Birth Defects and Medical Advancements

Archive for February, 2011

When you find out that you’re going to have a baby that has Down Syndrome, it can be a blow to you. This is a two part guide for parents that have learned that they are going to have a Down Syndrome baby.

• First, make sure that you’re able to find a doctor that’s going to care for you and your baby, and that is going to agree with your decision to keep your baby.  Usually the doctors who agree with the decision are going to offer the medical advice and information that is going to help both of you.
• Second, you should prepare the other children for their new brother or sister. Tell them about Down Syndrome and let them know that even though this new arrival is going to be special that they need to treat him or her the way that they treat one other.
• Third you should prepare the rest of your family for the event. Tell them the reasons that you made the decision and let them know that it’s what your spouse and you want to do. if they are responding with negative comments and sympathy, ask them to give you support and positive comments instead.
• Fourth, prepare your friends. Some of them are going to understand and be supportive, others aren’t going to be.  That’s something that you should expect because your family is going to be the same way. Each of the people that you know are going to have their own opinion on the things that you should or shouldn’t do without knowing that you made the decision already.
• Fifth, read any and all information that is available to you about Down Syndrome and about having a baby that has it.
• Finally, if you are going to go back to work once the baby comes, then you should look into the daycare centers that specialize or know how to care for the children who have special needs.

These are some of the things that you want to do before your baby with Down Syndrome is born.

Down Syndrome is perhaps one of the most commonly known birth defects that are known to man, since it’s evident when it a child has it.  Even though it happens in about 1 in 800 babies, it’s usually going to happen when the mom is older.

Children who have Down syndrome usually are going to have physical features that are characteristic in this birth defect.  These include slanted eyes, ears that are small and folded over on top, a mouth that’s small and which is going to make the child’s tongue appear bigger, a nose that’s small and flat, a neck that’s short, and hands that are small with fingers that are short.

Over half of the children that have this birth defect have hearing or visual impairments. Heart defects, intestinal malformations, and ear infections are also things that are common among the children that have it.

Even though the children who have this are mentally retarded to some degree, most of them have the ability to do most of the things that other children do, which includes talking, walking, and the ability to be toilet trained. The only thing is that most times they do it later than children who are unaffected.

There are parents who choose not to have a child that was diagnosed during the pregnancy with Down Syndrome because they’re not sure that they will be able to care for such a child. But for those who decide to keep the baby, the find that although their life is hard that it’s full of reward.

A birth defect that affects mostly Hispanics who have Caribbean ancestry and African Americans is sickle cell disease. It happens in approximately 1 in 625 babies of those two categories, and it’s tested in 30 states in the newborns.

This disease causes pain that is devastating and debilitating, as well as vital organ damage and sometimes death. It affects hemoglobin in a way that the cells are distorted. They’re not round like normal cells, but they are shaped like sickles or bananas, and that is where the name comes from.

These cells are trapped in both the spleen and the liver, and this results in the child being anemic.   In the severe cases, children who are affected can be short of breath, easily tired, and pale.  Pain episodes are the result of the cells being stuck, which is going to block the really small blood vessel, which is going to cut off oxygen to different parts of the body of the child.

A complication of this disease, usually in young children and infants, is that they are really vulnerable to bacterial infections that are severe.  Two of the weapons against the risk are shots and penicillin treatments that are given daily.

Even though there’s no cure for this terrible disease, there are therapies that are going to help with reducing the frequency and severity of the problems that are associated with it.

This birth defect is hard on the child and the parents and the parents do everything that they can to help their child and make them comfortable.

Perhaps one of the most devastating birth defects for parents is when their baby is born with a cleft palate or lip, because it’s so noticeable. It happens in approximately 1 in 700 babies that are born to Caucasian parents, and more in Asian babies and those who are members of certain Native American tribes. It doesn’t happen very often among the African American community.

It ‘s hard to figure out what causes it, but it the likely factors are environmental and genetic, both of which interact to prevent the upper lip, soft palate, or the hard palate from closing.

The cleft may be mild, and simply just appear as notch in the baby’s upper lip, or it could be severe, and include the nostril’s floor, the lip, and the baby’s dental arch. The development of language may be affected by the palate and lip’s structure and by side effects of infections in the middle ear that often accompany this birth defect due to the fact that the ears aren’t draining properly.

Babies that have this birth defect also need some help with eating, although those whose lip is usually odn’t have a lot of problems with eating. Due to the fact that they have a lot of trouble with sucking, they have to eat sitting up using a bottle that’s special.  If the condition is very severe, breastfeeding moms might have to pump their milk and use the bottle to feed the baby until it’s been repaired.

The surgery to fix the cleft lip needs to be done no later than 3 months old. For a cleft palate, the surgery is done later in life, around 6 months to a year so that the baby’s face can grow normally.

Even though there’s sometimes follow-up treatment that needs to be done, the repair of a cleft palate or lip will normally leave the baby with only a bit of scarring as well as a face that looks like the majority of children.

One of the birth defect that is rather common in the newborns, happening in 1 in 400 babies each year, is clubfoot. it happens approximately twice as much in the boys as it does in the girls, and there are a few types of foot and deformities that are associated with it. The cause of this birth deformity isn’t very clear, but it is probably a combination of the environmental and hereditary factors that affect the fetus while it’s growing.

Clubfoot is something that can either be mild or it can be severe, and it can also affect just one of the feet or both of them.  If it’s a mild case, it’s not going to hurt the baby and it won’t bother him or her until they start walking or standing.

For mild clubfoot cases, the treatment starts right after the baby is diagnosed and it involves gently making the foot go into the position that’s right and assisting the child with doing some special exercises.

If the clubfoot is more severe, however, the baby may need a treatment that’s more drastic, surgery, like bandaging and splints which is followed by some time spent in very special shoes, or plaster casts.  This is a process that could take anywhere from 3-6 months, along with checkups for a few years after.

Clubfoot is something that is very fixable and does not really hurt the baby if they have it.  It just looks uncomfortable and it hurts the parents to see their child in this state.  If a child has severe clubfoot, they are going to tough road ahead of them and they’ll need all the support that they can get.

One of the most common types of birth defects that happen in babies is a congenital heart defect.  They occur in approximately 1 in 110 babies that are born.  They have a few different causes, including abnormalities in the genes and mistakes that happened while the fetus was developing.  Some of them are very mild and have no symptoms that are undetected without medical equipment.

One of the ways that it’s found is through a normal examination when the doctor hears a heart murmur. Some of the murmurs don’t mean anything, but usually the doctor is going to want to run more tests to find out if it’s because of a defect in the heart. .

The heart defects which are more serious can be detected and if they aren’t treated can lead to something known as congestive heart failure. This is when the baby’s heart can’t pump enough blood to the baby’s lungs or other organs.

The symptoms of a congenital heart defecta re:

• Problems breathing
• Rapid heartbeat
• Bluish or pale grey skin
• Problems with feeding, which will lead to not enough weight gain.
• Swelling in the baby’s abdomen, around their eyes, or in their legs