10 Common Pre-Existing Conditions in Babies

When it comes to pre-existing conditions, no health insurance plan can reject you for it. However, for certain states, they can actually charge you more, depending on the condition. Insurance plans also can’t refuse to pay for essential health benefits for any of the pre-existing conditions in your child. However, if the GOP healthcare bill passes, then many of these advantages are at risk of being taken away.

As for the pre-existing conditions, there are actually a handful of common pre-existing conditions that can happen to a baby. When the baby is in the womb, doctors and nurses can tell if your baby is developing any conditions even before birth. Through the ultrasound and doing tests, they can determine if your baby has developed any health conditions. But aside from that, babies can also develop conditions right after birth. If you're curious of the types of conditions, these are the most common pre-existing conditions in babies.

Reflux

An infant reflux happens when food is backed up from the stomach and this causes the baby to spit up. Also known as gastroesophageal reflux (GER), this condition is actually pretty common in newborn babies, but it gets less common once the baby starts to get older. Up to 18 months, the reflux should soon subside.

Since it’s common, in fact, a reflux can occur in healthy infants a couple of times a day. As long as you know that your child is healthy, then the reflux that happens to your baby shouldn’t be alarming. However, as for something that's serious, which is rare, the reflux can be a sign of an allergy, blockage in the digestive system, or even gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Cryptorchidism

Among the pre-existing conditions in babies, cryptorchidism, which is also know as undescended testicles, is a condition where one or both of the baby boy’s testicles have not moved down in their proper place in the scrotum. This occurs when the baby starts to grow in the mother’s womb, his testicles start to form inside of his abdomen and move down in the scrotum right before birth.

However, there are cases when they don’t move and the boy is born with one or two testicles undescended. But in most of these cases, this occurs when the baby is premature. By the time the baby boy is six months old, the undescended testicles should move down on their own. If they don’t, then getting medical treatment is crucial in this position.

Blocked Tear Ducts

Blocked tear ducts is also one of the pre-existing conditions in babies that can occur. When you’re crying, tears normally drain from the eyes through small tubes which are known as the tear ducts. Tear ducts are actually from the eyes and go into the nose. But when the tear ducts are somehow blocked or can’t open properly, no tears can be drained from the eyes. And this leaves the eyes to be very dry and swollen.

This mostly happens to newborns and even at any age. For new borns, they affect about six out of 100 newborns. Most of the time, the blocked tear duct can be overcome through the baby’s first year. In addition, this condition doesn’t impact the child’s sight or give any serious eye problems.

Prematurity

When it comes to prematurity in babies, this happens when they’re born more than three weeks before the baby’s due date. This also mainly occurs when the child is born three months before the due date, and it’s possible. Premature birth is one that occurs before the start of the 37th week of pregnancy.

For babies who are born way too early, they usually have developed complicated medical problems. Either way, the complications vary from the prematurity. However, the earlier your child is born, the higher the risk of developing any complications.

Congenital Heart Defects

A congenital heart defect is among the common pre-existing conditions in babies. This condition happens where there’s a problem in the heart’s structure when the baby is born. In fact, these defects can range from mild to severe. Anything that has to do with the heart is considered one of the more major issues.

This condition happens because there was an incomplete or abnormal development that took place in the fetus’ heart throughout the early weeks of pregnancy. And some of these can be associated with genetic disorders like down syndrome. However, the cause of this is still unknown, yet, there are treatments available.

Cleft Palate/Lip

A cleft lip is when there’s an opening in the center of the lip. For a cleft palate, there’s an opening in the roof of the mouth. And the two of them are among the common pre-existing conditions in babies. Clefts occur when there’s been an incomplete development of the lip or palate in the womb.

During the process of developing, the lip and the palate actually develop separately for the first three months. In most cases, the left and right parts of the lip fuse together to create the normal upper lip. Just like many conditions, the cause for this condition is unknown, but it can occur if it runs in the family.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Yes, fetal alcohol syndrome occurs when the woman drinks alcohol during her pregnancy. This is also sometimes known as FASDs, which is the umbrella term for a range of disorders. Since it’s usually a serious condition, the disorder can range from mild to severe and even cause physical and mental birth defects.

From the common pre-existing conditions in babies, FAS gives many problems with vision, hearing, memory, attention span, and abilities to learn as well as communicate. Since the defects vary from one person to the other, the damage is usually permanent.

Sickle Cell Anemia

While normal red blood cells are in the shape of round discs, those with sickle cell disease have sickle-shaped red blood cells. They’re also seen as the shape of crescent moons. In fact, since this condition can sometime be serious, it can cause painful episodes, infection, chronic anemia, and damage to the organs in the body.

As for the complications in sickle cell disease, they vary from person to person and it also depends on the type of sickle cell disease they have. While some people are fairly healthy, others have to be hospitalized pretty often. And sickle cell disease can be treated with treatments most of the time.

Spina Bifida

In babies, spina bifida is a birth defect that’s called a neutral tube defect. This usually occurs when the bones of the spine don’t properly form around the part of the baby’s spinal cord. This condition can actually be mild to severe. While mild is the most common form, this usually doesn’t cause problems or even need any treatments. There will usually be a dimple, birthmark, or a hairy patch on the back.

As for a more severe condition, fluid will leak out of the spine and even push against the skin. At this point, you can see a bulge in the skin. And in many other cases, there are no other symptoms. This is also one of the pre-existing conditions in babies.

Hydrocephalus

Finally, from the pre-existing conditions in babies is hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is a condition in the brain where cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), clear, watery fluid, surrounds and cushions the brain as well as the spinal cord. From this, it can’t be drained from the brain. Then, it pools and causes a buildup of fluid within the skull. This condition can actually make the baby’s and young child’s head swell just to make room for the excess fluid.

This condition actually has to be treated since it can lead to brain damage, loss of mental and physical abilities, and possibly death. From the early diagnosis, a treatment is crucial, and most children recover from this.