Facts about fetal alcohol syndrome
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can cause a series of mental and physical deficiencies in a baby. It is also completely preventable.
When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, that alcohol goes right into the area in the body where the baby is growing. Unlike our system, which can handle the break down and removal of all sorts of substances, the baby's body doesn't have any filters and therefore often gets a higher concentration of alcohol than the adult who is doing the drinking.
The alcohol in the baby's system can cause delays or breakdowns in the development of the baby. Some of the worst cases are seen when the mother drinks in the first trimester, which is when the brain is developing. The second and third trimesters should not be a green light to drink, though. Other complex developments are happening in the brain and organs of the baby throughout those later months, developments that can be slowed, or altered, by alcohol intake.
Even though it is completely preventable, about 1 in 750 babies are born with fetal alcohol syndrome, many more with fetal alcohol effects, a milder version.
Some of the signs of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are:
Organ dysfunction
Facial abnormalities
Delayed development
Low birth weight.
Behavioral problems
Poor motor skills
Learning difficulties
With this knowledge, many mothers-to-be wonder if there is an amount of alcohol that is o.k. Studies differ on this issue. Since each woman processes and digests alcohol differently, there is no clear-cut line of safety for drinking alcohol while pregnant. Most doctors recommend avoiding it altogether until the baby is born.
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