According to leading experts, the consumption of alcohol, during pregnancy is the leading known preventable cause of mental and physical birth defects in the United States. It has also been shown to be the leading known cause of mental retardation in the Western world.



Despite these very real and frightening dangers, many pregnant women still drink alcohol. The statistics show that each year in the United States, 1 out of every 750 babies is born with these functional, physical and developmental problems. Another 40,000 are born each year with fetal alcohol effects (FAE). The primary effect of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are those permanent and irreversible damages to the brain and the central nervous system. This effectively means there is no cure once the damage is done.

The effects of the syndrome on children are several facial characteristics: flatter cheekbones, an indistinct philtrum, and smaller eye openings. A thin upper lip and smooth philtrum are signs used by a professional to diagnose FAS. The presence of FAS facial features indicates brain damage, though brain damage may also exist if they are not. The risk factor for brain damage increases significantly as the eyes get smaller, the philtrum gets flatter, and the lip gets thinner. In point of fact, studies reveal that the more prominent these FAS attributes are, the more likley of damage to the brain.

Individuals with FAS also exhibit learning disabilities, poor impulse control, do not understand personal boundaries, cannot manage anger, show signs of stubbornness, tend to be far too friendly with strangers, show poor daily living skills, experience delays developing, have poor attention or concentration making them easily distractible. mental retardation, epilepsy, display confusion under pressure, show trouble trying to distinguishing between fantasy and reality, have slower thought processing, display poor judgment, and lack fine motor and gross motor skills.

Since the problems associated with FAS tend to intensify as children go into adulthood, these people also show an increased incidence of mental illness, are more likely to be suspended, expelled from school or dropping out of school, and are more likely to be charged or convicted with a crime. FAS-affected individuals are more likely to exhibit inappropriate sexual behavior through sexual advances, sexual touching, or promiscuity, and suffer from alcohol and drug abuse or dependency. Children with FAE display the same symptoms, but to a lesser degree.

Every pregnancy is different. Drinking alcohol may cause damage to one baby more than another. You could have one child who is born healthy and another child born with problems. Mothers consume alcohol during the first trimester of pregnancy have kids with the most severe problems because that is when the brain is developing. The connections in the baby's brain don't get made properly when alcohol is present.

Brain structures and brain cells tend to be malformed or can be underdeveloped by the prenatal exposure. The risk of causing brain damage exists throughout the entire pregnancy, though, since the fetal brain develops continually through each trimester. Although full-blown FAS is the result of chronic alcohol use during pregnancy, FAE and ARND may occur with only occasional or binge drinking, seriously damaging a developing nervous system.

Clearly, abusing alcohol during pregnancy is dangerous. No evidence exists which determines exactly how much alcohol ingestion will produce birth defects. Each women's body handles alcohol differently, a lot of women can be drinking and not know they are pregnant.

The only foolproof way to be sure that FAS or FAE is prevented is to not drink alcohol while pregnant. Since experts do not know whether the difference in the quantity of damage done to the fetus is caused by the amount, how frequently alcohol is consumed or at what time during a pregnancy the alcohol is consumed, the current recommendation first made by the Surgeon General in 1981 and again in 2005, is for a woman not to drink at all while she is expecting or planning to become pregnant.

Alcohol easily passes the placental barrier and the developing fetus is not equipped to eliminate alcohol so, the fetus tends to receive a high concentration of alcohol, which lingers longer than it would in the mother's system. She runs the risk giving birth to a child who will pay the price for her alcohol consumption, both in mental and physical deficiencies, or behavioral problems throughout the course of his or her entire life. People with severe problems may experience physical and emotional disabilities, may not be able to take care of themselves as adults, and quite frequently, they may never be able to work, causing a burden both to the prospective parents and society, as a whole.