Affects of drugs & alcohol on a newborn?

[Clouderoth]

My relative's wife has done major drugs and she has had 4 children already, is now on her 5th. 2 of them have some serious health issues right now, the other 2 may have something, but it's still early to tell.

DON'T HAVE KIDS IF YOU ARE A DRUG ADDICT!

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

It is so selfish, and it hurts my heart to see these poor, innocent children suffer for the actions their mother took before and during pregnancy.

[antimatter]

Drinking and drugs greatly increase the chances of ill health in the baby, but they are not a guarantee that it will happen to every baby. If they do happen, some are more severely affected than others. If the baby is severely affected it usually becomes obvious quite soon after birth. There are some other problems that they can have that can take a while to become known, though. Bodies are complicated things sometimes.

I hope the child and mother are well. All I can say is that the mother should keep a close eye on the babies development as it gets older. If it seems to be having problems hitting many developmental milestones, has ill health or anything else doesn't seem to be going right, it would be best to seek medical advice as early on as possible.

[PrincessSakuya258]

Clouderoth

My relative's wife has done major drugs and she has had 4 children already, is now on her 5th. 2 of them have some serious health issues right now, the other 2 may have something, but it's still early to tell.

DON'T HAVE KIDS IF YOU ARE A DRUG ADDICT!

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

It is so selfish, and it hurts my heart to see these poor, innocent children suffer for the actions their mother took before and during pregnancy.

People need a license to drive, they gotta be a certain age to join the military.. unfortunately there's no restrictions on who can have kids. World's overloaded with terrible parents.

[Clouderoth]

Genkai taught me well

Clouderoth

My relative's wife has done major drugs and she has had 4 children already, is now on her 5th. 2 of them have some serious health issues right now, the other 2 may have something, but it's still early to tell.

DON'T HAVE KIDS IF YOU ARE A DRUG ADDICT!

DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT.

It is so selfish, and it hurts my heart to see these poor, innocent children suffer for the actions their mother took before and during pregnancy.

People need a license to drive, they gotta be a certain age to join the military.. unfortunately there's no restrictions on who can have kids. World's overloaded with terrible parents.

Yep, it's ridiculous.

If anything, I'd require anyone who is addicted to drugs and in rehab to be scheduled to have their baby-making ability to be taken. They could still do it, but it'd be no way to reproduce, basically. Yes they have a chance to get cleaned up, but...you do the crime, you pay the consequence. She made her choice. Over and over and over.

[King Shining Heaven]

Wait until the child is older then you'll see for sure if it's fine or not

[tokkis]

i feel bad for the kid, hes probably ********.

[Little Dead Soldier]

Things will show up when the child becomes older. Parents usually dont know that their child has a problem until 5-8 years old. But even if a parent abuses during their pregnancy, there is a chance that the child will be fine and normal. You are literally playing a gamble, which is why some states are wanting to arrest drug users who are using while pregnant for child neglect/abuse.

[freelance lover]

HomebrewFox

The child could possibly go through withdrawal symptoms once they're born which can kill them. If that doesn't happen they're predisposed to other illness which like you said won't be obvious right away.

edit: troll calling a legit thread a troll thread. Oh the irony

That's true with hard drugs like heroin, but I don't think that would be the case with alcohol and weed, largely because those don't typically result in a chemical dependency that have withdrawal symptoms (alcohol can in very severe cases, but you'd have to be drunk 24/7 for that to happen and by that point you'd probably kill the fetus). Alcohol is definitely not good for the child, and that's well documents. I don't know about weed. I imagine low birth weight might be an issue there, since smoking anything can have the same consequences. Not sure if the actual chemical make up of weed has any negative repercussions though. The whole "it's natural" philosophy is stupid. I mean, mercury is a naturally occurring element and yet pregnant women are encouraged not to eat a lot of tuna fish because of the mercury exposure.

I think if the baby is healthy now they will likely stay that way. That's not to say they might not develop an issue down the road, but it will almost certainly not be life threatening.

[Sky Blue Faerie]

Viviane_neechan

Genkai taught me well

HomebrewFox

The child could possibly go through withdrawal symptoms once they're born which can kill them. If that doesn't happen they're predisposed to other illness which like you said won't be obvious right away.

edit: troll calling a legit thread a troll thread. Oh the irony

Her logic with the weed is that since it's "natural" it wouldn't harm the child.

Raw chicken and animal droppings are also natural, but I don't imagine she consumed them during her pregnancy...

Unfortunately, the potential damage is done and all her loved ones can do is be there for her in the likely event that major issues develop later. sad

We believe my aunt used drugs while pregnant. Her first two were fairly luckily and are mostly healthy. One has type 1 diabetes, but that's genetics, not drugs.

The youngest however is in a state run psychiatric ward. He was taken by the state because of his mental issues when he was 5 years old. He is now 11 or 12 and still unable to function in the normal world. My Granny gets visitation and can keep him over night some days but it is likely the poor kid will never be able to live independently.

[Sky Blue Faerie]

Valebat

Why would you even bother with kids if your still living that life?

Probably an accidental pregnancy and an abortion would have cut into her drug money.

[Digital Fiend]

In my mil's last pregnancy she lived in Cali and her doctor prescribed her weed to help with morning sickness because nothing else worked.

No excuse for heavy drinking or heavy drug use. I know someone that got the help for her drug addiction because of her baby. I know someone else that tried to use cocaine as much as possible to miscarry but it didn't work.

[PrincessSakuya258]

Sky Blue Faerie

Valebat

Why would you even bother with kids if your still living that life?

Probably an accidental pregnancy and an abortion would have cut into her drug money.

They're actually pretty well off but very wasteful and self-centered. The kid just cries and cries unless a relative steps in to change it's diaper or something. They've really just been taking advantage of others to take the kid for days at a time.