Birth defects are different from birth injuries in very significant ways. They are structural changes to the body of the baby that present during birth. However, they can be found and identified before birth, during birth, and after birth. The severity of a child’s birth defect depends on the body part affected. Some might not affect the child at all, while others can affect someone’s expected lifespan. According to the CDC, approximately 120,000 babies are born with birth defects each year. This makes them much more common than birth injuries.