Will Use of Stimulants While Pregnant Affect the Infant?

Stimulants are considered as a drug and are commonly used today. The question is will use of stimulants while pregnant affect the infant. A pregnant woman can be prescribed stimulants (Antidepressants) because of them being depressed and stressed out about everything that is occurring in their life while pregnant, but what many people do not see is it going to affect the infant long-term. Most mothers want what is best for their child and they want to make sure that their child is going to have a healthy life as much as possible. Is it safe to take the antidepressants while pregnant and will there be any risk factors? There is mainly a biological and environmental that reflect a child’s senses and development.

The biological part that would affect the behavior and development in childhood would be the intake of the antidepressants by the mother during pregnancy. About fifteen to twenty percent of women have some sort of mood disorders while pregnant, but only five to thirteen percent take an antidepressant drug. It is the most commonly used and most effective. The exposure to the antidepressants while pregnant impact the growth of the cortical network function. It basically could affect a child’s speech, hearing, and site.

The study was to see if the babies’ language growth is changed by antidepressants while in the womb and the response to the mother’s moods changes. The control group was the mothers whom were not depressed that much. There were also, the mothers who were just depressed without taking any antidepressant. There were the mothers whom were treated for their depression with antidepressants and were tested while the baby was still in the womb.

Then all the infants were tested about six and tenth month of age on their...

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...t a great deal. So with that the antidepressants can be a small factor in low birth weight, but are not hard evidence to show a change the factors in the study. A pregnant woman can be prescribed stimulants (Antidepressants) because of them being depressed and stressed out about everything that is occurring in their life while pregnant and may not affect the infant long-term.

Works Cited

Ramos, É., St-André, M., & Bérard, A. (2010). Association Between Antidepressant Use During Pregnancy and Infants Born Small for Gestational Age. Canadian Journal Of Psychiatry.

Weikum, W. M., Oberlander, T. F., Hensch, T. K., & Werker, J. F. (2012). Prenatal exposure to antidepressants and depressed maternal mood alter trajectory of infant speech perception. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America, 17221-17227. doi:10.1073/pnas.1121263109