Alcohol threat to baby health
SO 2019 starts as 2018 ended!
The media and authorities have informed us that factors such as particulates in the air, underfunding of the NHS, and social deprivation are all contributing factors to the deterioration in our children’s health.
The M.E.N. itself featured an article last year on how particulates in the air around Manchester were affecting our health (Helping you breathe easy, M.E.N. July 5, 2018).
However, I have yet to see more than two very small columns in any paper dealing with what must be the most common and damaging foetal child poison of today.
When tissue is growing and developing in the child, in the womb, it is at its most sensitive to the damaging effects of any poison.
Alcohol has its effects in the adult population by being a solvent that is able to cross the blood/brain barrier and interfere with nerve transmission.
A small amount makes you giddy, more makes you drunk, and enough will kill you.
One of alcohol’s other properties is its ability to cross through the placenta into the developing child so that it, the foetus, gets the same blood level as the pregnant mother.
She gets giddy, so does the baby. She gets drunk, so does the baby. She gets a hang over, so does the baby.
But as all the foetal child’s tissues are developing rapidly they are all more susceptible to the damaging effects of the alcohol.
They are also less likely to heal, resulting in permanent damage that will not show until after the child is born. This may be low birth weight, poor lung function or reduced brain function.
We used to use alcohol to preserve pathological specimens as it denatures the protein to prevent decomposition. What has it done to the new born baby while in the mum’s womb?
The article ‘Rise in number of baby deaths’ (M.E.N. January 4) would indicate that IVF abroad, cuts to tax credits etc are considered factors more serious than alcohol as alcohol is not mentioned once.
Would someone celebrate the birth of their child by giving it a vodka and coke in the first nine months of its life ? No, they wouldn’t! So don’t do the same in the nine months before it’s born.
Can anyone think of a more toxic substance to add to your babies blood? I can’t! AR, address supplied