Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a disorder that encompasses a combination of lifetime mental and physical defects, appearing at a baby's birth, as a result of a woman drinking alcohol while she is pregnant. Fetal Alcohol Effect presents the same symptoms and brain damage, but in a less evident degree. 1 in 500 births result in Fetal Alcohol Syndrome with 1 in 300 births resulting in Fetal Alcohol Effect. The shame is both are preventable ...... DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL DURING PREGNANCY OR BREASTFEEDING.
Any type of beverage that contains any degree of alcohol is placing a fetus at risk and should be avoided during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Chemicals in alcohol easily pass through the placenta so that the baby absorbs the same amount of alcohol as the mother does. A small fetus with developing systems suffers devastating effects with even a small amount of alcohol, resulting in any number of lasting effects, with the most serious consequence - mental retardation. Even after the first trimester (3 months) of pregnancy there is still risk, because even though the major development of body organs have taken place, the brain's most significant development and growth takes place during the last trimester. Alcohol does the most damage to the brain than any other organ or part of an infant's body. There are certain characteristics that makes Fetal Alcohol Syndrome evident from the moment the child enters the world ....
· Abnormally small head · Low nasal bridge · Abnormally small eyes · Flat midface · Short nose · Thin upper lip · Permanent brain damage · Growth problems: shorter size, underweight, · Small head, deformed fingers and toes · Heart and kidney defects · Long-term behavioral problems · Central nervous dysfunction (including microcephaly, intellectual impairment, learning disabilities, attention deficits and hyperactivity).
Growth impairment, facial and physical abnormalities and central nervous system dysfunction must be present for a child to be diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Fetal Alcohol Effect comes into play when only 1 or 2 of the 3 forementioned are present and there is a history of mother drinking during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Therefore, Fetal Alcohol Effect comes into play when fetal alcohol exposure has come into the scenario.
There is no cure and once the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are there, then they are there permanently, leaving a child to deal with them for the duration of his/her life. On a positive note, abnormal facial and physical features decrease after a child reaches puberty. Unfortunately, there is a variable between children as to the degree of behavioral and intellectual side effects that remain. The outcome depends greatly on the environmental, and psychological supports available to the child and family.
