Birth Defects – Causes, Symptoms And Treatments

It is definitely an exciting time for you and your family when a newborn baby adds the headcount of your family. There are no words to describe the feeling that you get when you see and hold your newborn in your arms and the feeling of happiness associated with it.

However, the irony of the practicality might hit you when you witness your newborn arrive into this beautiful world with one or more defects in his or her body. Sometimes, it is a difficult situation when some parents realize this post birth, and, in some extreme cases, may be told about the impending few days left with the baby.

This is why understanding birth defects become crucial for parents.

What Are Birth Defects?

At the time of birth, there can be functional or structural abnormalities of body parts and organs in a baby. These cause mental or physical disabilities and are referred to as birth defects. Few of these defects happen to be the cause of occurrence of death, even before the baby passes its first birthday.

What Are The Causes Of Birth Defects?

Generally there are various causes such as genes, chromosomes and environmental effects which can trigger birth defects in a baby.

• Genetic issues arising out of the malfunction found in either your genes or your spouse’s genes.
• Problems related to the chromosomes.
• Adverse effects of the region where you lived, during the period of your pregnancy, can be one of the major causes.
• The bad effects of some medicinal drugs, tobacco, cigarettes or alcohol consumption during pregnancy are one of the fatal causes.

[ Read: Causes Of Blindness ]

Common Types Of Birth Defects

There are many types of birth defects that can occur in your baby. These mainly happen if you have some malfunctioning gene or maintained bad habits during your pregnancy.

1. Structural Defects

These defects at birth involve the malfunctioning or problems related to your baby’s body parts. Some of the common types which fall under this category are:

• Cleft lip.
• Defects in baby’s heart.
• Abnormal state of your baby’s feet.
• Defects in the neural tube.

2. Functional Defects At Birth

The functional birth defects can cause your baby’s body to have a malfunctioning body which would be reflected in her physical stature as a whole.

• These problems can retard the development of natural abilities of your new born baby.
• It leaves a lasting impact on your new born baby.
• The functional birth defects fall in to different categories.

Common Categories Of Functional Birth Defects

There are many birth defects related to your baby’s nervous system or the brain. Each of these defects is distinct and have their own separate causes and symptoms associated with it.

1. Learning Disability

This birth defect can cause certain learning problems in your baby.

a. The symptoms:

Your baby would face one or more of these symptoms:

• Experiencing trouble to learn the alphabets, numerical or rhyming words.
• Late learning of language and limited vocabulary.
• Unable to understand what she is reading or writing.
• Struggles to put the ideas into papers.
• No knowledge regarding how to approach a task and how to complete it.

b. The Causes:

One or more of these would be the underlying cause of triggering learning disability in your baby:

• Abnormalities of chromosomes.
• Complications at the time of birth leading to lack of supply of oxygen to the brain of the new born.
• Premature birth.
• Prolonged and acute illness or injury during your baby’s early childhood stage.
• Following an unhealthy lifestyle during your pregnancy.

c. Treatments:

You can follow these remedies to overcome this birth defect:

• Adopting special education methodology.
• Boosting the self-esteem of your baby.
• Regular sessions with speech therapists.

2. Autism

Autism spectrum disorder, also known as autism, happens to be a range of disorders of the neurodevelopment that causes disturbances in your baby’s communication style.

a. The Symptoms:

If your baby has these symptoms then it indicates she has autism:

• Inability to communicate.
• Inability in interact with social circles.

b. Causes Of Autism:

These are some of the causes of autism.

• Generic factors.
• Unhealthy environment at prenatal and post natal stages.
• Lack of Vitamin D.
• Oxidative stress.

c. Treatments For Autism:

You can offer your baby these therapies to find good improvement:

• Speech Therapy on languages.
• Occupational Therapies.

[ Read: Autism In Infants ]

3. Metabolic Disorders

This disability would prevent your baby’s body’s ability to discard the body wastes. It would be still worse with conditions like hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria in your baby.

4. Sensory Problems

Your baby would experience sensory issues like blindness right from birth and cataracts which is also a birth defect.

1. Blindness At Birth

a. Causes Of Blindness At Birth:

One or more of these factors can lead to blindness at birth in your baby:

• History of congenital cataracts, retinoblastoma or metabolic disease in your family.
• Premature birth.
• Low weight of your baby at birth.
• You might catch up infections while you are pregnant.

b. Symptoms Of Blindness At Birth:

You might spot one or more of these symptoms in your baby:

• Rubbing eyes constantly.
• Extreme sensitivity to light.
• Low ability to follow an object.
• Redness in the eyes that gets to persist.
• The pupil of eye appears to be white in color.

c. Treatments For Blindness At Birth:

Try these methods to overcome these issues:

• General eye check-up must be conducted for your newborn immediately.
• Routine eye check-up right from the age of three.
• Following a diet with vitamins and nutrients.

2. Cataracts

a. Causes Of Cataracts:

Your baby might have cataracts owing to the following causes:

• Eye infection in your baby.
• Injury to the eyes.
• Poor development at prenatal stages.
• Following an unhealthy lifestyle during the stages of pregnancy.
• Effects of air pollution.

b. Symptoms of Cataracts:

Watch out for these symptoms in your baby:

• Cloudy, filmy, foggy or blurry vision.
• Glaring problems during the day.
• Double vision that almost appears as a superimposed image.

c. Treatments For Cataracts:

You have to follow any of these remedies to overcome cataract in your baby:

• Surgeries
• Lesser treatments
• Medications

We hope that these points regarding the causes, symptoms and treatments for baby birth defects prove to be useful for you.

If you are planning a pregnancy or are expecting, make sure that you seek the advice of your doctor and follow a healthy lifestyle to deliver a healthy baby.

In case your doctor give you some more advice or recommend a new treatment, do share it with us.

References : 1 , 2

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