We have heard from ages that women expecting a child must cut down on alcohol or drug usage as it can harm the fetus in many fatal ways. And it’s true, to conceive a baby and for a healthy pregnancy, the use of alcohol and drugs should be avoided.
But there’s another fact, which is not given much consideration, and it’s about time it should be highlighted. The fact is that men’s alcohol or drug addiction can harm the baby in fatal ways too. This fact has been studied and proved. Men can cause as much harm to the fetus as much as a woman bearing the baby.
This article will help all the men with alcohol or drug addiction out there who are trying to conceive a child with their partner; you must consider giving up your addiction for your future generation.
Fetal Alcohol Condition
Normally, it is advised to avoid drinking alcohol or taking drugs to conceive a child. That, for a fact, is true, but this does not mean that your child is safe from fetal alcohol syndrome. You have to give up your alcohol and drugs to conceive a healthy fetus. This is not only true for the woman’s part but ALSO for the man.
It’s obvious that the sperm of the man can fertilize the egg, how can an unhealthy man’s sperm perform its function? Since your body goes under massive malnutrition when you are addicted to alcohol or drugs, you cannot expect it to do what it is supposed to under healthy circumstances.
So if you are wondering whether a man can cause birth defects to his child because of the alcohol or drug addiction, then the answer is very simple, loud, and clear. Yes, he can!
Alcohol and drug use can affect the body of an average healthy person in various ways, whether for short term or long term. From an increase in stress, anxiety, depression to behavioral changes of the person. From heart problems to liver and kidney malfunction. From loss of cognitive functions to loss of a healthy lifestyle. All these effects on the human body can cause birth defects in the baby they are going to have. So an alcohol or drug-addicted man is very much responsible for birth defects in his baby.
Below are a few ways in which alcohol and drug addiction can cause birth defects. These are caused as a consequence of addiction to alcohol and drugs.
1. Sperm Damage
An average healthy man produces over a million sperms every day, but the only one can be of quality to fertilize the egg of the woman. This is because the number of sperms that are potentially healthy enough to fertilize the egg is very small in number, despite the production of millions of sperms each day.
So when a man with alcohol or drug addiction is trying to conceive will be most likely unsuccessful as the addiction to alcohol or drugs can cause short term as well as long term side effects which be a hindrance in conceiving a child. Alcohol and all kinds of drugs are harmful to the body. They are unhealthy. They can affect the quality production of the sperm as well as the quantity of sperm in the semen. A drug or alcohol-addicted man’s sperm will be less in concentration, which makes it unable to move or swim towards the egg, resulting in difficulty in conceiving. Such addictions damage the sperm.
Even if an addicted man conceives, his sperm will not be as healthy, which can cause birth defects in the fetus later.
2. Impaired Development of Brain
If the father of the child was unhealthy and malnutrition due to his addiction to drugs and alcohol, there is a high chance of his baby to have a reduction of brain growth. This means the brain of the baby does not grow fully or is impaired, which can cause various disabilities because of the ingrowth of the baby’s brain. The brain is the fundamental organ of the body; without it functioning properly, the body cannot function on its own. As drug addiction can have a long term side effect on the health of a person, it will in turn be resulted in affecting their child’s health as well by causing birth defects.
3. Learning Disabilities
Men with addiction to alcohol and drugs can cause cognitive disabilities in their unborn and newborn babies. The unhealthy lifestyle causes the sperm to damage, which in turn is not fully functional in its capacity. More than less, children born to addicted fathers have learning disabilities. They are more prone to be born with autism or any other mental disability, which can cause them difficulty in learning.
4. Immature Birth
At times, immature sperms that fertilize the egg and form an embryo can result in an immature birth. The birth of the baby may be earlier than the expected date because of complications that arose as a side effect of the use of excessive alcohol or drugs.
5. Heart Disease
A sperm low in concentration of alcohol or drug-addicted man can cause birth defects in his child, such as heart diseases. The child before it’s born, may develop heart problems or may do after birth. In both cases, the unhealthy lifestyle of the man due to his addiction will be the cause of it.
6. Low Weight at Birth
When the sperm which fertilized the egg was from an unhealthy man addicted to drugs or alcohol, there is a high risk of the baby having low birth weight because of the malnutrition conceiving and pregnancy. The baby is born with likely less weight compared to the healthy baby of a healthy man.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is not to reduce your intake of alcohol or drugs shortly before conceiving, so you don’t harm the fetus; you still can even after it’s conceived. The real bottom line is to avoid the use of alcohol or drugs, so far so, addiction to these substances. They can cause severe damage to your body and personality, which in turn will have a major effect on conceiving a child, and even after it is conceived, there is a high possibility of them developing birth defects due to the addiction.
Both men and women should abstain from addiction to drugs and alcohol not only at the time of trying to successfully conceive but long before, during, and after the birth of their child, as addiction can have long-lasting results, not on your health but your unborn child can suffer from birth defects. It is not only for the woman to avoid alcohol and drugs but majorly for the man because the baby can only be born when a sperm fertilizes the egg. Addiction to drugs and alcohol will only damage your sperm concentration, which will result in long term side effects as birth defects in your baby.
If you wish to be a father someday, don’t cause your child harm because of something you are doing now. It can affect them in ways that could be fatal to the fetus.
- What Is The First Step In Recovery From Addiction? - November 4, 2020
- How To Write A Letter To A Drug Addict - November 4, 2020
- Can You Get Addicted To Non-alcoholic Beer? - November 3, 2020