Chances of a Baby With Down Syndrome

Birth Defects

Birth defects may not be a thing that you think about at all or you may have worries that your baby will be born with some type of birth defect; you may have even had a prenatal screening that told your baby could be born with a birth defect. No matter what the reason birth defects do happen and many are not as severe as some parents may believe.

Many birth defects today can be minor or are treatable with advanced technology. The best way to combat birth defects is to learn what can cause them and then do your best to prevent birth defects in your children. However, you must realize that healthy parents can in fact have a baby born with congenital birth defects.

Birth defects are abnormalities of shape, function, or body metabolism that the baby has at birth. Some of these defects lead to physical or mental disabilities and some can be fatal. There are over 4,000 different types of birth defects that vary from minor to serious. Even though some of these can be only minor problems or are treatable, birth defects is the number one cause of death in children under the age of one.

Around 150,000 babies are born each and every year with some type of birth defect in the United States, according to the March of Dimes and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists state that three babies out of every 100 born in the US has a major birth defect.

Causes of birth defects can be from unknown reason, environmental, or genetic.

Types of birth defects include structural or metabolic defects. These defects are those where a portion of the body is missing or is incorrectly created. Congenital defects are normally brought on from an infection the mother had before or during her pregnancy, and other birth defects can be caused from alcohol or drug abuse of the mother.

Remember, birth defects can happen to perfectly healthy parents. There are many birth defects that researchers are not sure what causes, but are working on ways to cure all types of birth defects. The March of Dimes states that around 60 percent of all babies born with birth defects there is no known cause. The rest of the birth defects are from such things as genetic factors, environmental factors or even a combination of both of these.

The best thing to do is to have regular checkups with your doctor, do not drink, do not smoke, and listen to the advice of your physician.