives and they may develop a tendency to develop aggressive behaviors in future. Friguls, et al. (20100 pointed out that “both licit and illicit drugs consumed by the breast feeding woman pass into the milk and can modify the production, volume and composition of the milk, as well as hypothetically have short- and long-term harmful effects on the infant” (Friguls, et al., 2010, p.1157). It should be noted that the immunology or resistance to the intrusion of harmful materials into the body of the new born babies are comparatively negligible. In other words, immune systems of babies are inferior to the immune systems of the mother. At the time of breast feeding, harmful ingredients of the drugs rejected by the mother’s body may enter the body of the infant through breast milk. It is impossible for the infant body to clear out these harmful substances with the help of their immature immune systems. Thus, the negative effects of drug abuse by the mothers may cause more harm to the baby than to the mother. “A recent Google search, using the key words antidepressants, pregnancy, and birth defects, revealed 563 000 results, mostly describing how dangerous and harmful antidepressants are to take during pregnancy and warning women not to take them if they are pregnant” (Einarson et al., 2009, p.243). Some women develop depression and other psychological problems during pregnancy. They may carry through such problems even after the birth of the child. Antidepressants are consumed by such mothers during pregnancy and after the birth of the child. In both the cases, infants may face huge health problems as a result of the harmful ingredients in the antidepressants consumed by the mother. Oberlander et al.(2005) conducted a comprehensive study to know the effects of postnatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) by mothers upon infants. The following results were yielded from this study. Blunted facial-action responses were observed among infants with prenatal SSRI exposure Both prenatal and postnatal exposure was associated with reduced parasympathetic withdrawal and increased parasympathetic cardiac modulation during recovery after an acute noxious event. Given that postnatal exposure via breast milk was extremely low and altered biobehavioral pain reactivity was not associated with levels of maternal reports of depression, these data suggest possible sustained neurobehavioral outcomes beyond the newborn period (Oberlander, 2005, p.411). From the above findings, it is clear that the consequences of drug abuse by the mothers during pregnancy and at the time of breast feeding may endanger the life of their children not only during childhood but also during later periods also. It should not be forgotten that it is extremely difficult to treat physical or psychological diseases developing to children as a result of the drug abuse of their mother. These problems are not behavioral and hence it is difficult to counter such problems with the help of normal treatment methods. Kidney problems can occur among children whose mothers have the habit of taking drugs during pregnancy or at the time of breast feeding. Apart from kidney problems, plenty of other developmental problems are also reported among infants as a result of the drug use of their parents, especially their mothers. Zaffanello et al. (2010) mentioned that “Nephrotoxic medication taken during fetal life and during postnatal nephrogenesis could interfere with nephron generation contributing to a particular magnitude of damage” (Zaffanello et al., 2010, p.87). Kidney failures and renal failures occurring during childhood because of exposure to drugs may cause problems to the children during their adulthood also. Several mothers have the habit of taking too many drugs even for simple health problems during pregnancy and also during the early periods after the birth of their children. All these habits have the ability to affect the future life of their children in one way or another. In short, the effects of drug use by mothers during pregnancy and after child birth upon the infants are well documented by many studies. Many people have the illusion that the drug abuse of father may not cause any harm to the child. When a child was born with some kind of birth defect, usually the mother forced to take the responsibility even if she may not have the habit of drug abuse. In reality, many studies have proved that drug use by fathers during consumption may cause huge damages including life threatening damages to the fetus and the new born babies. It should be noted that the father’s drug use can change the DNA which may affect the physical and mental capabilities of the child later in his/her life. DNA from the father and the mother are necessary for conception and the development of the embryo. Many parents have the habit of taking drugs in front of their children. Increased exposure to drugs during childhood may create lot of problems in the life of such children in future. The first learning schools of the infants are the behaviours of the parents. In fact they see a role model or idol in their parents. Whatever the behaviours exhibited by the parents in front of the children may force the children to imitate same behaviour in their life also. Many parents have the illusion that infants may not have the ability to segregate between good and evil and therefore there is no problem in taking drugs in front of them. Such beliefs are totally wrong and infants have the ability to carefully watch and imitate the mannerisms and behaviours of their parents. Future research on the effects of drug use on infants There are plenty of psychological and physiological problems facing by the infants and the exact reasons of these problems are still unknown. For example, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders are believed to be the contributions of drug use by the mothers during pregnancy and also at the time of breast feeding. More researches are necessary to prove the role of drug in causing such problems to the infants and also to identify possible remedial activities. According to a study conducted by Ma et al., (2010), “drug infusions can deliver significant fluid loads to children, depending on the infusion system’s architecture and fluid flow rates”(Ma et al., 2010, p.78). The dynamics of drug delivery in the body of an infant has not been researched properly so far. It is necessary to know more about this topic so that effective counter measures can be taken. The role of father’s drug abuse in contributing physical problems to the children has not been researched comprehensively so far. Such a research is necessary to make the fathers aware of the consequences of their drug addiction upon their children. Conclusions Drug abuse is a social problem which may affect the children more than the abuser. Parents who are the victims of drug abuse may fail to take care of their children properly. Avoidance or negligence of parents may create psychological problems and aggressive behaviors in the minds of the children. Physical problems such as birth defects and autism and psychological problems such as ADHD are believed to be the contributions of drug abuse by mothers during pregnancy and breast feeding periods. References Einarson, A.,Choi, ., Einarson, T.R., Koren, G., (2009). Incidence of Major Malformations in Infants Following Antidepressant Exposure in Pregnancy: Results of a Large Prospective Cohort Study. La Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, vol 54, no 4, avril 2009 Friguls, B., Joya, X., Garcia-Algar, O., Pallas, C.R., Vall, O. & Pichini, S. (2010). A comprehensive review of assay methods to determine drugs in breast milk and the safety of breastfeeding when taking drugs. Anal Bioanal Chem (2010) 397:1157–1179.DOI 10.1007/s00216-010-3681-0 Ma,H., Lovich, M.A., & Peterfreund, R.A. (2010). Quantitative analysis of continuous intravenous infusions in pediatric anesthesia: safety implications of dead volume, flow rates, and fluid delivery. Pediatric Anesthesia 21 (2011) 78–86. 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Menon, M., Tobin, D.D., Corby, B.C., Menon, M., Hodges, E.V.E., & Perry, D.G. (2007). High Self-Esteem Carries Costs for Antisocial Children. Child Development, 78, 1627-1638. Oberlander, T.F., MD; Grunau, R.E., PhD; Fitzgerald, C., RN; Papsdorf, M.,PhD; Rurak, D., PhDand Riggs, W. (2005). Pain Reactivity in 2-Month-Old Infants After Prenatal and Postnatal Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Medication Exposure. PEDIATRICS Vol. 115 No. 2 February 2005 Zaffanello, M., Bassareo, P.P., Cataldi, L., Antonucci, R., Biban, P., & Fanos, V.(2010). Long- term effects of neonatal drugs on the kidney. The Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, October 2010; 23(S3): 87–89 Read More