How to avoid child disabilities during pregnancy: Things you need to know!

It is difficult to point out the factors leading to development of disabilities among the new borns and and usually there are multiple reasons for any syndrome to develop.

Disabilities among children are often seen in the form of subtle signs like social perverseness, withdrawal, hyperactivity or inability to focus on a particular task etc.

Disorders and disabilities with fancy names seem to expand in kids these days and according to medical research, syndromes like autism, ADHD, acalculia, etc. are one the rise.

Since most of these disabilities are linked to behavioral issues, parents are often blamed for poor parenting leading to self-questioning, rather than anything else.

"Parents often wonder where they have gone wrong but the fact is that many of these disabilities may be genetic in nature or associated with exposure to toxins in uterus during pregnancy", says Dr. Seema Sharma, Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Srishti- The Gynae clinic.

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A little bit of change in eating habits and in other aspects of life can go a long way to avoid preventable causes of learning disabilities. Following suggestions will succour you during pregnancy:

• Avoid both active and passive smoking during pregnancy. Maximum harm comes from being within two meters of smoker. That may mean leaving the room where someone is smoking.

• Toxins in the surroundings and chemical exposure by way of hair colors, bleaches etc can be seen as one of the reasons. For women who are in public relations and have to be well groomed all the time may not have much choice but majority can still cut on un-necessary exposure especially in the first trimester.

• Roadside food, chaats etc are more likely to make you sick. The germs and then medications may directly or indirectly affect your baby.

• Avoid recreational drugs like alcohol, cocaine etc. even in small quantities during pregnancy as these are known to affect development of brain in the growing fetus.

• Exposure to pesticides may elevate the risk of certain disorders and disabilities. Getting totally rid of pesticides might be a hard task but we recommend that you wash your fruits and vegetables well by soaking them before eating.

• Peeling fruits like apple, mangoes or sapota before eating can be beneficial as the top layer has the highest concentration of pesticide. This may reduce the nutritional value a little but it would also reduce the rate of danger caused by it. 

So to all the would be mothers out there, we wish for you a happy and healthy pregnancy!