Birth Defects in Children

Overview

A birth defect (congenital anomaly) is a health problem or abnormal physical change that is present when a baby is born.

Birth defects can be very mild, where the baby looks and acts like any other baby. Or birth defects can be more severe. Some birth defects cause a single problem. Others cause problems in more than 1 body system or organ. Birth defects may cause lifelong disability and illness. Some severe birth defects can be life-threatening. A baby may live for only a few weeks or months. Or a child may die at a young age, such as when they are a teen.

Some birth defects can't be cured. These include defects that cause learning or thinking problems. But many physical birth defects can be treated with surgery. Repair is possible for many birth defects, including cleft lip or cleft palate, and certain heart defects.

Causes

When a baby is born with a birth defect, the first question often asked by the parents is "How did this happen?" Sometimes this question can't be answered. This can be very upsetting for parents. It's normal to want to know why your baby has a health problem.

Birth defects can happen for many reasons. They can happen because of the mother's exposure to certain environmental factors, infections, or illegal drugs. They can also occur if there is a vitamin deficiency during pregnancy. Or they can happen because of certain genes or changes in genes (mutations). It could also be a combination of these things. But often the cause isn't known.

The different causes of birth defects include:

• Inheritance and gene defects. Inheritance means a trait passed on to you from a parent. Examples of normal inherited traits are eye color and blood type. Genes are what give you your traits. Sometimes a child can inherit not only those genes for normal traits such as eye color, but also disease-causing genes that cause a birth defect.
• Chromosome problems. Chromosomes are stick-like structures in the center (nucleus) of each cell. Chromosomes contain your genes. Changes in chromosomes can cause health problems.
• Multifactorial inheritance. This means that many things are involved in causing a birth defect. These things are often both genetic and environmental.
• Teratogens. A teratogen is a substance that can cause a birth defect. It is often something in the environment that the mother may be exposed to during pregnancy. It could be a prescribed medicine, an illegal drug, alcohol use, a toxic chemical, or a disease that the mother has. Any of these could increase the chance for the baby to be born with a birth defect.

Risk Factors

Birth defects are found in babies all over the world, in families from all countries and backgrounds. Any time a person becomes pregnant, there is a chance the baby will have a birth defect. Most babies are born healthy. But almost 1 in every 33 babies born in the U.S. has a major birth defect. The risk for birth defects varies by type of defect, family health history, age of parents, and other factors. Your healthcare provider can tell you more about your child's risk for birth defects.

Symptoms

Symptoms vary widely. They depend on the type of birth defect. Symptoms can be a bit different for each child. They can include things such as:

• Abnormal shape of the head, eyes, ears, mouth, or face
• Abnormal shape of the hands, feet, or limbs
• Trouble feeding
• Slow growth