Hi Aware of all the social aspects/concerns, probably more than most, but can anyone point me to some factual information that tells me whether the foetus will have been affected by any of he substa

[shril]

Hi,

Aware of all the social aspects/concerns, probably more than most, but can anyone point me to some factual information that tells me whether the foetus will have been affected by any of he substances used by my daughter's drug addict boyfriend (heroin, weed, alcohol)

If it's just him using then I don't think so. However he needs to get tested for hep b sharpish (up to 80% of injectable drug users have it) and it easily passed on.
I work in drugs/ alcohol rehab so if you have any questions re treatment etc feel free to ask.

At the moment we are still in the really early stages of finding out how the father's behaviour prior to pregnancy impacts the future health of his child so you won't find much out there. That said, we would have noticed it before now if there was a clear correlation between paternal drug use and an serious health issues in the child so please try not to worry.

If you want to look up what little research there is so far then the term epigenetics is a good one to search under.

That's some really good advice thanks. I do know she dragged him off to the old sexual health clinic a while ago to get him tested but seems a good idea for her to get him there again, you never know. Glad to say she learned her lesson on the drug front several years ago - harder lesson than most but well learned as a result! :)

Hep b isn't an STD as such and is sort of treatable- the local drug service should becable to test him quick. Good luck, sounds like she's doing really well anyway and Congrats on being a gran!