Promoting Healthy Prenatal Development Essay

Promoting Healthy Prenatal Development

Prenatal development is divided into three distinct stages these are the zygote, embryo and fetus.in the real sense these three periods are a representation of continuous phases of development during which the developing organism is sustained and protected by amniotic sac, placenta and umbical cord and after the fifth month it undergoes a series of changes to become an increasingly complex and differentiated organism. There are several conditions which influence this prenatal development. The paper will look at tow of these conditions and the potentially significant impact these conditions might have on the development of the child in the uterus and even beyond.

During prenatal development there are agents known as teratogens which can have an influence on the developing child hence producing abnormalities, might have an effect on the growth of the organism leading to physical and mental deviations.

Maternal characteristics

One of these conditions is maternal characteristics. For those women who have their first children when they are over the age of thirty five years or those who are under fifteen years they are likely to experience a lot of problems during their pregnancy as compared to those who are between this ages.in both of these groups the risks are often related to maternal health.For young adolescents they are unlikely to eat proper diets or even get prenatal care, on the other hand older women are more likely to suffer from diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, alcoholism among other diseases. Deficiencies in maternal diet are linked to increased rates of still birth, prematurity, infant mortality, small size, neural and physical defects .the particular form of a defect is related to the particular age the malnutrition takes place and how long it takes. Some of these defects have been successfully reduced by dietary supplements that are taken during pregnancy and even after birth. However the extent to which some of these defects can be reversed is not known .maternal emotional disturbance is also linked to some of the complications that are experienced in pregnancies and delivery as well as the irritability and hypersensitivity of some of the infants when they are born.it is quite difficult to find out the exact causes that are underlying to these relationships since emotionally upset women during pregnancy may be poorly adjusted in various ways which have an effect on how they give care to their infants as they….....