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Perhaps some of the issues discussed below will appear to be a truism. However, it is impossible to ignore them, given that the entire behavior of the pregnant woman, as well as the model of her family’s life, affect the development of pregnancy. Any disturbances in these areas may result in premature delivery, miscarriage, low birth weight newborns, and in extreme cases even death of the mother or child.
Perhaps the most common problem is the use of stimulants in the form of cigarettes and alcohol by pregnant women.
Smoking tobacco
It’s not just about active smoking by the pregnant woman herself (although the future mother with a cigarette is unfortunately not a rare sight). It is just as dangerous passive smoking, i.e. inhaling tobacco smoke blown by another smoker. Smoking is equally dangerous for the mother and the developing fetus in her womb. Nicotine and its metabolite cotinine pass through the placenta to the fetus. It is known that tobacco smoke promotes the development of coronary artery disease in adults, and the same applies to pregnant women. There is also evidence of a direct coincidence of cigarette smoking with the formation of lung cancer, as well as cancers of distant organs, e.g. cervix, pancreas and stomach.
Children of smokers’ mothers (both active and passive) are born with lower birth weight (on average by 200 g). The risk of a pregnant smoker having a child weighing less than 2500 g is twice as high as that of non-smokers. Low birth weight is the result of chronic vasoconstriction of blood vessels, including those of the placenta, following smoking. Thus, the supply of nutrients to the fetus is impaired. The association between smoking and low birth weight is most pronounced in pregnant women over 35 and those who smoked well before 16 weeks of gestation.
Low birth weight of smokers’ children is also due to the fact that premature labor is more common in this group. An additional problem then arises prematurity. Newborns from mothers who smoked during pregnancy show typical features after delivery withdrawal syndrome, are irritable, cry, have problems with sucking reflex, suffer from colic.
Alcohol
There are no precise data on the number of women who abuse alcohol during pregnancy, but it is estimated to be about 1-2% of expectant mothers. The minimum harmful dose of alcohol is unknown. It is known, however, that the intensity of the negative effects of its consumption by a pregnant woman increases in proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed.
Both incidental and chronic drinking have specific dramatic consequences for a pregnant woman: from obstruction of the respiratory tract with vomit, through seizures, tachycardia, malnutrition, fatty liver, gastritis, pancreatitis, damage to the heart muscle, including mental disorders.
Alcohol is deadly to the fetus, it is also a teratogen (may cause malformations). The most serious complication of drinking alcohol in a pregnant woman is the child alcohol syndrome (central nervous system disorders), development slowdown, growth retardation in the fetus and infant, craniofacial malformations, heart defects. The slowdown in fetal growth occurs even with a daily consumption of 40 g of alcohol (which corresponds to 100 ml of vodka or 1 liter of wine).
Caffeine
Caffeine at a dose of 150 mg / kg has been shown to have teratogenic effect. Taking caffeine in the amount of 300 mg a day has no major effect on the development of the fetus, but higher doses may cause growth disorders.
drugs
Drug use by pregnant women often coexists with drinking alcohol and smoking. Not without impact on the development of the fetus and the health of its mother exposure to infections, including HIV, caused either by injecting drug use itself (dirty needles and syringes) or by having sexual intercourse with casual partners, some of whom may prove to be carriers of sexually transmitted infections. Newborns to mothers who use drugs during pregnancy are born with lower birth weightsometimes prematurely. Typical is found in 40-80% of them withdrawal syndrome.
In addition to the substances mentioned above, the pregnant woman should also avoid harmful working conditions, for example, do not work in conditions of exposure to toxic chemical vapors, ionizing radiation and many other factors. According to the Labor Code, the future mother’s workplace should be adapted to the current capabilities of her body. It should also change the style of work, e.g. from night to day, avoid stress, if possible – do not travel too far, avoid long-term work in one position – especially standing.
Text: lek. med. Ewa Zarudzka