Alcohol and Pregnancy/ Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) happens in cases where consumption of alcohol by the pregnant mother results in birth defects. The real causes of FAS are the products generated when alcohol metabolizes. This leads to a decrease in the number of brain cells and malformation of the brain.

How Much Should Women Drink During Pregnancy?

Most children who are born and diagnosed with FAS have been born to women who drank around eight to 10 drinks a day, and children with more subtle signs of FAS generally have mothers who drank four to six drinks a day. When women drink around two drinks a day the only effect noted has been a small decrease in the birth weight, and no evidence of ill effect for drinking lower than this.

However, the most common approach (and the one recommended by health experts) is that women should abstain from drinking completely during pregnancy. This is the safest option to reduce the risk of birth defects, and as such labels on alcoholic products include warnings to this effect.

FAS is completely preventable by abstaining from alcohol during pregnancy.

Features of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

The features of FAS differ from child to child, though the most common is that the growth and performance is hindered in the head, face, skeleton and the heart. This means that the birth weight is greatly reduced, as is growth, which is a permanent problem.

The child’s head is usually smaller on comparison to children of the same age and the face will show signs such as a sunken nasal bridge, flattened cheekbones, a short nose, a thin upper lip and other characteristics.

There are also damages to performance, leading to impaired motor skills and hyperactive children. They usually will have a lower IQ, at the level of mild mental retardation.

The skeleton will show abnormal positions of joints, shortening of bones in fingers as well as a number of other birth defects.