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Birth Defects: Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs)
Q: What is a birth defect?
A birth defect is a problem that happens while
the baby is developing in the mother’s body. Most
birth defects happen during the first 3 months of pregnancy.
A birth defect may affect how the body looks,
works, or both. It can be found before birth, at
birth, or anytime after birth. Most defects are found
within the first year of life. Some birth defects (such
as cleft lip or clubfoot) are easy to see,
but others (such as heart defects or hearing loss) are found
using special tests (such as x-rays, CAT scans, or hearing
tests). Birth defects can vary from mild to severe.
Some birth defects can cause the baby to die. Babies
with birth defects may need surgery or other medical treatments,
but, if they receive the help they need, these babies often
lead full lives.
Q:What are the most common birth defects?
One of every 33 babies is born with a birth
defect. A birth defect can affect almost any part of
the body. The well being of the child depends mostly
on which organ or body part is involved and how much it is
affected.
Many birth defects affect the heart. About
1 in every 100 to 200 babies is born with a heart defect. Heart
defects make up about one-third to one-fourth of all birth
defects. Some of these heart defects can be serious,
and a few are very severe. In some places of the world,
heart defects cause half of all deaths from birth defects
in children less than 1 year of age.
Other common birth defects are “neural
tube defects,” which are defects of the spine (spina
bifida) and brain (anencephaly). They affect about
1 of 1,000 pregnancies. These defects can be serious
and are often life threatening. They happen less often
than heart defects, but they cause many fetal and infant
deaths.
Birth defects of the lip and roof of the mouth
are also common. These birth defects, known as “orofacial
clefts,” include cleft lip, cleft
palate, and combined cleft lip and cleft
palate. Cleft lip is more common than cleft
palate. In many places of the world, orofacial clefts
affect about 1 in 700 to 1,000 babies.
Q: What is my chance of having a baby
with a birth defect?
In the United States, about 3% of babies are
born with birth defects. Some women have a higher chance
of having a child with a birth defect. Women over the
age of 35 years have a higher chance of having a child with
Down syndrome than women who are younger. If taken
when a woman is pregnant, certain drugs can increase the
chance of birth defects. Also, women who smoke and
use alcohol while pregnant have a higher risk of having a
baby with certain birth defects. Other women have
a higher chance of having a baby with a birth defect because
someone in their family had a similar birth defect. To
learn more about your risk of having a baby with a birth
defect, you can talk with a genetic counselor. Also,
to reduce your chances of having a baby with a birth defect,
talk with your health care provider about any medicines that
you take, do not drink alcohol or smoke, and be sure to take
400 micrograms of the B vitamin folic acid every day. It
is the amount of folic acid found in most multivitamins.
Q. What causes birth defects?
We do not know what causes most birth defects. Sometimes
they just happen and are not caused by anything that the
parents did or didn't do. Many parents feel guilty
if they have a child with a birth defect even if they did
everything they could to have a healthy child. If
you have a child with a birth defect, it might be helpful
to talk with other parents who have had a child with the
same condition. Sometimes the causes of birth defects
are figured out after the baby is born. Whenever possible,
it is important to know what you can do for a better chance
of having a healthy child in the future. Some
actions might increase the chances of having a baby with
a birth defect. The questions and answers that follow
talk about some of these known risks.
To read the rest of this set of articles on
birth defects from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
please click here: http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/bd/facts.htm
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