All mother's or women who are planning on becoming pregnant have been concerned at some point with the baby having some sort of problem and or birth defect. Worrying about a birth defect is a common occurrence among women. This article touches upon what the definition of a birth defect, how many types there are, risk factors and a few ways to prevent them.

What Is A Birth Defect?

A birth defect is classified as abnormal that is also present at birth. Another name for it is a congenital disorder. As a whole most birth defects occur during the first 3 months of pregnancy. Birth defects can be mild or serious. Birth defects can be found before birth, during birth or even after birth. Some of these defects are easy to see right away others may need special tests in order to see them, such as hearing and or heart problems. Some problems may not surface until later on in life.

A birth defect is a problem that results from an error in the way the heart, brain, and spinal cord, kidney, bone, muscle, skin or other body organ has developed. Babies with these birth defects may need medical treatments and even surgery. Moreover, a birth defect may affect how the body works, looks or both.

Studies show that one out of 33 babies born each year in the United States has a birth defect. In addition, about 70% of babies are born with a birth defect and there isn't any known cause to the problem.

What Are The Types Of Birth Defects?

Studies show there are more than 3,000 differect types of birth defects. They can be divided into 3 types, which are structural, genetic and caused by exposure to a chemical agent or infectious disease.

Structural - A structural birth defect occurs when some part of the baby's body is not formed right or missing. A defect like this can be internal such as a heart defect or external like a clubfoot. A structural defect may have more than one cause. Heart defects are one of the more common types of defect. Nearly one in 125 babies are born with a birth defect. Neural tube defects are also a common structural defect. These are defects that occur when the spinal cord or brain aren't covered correctly. Examples of neural tube defects are anencephaly and spina bifida.

Genetics - Genetic defects are caused by errors in one or more genes passed on by the parents (inherited defects), by a damaged, missing, or extra chromosome (chromosomal disorders) or by a mixture of factors (multifactorial defects). A few examples of inherited disorders are cysctic fibrosis, tay sachs disease, sickle cell disease. Chromosomal disorders are an example of a problem that occurred when the egg and sperm were joining. The older the women are the greater the chance of birthing a child with a chromosomal disorder.

Down syndrome - Multifacterial defects are a result of the interaction of the parents genes with the environment of the developing fetus. Both abdominal wall defects and cleft palate are examples of multifacterial defects.

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