Pregnant Woman On Crack
The following information can help you understand these drugs and their effects: Marijuana. Common slang names: pot, weed, grass and reefer.
What happens when a pregnant woman smokes marijuana? Marijuana crosses the placenta to your baby. Marijuana, like cigarette smoke, contains toxins that keep your baby from getting the proper supply of oxygen that he or she needs to grow. How can marijuana affect the baby?
Can I crack my back when I'm pregnant? Shouldn't be attempted on a pregnant woman at anytime, if you want to crack your back on your own try stretching. More Pregnant Woman On Crack images.
Studies of marijuana in pregnancy are inconclusive, because many women who smoke marijuana also use tobacco and alcohol. Smoking marijuana increases the levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the blood, which reduces the oxygen supply to the baby. Smoking marijuana during pregnancy can increase the chance of, low birth weight, premature births, developmental delays, and behavioral and learning problems. What if I smoked marijuana before I knew I was pregnant?
According to Dr. Abram, author of Will it Hurt the Baby, “occasional use of marijuana during the is unlikely to cause.” Once you are aware you are pregnant, you should stop smoking.
Doing this will decrease the chance of harming your baby. Cocaine. Common slang names: bump, toot, C, coke, crack, flake, snow, and candy. What happens when a pregnant woman consumes cocaine? Cocaine crosses the placenta and enters your baby’s circulation.
The elimination of cocaine is slower in a fetus than in an adult. This means that cocaine remains in the baby’s body much longer than it does in your body. How can cocaine affect my baby? According to the Organization of Teratology Information Services (OTIS), during the early months of pregnancy cocaine exposure may increase the risk of miscarriage. Later in pregnancy, cocaine use can cause placental abruption, which can lead to severe bleeding, preterm birth, and fetal death. OTIS also states that the risk of birth defects appears to be greater when the mother has used cocaine frequently during pregnancy.
According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecology (ACOG), women who use cocaine during their pregnancy have a 25% increased chance of premature labor. Babies born to mothers who use cocaine throughout their pregnancy may also have a smaller head and be growth restricted. Babies who are exposed to cocaine later in pregnancy may be born dependent and suffer from withdrawal symptoms such as tremors, sleeplessness, muscle spasms, and feeding difficulties. Some experts believe that learning difficulties may result as the child gets older. Defects of the genitals, kidneys, and brain are also possible. What if I consumed cocaine before I knew I was pregnant?
There have not been any conclusive studies done on single doses of cocaine during pregnancy. Birth defects and other side effects are usually a result of prolonged use, but because studies are inconclusive, it is best to avoid cocaine altogether. Cocaine is a very addictive drug and experimentation often leads to abuse of the drug. Heroin. Common slang names: horse, smack, junk, and H-stuff.
What happens when a pregnant woman uses heroin? Heroin is a very addictive drug that crosses the placenta to the baby. Because this drug is so addictive, the unborn baby can become dependent on the drug. How can heroin affect my baby?
Using heroin during pregnancy increases the chance of premature birth, low birth weight, breathing difficulties, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), bleeding within the brain (intracranial hemorrhage), and infant death. Babies can also be born addicted to heroin and can suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms include irritability, convulsions, fever, sleep abnormalities, and joint stiffness. Mothers who inject narcotics are more susceptible to, which can be passed to their unborn children. What if I am addicted to heroin and I am pregnant? Treating an addiction to heroin can be complicated, especially when you are pregnant. Your healthcare provider may prescribe methadone as a form of treatment.
It is best that you communicate with your healthcare provider so he or she can provide the best treatment for you and your baby. PCP & LSD. What happens when a pregnant woman takes PCP and LSD? PCP and LSD are hallucinogens.
Both PCP and LSD users can behave violently, which may harm the baby if the mother hurts herself. How can PCP and LSD affect my baby? PCP use during pregnancy can lead to low birth weight, poor muscle control, brain damage, and withdrawal syndrome if used frequently. Withdrawal symptoms include lethargy, alternating with tremors. LSD can lead to birth defects if used frequently. What if I experimented with LSD or PCP before I knew I was pregnant? No conclusive studies have been done on one-time use effects of these drugs on the fetus.
It is best not to experiment if you are trying to get pregnant or think you might be pregnant. Methamphetamine. Common slang names: meth, speed, crystal, glass, and crank.
What happens when a pregnant woman takes methamphetamine? Methamphetamine is chemically related to amphetamine, which causes the heart rate of the mother and baby to increase. How can methamphetamine affect my baby: Taking methamphetamine during pregnancy can result in problems similar to those seen with the use of cocaine in pregnancy. The use of speed can cause the baby to get less oxygen, which can lead to low birth weight. Methamphetamine can also increase the likelihood of premature labor, miscarriage, and placental abruption. Babies can be born addicted to methamphetamine and suffer withdrawal symptoms that include tremors, sleeplessness, muscle spasms, and feeding difficulties.
Some experts believe that learning difficulties may result as the child gets older. What if I experimented with methamphetamine before I knew I was pregnant? There have not been any significant studies done on the effect of one-time use of methamphetamine during pregnancy. It is best not to experiment if you are trying to get pregnant or think you might be pregnant.
What does the law say? Currently, Tennessee is the only state that holds prenatal substance abuse as a criminal act of child abuse and neglect. That does not always stop prosecutors from trying to charge mothers with endangerment or neglect.
Women are typically offered a choice between serving time in jail or joining a rehab program. Many states have expanded their civil child-welfare requirements to include substance abuse during pregnancy as grounds for terminating parental rights in relation to child abuse and neglect.
The laws that address prenatal substance abuse are as follows:. Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Rhode Island’s healthcare providers are required to test for and report prenatal drug exposure. Indiana health care providers are only required to test. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin’s health care providers are required to report prenatal drug exposure. Reporting and testing can be evidence used in child welfare proceedings. Some states consider prenatal substance abuse as part of their child welfare laws.
Therefore, prenatal drug exposure can provide grounds for terminating parental rights because of child abuse or neglect. These states include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Indiana’s laws only allow a healthcare provider to release drug use information with the woman’s consent.
Missouri’s laws state that testing positive for drugs within 8 hours post delivery AND she has either a previous child abuse/neglect conviction or if she did not complete a recommended substance abuse treatment program, constitutes unfitness as a parent. Some states have policies that enforce admission to an inpatient treatment program for pregnant women who use drugs. These states include Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. In 2014, Tennessee made drug use during pregnancy a criminal offense. How can I get help? You can get help from counseling, support groups, and treatment programs.
Popular groups include the 12 step program. Numbers that can help you locate a treatment center include:. National Drug Help Hotline 1-800-662-4357. National Alcohol and Drug Dependence Hopeline 1-800-622-2255 Last updated: February 1, 2018 at 17:56 pm Compiled using information from the following sources: Organization of Teratology Information Services, Motherisk.org, American Council for Drug’s Education, March of Dimes, The Alan Guttmacher Institute.
Apr 24, 2014 Begin the Xmodem or Xmodem-1K transfer now. CCC before the 3 CCC appear quick right click on the hyperterminal window and choose Transfer > Send File. Choose the Xmodem protocol in the Send File dialog box and click Browse in order to select the Cisco IOS image (.bin file) that you selected previously. Click Send in order. After an incorrect software upgrade. Note: Trivial File Transfer. Only image file from the Cisco Software. SEND FILE option using the XMODEM protocol. Hyperterminal. This happens when the router/switch has no valid Cisco IOS software or bootflash image to boot from. XMODEM is a simple file transfer protocol. The standard procedure uses the default console speed of 9600 bits per second. Xmodem is a slow transfer protocol, and the transfer of a file as large as a Cisco IOS software image could take an unacceptably long time. An increase to the console speed on the 3600 router helps decrease the time it takes to do the xmodem file transfer. Copying Files With XMODEM. XMODEM is a simple file transfer protocol which became extremely. You can used XMODEM to transfer files to a Cisco device when you do.
Further information: Prenatal cocaine exposure ( PCE), theorized in the 1970s, occurs when a pregnant woman uses and thereby exposes her to the. ' Crack baby' was a term coined to describe children who were exposed to ( cocaine in smokable form) as fetuses; the concept of the crack baby emerged in the US during the 1980s and 1990s in the midst of a. Other terms are ' cocaine baby' and ' crack kid'. Early studies reported that people who had been exposed to crack would be severely emotionally, mentally, and physically disabled; this belief became common in the scientific and lay communities.
Fears were widespread that a generation of crack babies were going to put severe strain on society and social services as they grew up. Later studies failed to substantiate the findings of earlier ones that PCE has severe disabling consequences; these earlier studies had been methodologically flawed (e.g. With small and confounding factors). Scientists have come to understand that the findings of the early studies were vastly overstated and that most people who were exposed to cocaine in utero do not have disabilities. No specific disorders or conditions have been found to result for people whose mothers used cocaine while pregnant. Studies focusing on children of six years and younger have not shown any direct, long-term effects of PCE on language, growth, or development as measured by test scores.
PCE also appears to have little effect on infant growth. However, PCE is associated with, and other conditions. The effects of cocaine on a fetus are thought to be similar to those of tobacco and less severe than those of alcohol. No scientific evidence has shown a difference in harm to a fetus between crack and powder cocaine. PCE is very difficult to study because it very rarely occurs in isolation: usually it coexists with a variety of other factors, which may confound a study's results. Thus, studies have failed to clearly show that PCE has negative cognitive effects, partly because such effects may be due to concurrent factors.
Pregnant mothers who use cocaine often use other drugs in addition, or they may be malnourished and lacking in medical care. Children in households where cocaine is abused are at risk of violence and neglect, and those in foster care may experience problems due to unstable family situations.
Factors such as poverty that are frequently associated with PCE have a much stronger influence on children's intellectual and academic abilities than does exposure to cocaine in isolation. Thus researchers have had difficulty in determining which effects result from PCE and which result from other factors in the children's histories. The US government published posters like this one in the 80s and 90s to warn people away from crack. During 1980s and 1990s, there was a surge in use of crack cities: the.
During this time fears arose throughout the country that PCE would create a generation of youth with severe behavioral and cognitive problems. Early studies in the mid-1980s reported that cocaine use in pregnancy caused children to have severe problems including cognitive, developmental, and emotional disruption. These early studies had methodological problems including small, confounding factors like poor, and use of other drugs by the mothers. However, the results of the studies sparked widespread media discussion in the context of the new. For example, a 1985 study that showed harmful effects of cocaine use during pregnancy created a huge media buzz. The term 'crack baby' resulted from the publicity surrounding crack and PCE. It was common in media reports to emphasize that babies who had been exposed to crack in utero would never develop normally.
The children were reported to be inevitably destined to be physically and mentally disabled for their whole lives. Babies exposed to crack in utero were written off as doomed to be severely, and many were abandoned in hospitals. They were expected to be unable to form normal social bonds. Experts foresaw the development of a 'biological underclass' of born criminals who would prey on the rest of the population. Crime rates were predicted to rise when the generation of crack-exposed infants grew up (instead they dropped).
It was predicted that the children would be difficult to console, irritable, and hyperactive, putting a strain on the school system., a columnist for wrote in 1989, 'theirs will be a life of certain suffering, of probable deviance, of permanent inferiority.' The president of at the time, said 'crack babies. Won't ever achieve the intellectual development to have consciousness of God.' These claims of biological inferiority played easily into existing and. Reporting was often, favoring the direst predictions and shutting out skeptics. Powder (left) and crack cocaine (right) Reporting on the effects of PCE may have been affected by, a disproportionate publication of studies indicating more severe outcomes as the crack epidemic emerged. Scientific studies that report that PCE has significant effects may be more likely to be published than those that do not.
Between 1980 and 1989, 57% of studies showing cocaine has effects on a fetus were accepted by the Society for Pediatric Research, compared with only 11% of studies showing no effects. Findings that other factors such as prematurity were behind symptoms that cocaine-exposed babies showed did not 'fit within the narrative of what had become a national scare' and were given less attention. Ideas about severe effects of PCE may have been more readily embraced because they 'fit in with cultural stereotypes'. At the time, the proposed mechanism by which cocaine harmed fetuses was as a stimulant—it was predicted that cocaine would disrupt normal development of parts of the brain that dealt with stimulation, resulting in problems like and. Reports from the mid-1980s to early 90s raised concerns about links between PCE and slowed growth, deformed limbs, defects of the kidneys and and, damage, or in the, and obstruction of blood supply in the. After the early studies that reported that PCE children would be severely disabled came studies that purported to show that cocaine exposure in utero has no important effects. Almost every prenatal complication originally thought to be due directly to PCE was found to result from confounding factors such as poor maternal nutrition, use of other drugs, and lack of.
More recently the scientific community has begun to reach an understanding that PCE does have some important effects but that they are not severe as was predicted in the early studies. The effects of PCE are subtle but they exist. Most people who were exposed to cocaine in utero are normal or close to it.
Proutklarton Crack Woman Plan
Pathophysiology. Cocaine is a small enough molecule to pass across the placental barrier into the bloodstream of the fetus.
Cocaine, a small molecule, is able to cross the into the bloodstream of the fetus. In fact it may be present in a higher concentration in the than it is in the mother's bloodstream. The skin of the fetus is able to absorb the chemical directly from the amniotic fluid until the 24th week of pregnancy. Cocaine can also show up in and affect the nursing baby.
The severity of effects depends on how much of the drug is used, how often, and the stage in the development of the fetus. Cocaine prevents the of the, and. Thus they stay in the longer, causing excitement of the and evoking a stress response.
The experienced by cocaine users is thought to be largely due to the way it prevents the neurotransmitter from being reabsorbed by the which released it. Use of cocaine during pregnancy can negatively affect both the mother and the fetus, but the ways in which it affects the fetus are poorly understood. There are three main mechanisms by which cocaine exposure harms a fetus: by altering, by altering the expression of certain, and by the constriction of blood vessels. The neurotransmitters affected by cocaine are involved in the development of the fetus's brain, so the drug may affect fetal development directly by altering the development of the brain's system. The most important way cocaine affects fetal development is by binding to. Another possible mechanism by which cocaine harms the fetus may be in part by interfering with blood supply to the uterus.
Cocaine causes (narrowing of blood vessels) in both mother and fetus, which can cause in the fetus. Constricting blood vessels causes tissues to receive insufficient blood flow, killing cells, but this effect is less pronounced with cocaine than with.
The reduction in blood flow to the uterus limits the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus. Cocaine also constricts the blood vessels in the fetus, which is potentially linked to slowed fetal growth and abnormal development of the, and. Cocaine causes changes in the mother's that are thought to be the cause of in the fetus; one study found that 6% of cocaine-exposed infants had had one or more strokes. Such prenatal strokes may be the cause of neurological problems found in some cocaine-exposed infants after birth. Blood vessel contraction can also cause and premature birth. Cocaine has also been found to enhance the contractility of the tissue in the, another factor that has been suggested as a possible mechanism for its contribution to increased prematurity rates. Increased contractility of the uterus may also be behind the increased likelihood of (the placenta tearing away from the uterine wall) which some findings have linked with PCE.
Diagnosis Cocaine use during pregnancy can be discovered by asking the mother, but sometimes women will not admit to having used drugs. Mothers may lie for fear of prosecution or having their children taken away, but even when they are willing to tell the truth their memories may not be very accurate. It may also not be possible to be sure of the purity of the drug they have taken. More reliable methods for detecting cocaine exposure involve testing the newborn's hair or (the infant's earliest stool). Hair analysis, however, can give for cocaine exposure, and a newborn may not have enough hair to test.
The newborn's urine can be tested for cocaine and, but it must be collected as soon as possible after birth. It is not known how long after exposure the markers will still show up in a newborn's urine. The mother's urine can also be tested for drugs, but it cannot detect drugs used too far in the past or determine how much or how often the drugs were used. Tests cannot generally detect cocaine use over a week prior to sample collection.
Mothers are more honest about cocaine use when their urine is also tested, but many users still deny it. Both maternal and neonatal urine tests can give. Effects and prognosis Studies have returned widely varying reports of the effects of PCE: some claim the physical disabilities are severe and generalized, others find specific effects, others none all.
The timing of the dose of the drug is an important determinant of outcome, in addition to how much is used, for how long, and what kind of care is rendered after birth. Drug use in the first trimester is the most harmful to the fetus in terms of neurological and developmental outcome.
The effects of PCE later in a child's life are poorly understood; there is little information about the effects of in utero cocaine exposure on children over age five. Some studies have found PCE-related differences in height and weight while others have not; these differences are generally gone or small by the time children are school age.
Much is still not known about what factors may exist to aid children who were exposed to cocaine in utero. It is unknown if the effects of PCE are increased once children reach adolescence, or whether the neural rewiring that occurs during this developmental period attenuates the effects. A review of 27 studies performed between 2006 and 2012 found that cognitive development was mildly to moderately affected in PCE adolescents, but it was not clear how important these effects were in practical terms. Unlike, no set of characteristics has been discovered that results uniquely from cocaine exposure in utero. Cocaine exposure in utero may affect the structure and function of the brain, predisposing children to developmental problems later, or these effects may be explained by children of crack-using mothers being at higher risk for, and. When researchers are able to identify effects of PCE, these effects are typically small.
Pregnancy and birth. Premature baby Studies have found after controlling for other factors that some effects are present in pregnancies involving cocaine:, low, and small size compared to babies of the same gestational time. PCE newborns have smaller heads and shorter bodies. PCE effects are more severe when the amounts of cocaine are greater.
As many as 17–27% of cocaine-using pregnant women deliver prematurely. In association with prematurity, growth in the womb is reduced, and is connected to PCE. There are also data showing that is associated with cocaine use. Cocaine reduces the appetite and has been linked with reduced maternal weight gain during pregnancy; in addition, constriction of the blood vessels may further limit supply of nutrients to the fetus. Using cocaine while pregnant also heightens the chances of maternal and fetal vitamin deficiencies, for the baby, and of the bowels. Early reports found that cocaine-exposed babies were at high risk for; however, by itself, cocaine exposure during fetal development has not subsequently been identified as a risk factor for the syndrome.
Some, but not all, PCE children experience (excessive ), and reduced reflexes and motor function have been found in babies four to six weeks old. While newborns who were exposed prenatally to drugs such as or frequently have symptoms of drug , this does not happen with babies exposed to crack in utero; at least, such symptoms are difficult to separate in the context of other factors such as or prenatal exposure to other drugs. Mental, emotional, and behavioral outcomes Studies have shown small deficits in behavioral, cognitive, attention, emotional, and language function in PCE infants, children, and adolescents. However, other studies attribute findings of negative effects on cognitive development to confounding factors. Studies suggest that the environment in which a child grows up makes a more important contribution to outcome in cognitive, behavioral and other outcomes than does the cocaine exposure itself.
School performance is mildly affected in older children. In studies, cocaine-exposed children do not appear to score lower than others. Although PCE is correlated with low IQ scores, scientists generally believe that PCE alone does not cause this effect; rather it is more likely due to associated factors. In school-age and younger children, PCE does not appear in studies to predispose children to poorer intellectual performance. Poor performance on IQ tests could actually be due to trouble with sustaining attention if the tests fail to account for this factor separately. Cocaine causes impaired growth of the fetus's brain, an effect that is most pronounced with high levels of cocaine and prolonged duration of exposure throughout all three trimesters of pregnancy. Studies that use such as (MRI) and have shown differences in brain structure of PCE children, for example in the and.
Those PCE children who had slowed brain growth as fetuses are at higher risk for impaired brain growth and motor, language and attention problems after they are born. Studies have found that children exposed to cocaine during fetal development experience problems with language, behavior, development, and attention. However these effects are small, especially when studies control for other factors like exposure to other drugs.
Cognitive and attention skills can be impacted by PCE, possibly due to effects on brain areas such as the. Brain areas in the frontal lobe involved in dealing with stress, attention, and impulsiveness seem to be particularly impacted by PCE, as evidenced by neuroimaging studies that show abnormalities in these areas of the brain. PCE infants have been shown to be more jittery and excitable and have lower and self-regulation; such behavioral effects may persist or worsen after 12 months of age. Children whose mothers used cocaine during pregnancy may develop symptoms akin to those of, and a link has been found between the disorder itself and PCE.
Mild deficits in language have been found in older PCE children. Language development is impaired, possibly into late adolescence, but adolescents up to age 17 may improve their receptive language skills. Evidence suggests that in utero cocaine exposure leads to problems with behavior and sustained, possibly by affecting parts of the brain that are vulnerable to during fetal development. School-age PCE children have been found to have trouble regulating their behavior and sustaining their attention. Children who had been exposed to high levels of cocaine in utero show poorer behavioral inhibition than those with lower levels of exposure or unexposed children. The changes in behavior and attention caused by PCE are measurable by standardized scales; however these behavioral effects seem to be mild. Children exposed to cocaine in the first trimester are less sociable, more withdrawn, and show more anxious and depressed behaviors.
Those exposed to higher doses of cocaine have been reported to show aggressive and disruptive behaviors. PCE girls are seven times more likely to have delinquent behavioral problems, but PCE boys are no more likely than other boys. Studies from the 2000s and 2010s are conflicted on whether PCE adolescents are at greater risk for use of drugs such as cocaine, alcohol, and marijuana.
A 2010 study found that PCE adolescent girls were more likely to suffer anxiety than their non-exposed peers. Physical outcomes Slowed growth is well documented in fetuses, but it is not as clear whether older children remain smaller or catch up to their peers. Some studies show that growth remains slowed for as many as ten years. PCE may also interfere with the way the motor system matures.
Motor effects that have been documented include poorer reflexes and quality of movement in infants. PCE may have an effect on the, but more study is needed to determine whether it does and what the effects are.
A review of the literature reported that cocaine use causes between 15 and 20% of the time; however another large-scale study found no difference in rates of birth anomalies in PCE and non-PCE infants. It has been suggested that some birth defects could be due to cocaine's disruption of blood vessel growth. Most PCE-related congenital defects are found in the brain, heart, arms and legs. Cocaine use by pregnant mothers may directly or indirectly contribute to defects in the formation of the and is associated with abnormalities in development of the. Heart malformations can include a missing and defects with the of the heart, and can result in potentially deadly.
Genital malformations occur at a higher-than-normal rate with PCE. The liver and lungs are also at higher risk for abnormalities., a congenital malformation in which the has three lobes, the brain is deformed, and occurs, is also associated with PCE.
Like birth defects, small head size, and are risks in PCE. Epidemiology Of all cocaine users, women of childbearing age comprise 15–17%. An estimated 0.6 to 3% of pregnant women in the developed world use cocaine. A 1995 survey in the US found that between 30,000 and 160,000 cases of prenatal exposure to cocaine occur each year. By one estimate, in the US 100,000 babies are born each year after having been exposed to crack cocaine in utero. An estimated 7.5 million PCE children are living in the US. Pregnant women in urban parts of the US and who are of a low use cocaine more often.
However, the real of cocaine use by pregnant women is unknown. Legal and ethical issues. Women have been prosecuted for using crack while pregnant. The harm to a child from PCE has implications for public policy and law. Some US states have pressed charges against pregnant women who use drugs, including, corruption of a minor, and distribution of drugs to a minor.
However these approaches have generally been rejected in the courts on the basis that a fetus is not legally a child. Between 1985 and 2001, more than 200 women in over 30 US states faced prosecution for drug use during pregnancy. In South Carolina, a woman who used crack in her third was sentenced to prison for eight years when her child was born with cocaine in its system.
The Supreme Court of South Carolina upheld this conviction. As of 2013, all but one of the women prosecuted in the US for drug use while pregnant have won their cases on appeal. From 1989 to 1994, in the midst of public outcry about cocaine babies, the Medical University of South Carolina tested pregnant women for cocaine, reporting those who tested positive to the police. The found the policy to be unacceptable on grounds in 2001.
Some advocates argue that punishment for crack-using pregnant women as a means to treat their addiction is a violation of their right to privacy. According to studies, fear of prosecution and having children taken away is associated with a refusal to seek prenatal care or medical treatment. Some nonprofit organizations aim to prevent PCE with.
One such initiative, offers women addicted to cocaine money as an incentive to undergo long-term birth control or, frequently, —an approach which has led to public outcry from those who consider this practice to be. Social stigma Children who were exposed to crack prenatally faced as babies and school-aged children; some experts say that the 'crack baby' stigma was more harmful than the PCE. Teachers were affected by these cultural stereotypes; such biases may have negatively affected the educational experiences of children thus stigmatized. Teachers who knew that specific children had been exposed to crack in utero may have expected these children to be disruptive and.
Children who were exposed to cocaine might be teased by others who knew of the exposure, and problems these children had might be misdiagnosed by doctors or others as resulting from PCE when they may really have been due to factors like illness or abuse. The social stigma of the drug also complicated studies of PCE; researchers labored under the awareness that their findings would have political implications. In addition, the perceived hopelessness of 'crack babies' may have caused researchers to ignore possibilities for early intervention that could have helped them. The social stigma may turn out to be a. Research Confounding factors A number of the effects that had been thought after early studies to be attributable to prenatal exposure to cocaine are actually due partially or wholly to other factors, such as exposure to other substances (including, or ) or to the environment in which the child is raised. PCE is very difficult to study because of a variety of factors that may confound the results: pre- and postnatal care may be poor; the pregnant mother and child may be; the amount of cocaine a mother takes can vary; she may take a variety of drugs during pregnancy in addition to cocaine; measurements for detecting deficits may not be sensitive enough; and results that are found may only last a short time.
Studies differ in how they define heavy or light cocaine use during pregnancy, and the time period of exposure during pregnancy on which they focus (e.g. First, second,. Drug use by mothers puts children at high risk for exposure to toxic or otherwise dangerous environments, and PCE does not present much risk beyond these risk factors. PCE is clustered with other risk factors to the child, such as physical abuse and neglect, and prenatal exposure to other substances.
Such environmental factors are known to adversely affect children in the same areas being studied with respect to PCE. Most women who use cocaine while pregnant use other drugs too; one study found that 93% of those who use cocaine or opiates also use tobacco, marijuana, or alcohol.
When researchers control for use of other drugs, many of the seeming effects of cocaine on head size, birth weight, and prematurity disappear. Addiction to any substance, including crack, may be a risk factor for child abuse.
Crack addiction, like other addictions, distracts parents from the child and leads to inattentive parenting. Mothers who continue to use drugs once their babies are born have trouble forming the normal parental bonds, more often interacting with their babies with a detached, unenthusiastic, flat demeanor. Conversely, low-stress environments and responsive caregiving may provide a protective effect on the child's brain, potentially compensating for negative effects of PCE. Many drug users do not get, for a variety of reasons including that they may not know they are pregnant. Many crack addicts get no medical care at all and have extremely poor diets, and children who live around crack smoking are at risk of inhaling. Cocaine using mothers also have a higher rate of such as and.
In some cases, it is not clear whether direct results of PCE lead to behavioral problems, or whether environmental factors are at fault. For example, children who have caregiver instability may have more behavioral problems as a result, or it may be that behavioral problems manifested by PCE children lead to greater turnover in caregivers. Other factors that make studying PCE difficult include unwillingness of mothers to tell the truth about drug history, uncertainty of dosages of street drugs and high rates of attrition (loss of participants) from studies. Animal models One way to address problems with uncertainty about cocaine's effects due to confounding factors is to use animal models; these allow experimenters to study the effects at specific doses and times. Studies have used mice, other rodents, rabbits, and primates. However, differences between species' physiology and times mean findings in animals may not apply to humans. Mice, rats, and rabbits have shorter gestational times, so experimenters must continue giving drugs after they are born to more closely model human gestation; however this introduces more differences.
Animals and humans metabolize drugs at different rates, and drugs that are highly in animals may not be in humans and vice versa. Animals cannot be used to measure differences in abilities such as reasoning that are only found in humans. Animal studies in various species have found that cocaine impacts brain structure, function, and chemistry, and causes long-term changes at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels. In research studies on pregnant rats, injected cocaine did less damage to cells than injected nicotine, and more recovery occurred between doses.
Adult rats that were exposed to cocaine prenatally have deficits in learning, memory, and motor skills, and may have abnormalities in dopamine processing. Animal research has also shown that offspring of males that used cocaine while their sperm were forming may go on to have abnormalities later in life. References. Aronson, JK (2008). Meyler's Side Effects of Psychiatric Drugs.
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