Mother’s use of alcohol and other drugs during pregnancy or while nursing has been proven to cause life-long behavioral problems in children and affecting areas vital for their success in school and life. These may include memory, attentiveness, cognitive performance, information-processing, and attention to tasks.

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can result in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), thought to be the leading cause of developmental delays in children and more prevalent than autism.  Children with FASD may have characteristic facial features and be small or can appear typical. However, the brain damage which has been done, has no cure. Typical behaviors of the brain damage are poor decision making, impulsivity, impaired memory, inability to think ahead or to understand consequences of their behavior. 

Studies tracking drinking patterns of fathers and health outcomes of their children suggest alcohol use in the preconception period (6 months prior to conception) can be related to increased risk of miscarriage, heart malformation, microcephaly, fetal growth, children’s mild cognitive impairments, and future mental health challenges, including anxiety. Although the underlying mechanisms are not understood, research has shown that alcohol use by males prior to conception changes the DNA in developing sperm and sperm activity. (Science Daily, October 2019. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003074846.htm)

Prenatal cannabis exposure is associated with greater risk for psychopathology during middle childhood. The US Surgeon General issued an advisory against any use of marijuana during pregnancy. (Results from ABCD Study, in Journal American Medical Assoc, Psychiatry. Published online September 23, 2020. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.2902.)

Short-term neonatal outcomes, such as lower birth weight and neonatal abstinence syndrome, are the well-recognized outcomes of opioid use during pregnancy. Emerging literature also reveal an association with longer-term adverse neurocognitive, behavioral, and developmental outcomes, which may become more noticeable as children reach preschool and school age. Genetic, environmental, and biological variables result in a highly complex picture. (PEDIATRICS Volume 144, number 2, August 2019  https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/144/2/e20190514.full.pdf) Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have shown that opioid exposure can cause long-lasting impairment in the brain’s ability to process sensory information, which may give rise to autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and substance use disorders during adolescence. (Journal of Neuroscience, January 2014 https://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2021/01/14/JNEUROSCI.2470-20.2020)

An interview with Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Surgeon General for California, in Mother Jones, states, “The Opioid EpidemicIs Literally Changing Kids’ Brains”, including increased risk that the children are more likely to use drugs later in life. In this article besides the impact in-utereo. Dr. Burke Harris discusses the Adverse Childhood Experience study and the impact of alcohol and drug use by parents on children’s early childhood development.  https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/the-opioid-epidemic-is-literally-changing-kids-brains/