ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on substance use during pregnancy and lactation and its effects on the developing fetus, neonate, and infant. The specific effects of substance use by pregnant women or women who are breast feeding upon the developing fetus, neonate, or infant are reviewed and discussed. We begin, in temporal order, with the effects of substance use during pregnancy.l
0 Substance Use During Pregnancy The focus of this section is on maternal substance use and human teratogenesis. A teratogen is broadly defined as any factor (e.g., drug) associated with the production of physical or mental abnormalities in the developing embryo or fetus. The word teratogen is derived from the Greek words "terato," monster, and "genesis," origin or beginning. It is estimated that some type of teratogenic effect can be found among 2% to 3% of all live births and that teratogenic effects, at least in part, account for 20% of the deaths that occur during the first five years of life. These effects, which can be acute and self-limiting, or irreversible and long-term, may be displayed in a variety of ways (L.A. Pagliaro & A.M. Pagliaro, 1995a; A.M. Pagliaro & L.A. Pagliaro, 1996).
