The Irreversible Damage Caused by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Essay

Alcohol is not the solution; it’s proven that those who consume alcohol have a greater risk to have a baby with fetal alcohol syndrome. Signs and symptoms are different on most babies but may include different physical defects as intellectual or cognitive disabilities and problems coping and functioning with daily life. Distinctive facial features, deformity of joins, vision and hearing problems, poor coordination and valance, poor memory, poor social skills and difficulty planning or working towards a goal are just some of those problems.

During the last trimester of pregnancy, the fetus' lungs and liver are maturing, and the unborn baby's liver is unable to handle any level of alcohol. At these stages it is critical for the mother to refrain from drinking alcohol, in order to ensure the health of the baby. Some effects to the fetus of drinking alcohol during pregnancy are: prenatal growth retardation, specifically, facial deformities, and a tendency to be smaller in weight, length, and head circumference. In addition, alcohol causes neurodevelopment defects and central nervous system dysfunction to the unborn baby. FAS infants are also at an increased risk for many common birth defects, including congenial heart disease, abnormalities of the urinary tract and genitals, and spina bifida. Although these abnormalities are not specific to FAS, they do assist in the diagnosis of the problem.

“Alcohol, like other teratogenic agents, is associated with a spectrum of malformations related to dose and timing. The multiplicity of effects suggests that alcohol can alter development throughout gestation” (Rosett and Weiner 65). Therefore because it is not known when in fetal development when alcohol causes neurological and physical defects no amount of alcohol is safe. The best way to prevent FAS is by abstaining from the use of alcohol products. This sounds so simple, but for many women it is not. Usually infants born to mothers who are alcoholics have little to no prenatal care. With no prenatal care a mother who consumes alcohol is not warned or told of the dangers of drinking. A lot of these children end up in foster care being shuttled back and forth between families, due to the behavioral and physical problems

As a result of pregnant women drinking, there have been a profuse amount of children born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Armstrong and Abel confirm that it wasn’t until 1973

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a combination of physical and mental birth defects. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol she is making her child drink also. However, alcohol itself may not be directly responsible for all (or any) of the features of FAS. What may be responsible are

The fetus is not the only one harmed by alcohol consumption during pregnancy, but the mother is as well. In fact, many doctors urge women who think they are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant to stop drinking (“Fetal Alcohol”). “One percent of all mothers consume fourteen or more drinks per week during the three months before pregnancy” (Walsh 3). To the average person one percent is not too large of a proportion. However, the volume of alcohol consumed is high during

“Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications” (HHS, 2005). FASD refers to conditions such as: fetal alcohol syndrome including partial FAS, fetal alcohol effects (FAE), alcohol related neurodevelopment disorder, alcohol-related birth defects. The conditions that are involved with FASD can range from mild to severe and it is not likely that two people share the exact same symptoms.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a pattern of mental, physical, and behavioral defects that may develop in the unborn child when its mother drinks during pregnancy. These defects occur primarily during the first trimester when the teratogenic effects of the alcohol have the greatest effect on the developing organs. The symptoms associated with FAS have been observed for many centuries, but it was not until 1968 that Lemoine and his associates formally described these symptoms in the scientific literature, and again in 1973 when Jones and associates designated a specific pattern of altered growth and dysmorphogenesis as the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Rostand, p. 302). The set of abnormalities characterized by Jones

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol syndrome. The severely effected victims of the syndrome have a variety of congenital defects: mental retardation, coordination problems, and heart, eye, and genitourinary malformations, as well as low birth weight and slowed growth rate. Most apparent are characteristic facial abnormalities.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a general term consist disabilities when a mother consumes alcohol during her pregnancy. The medical prognosis of FASD includes: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (PFAS), Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND) and Alcohol Related Birth Defects (ARBD). Moreover, teratogen is a harmful agent that can interrupt the development of an embryo. For instance, alcohol is teratogen. As per Health Canada, FASD is a leading cause of a completely avertable developmental disability but it still affects approximately one percent of the Canadian population (Batshaw, Roizen & Lotrecchiano, 2012). However, there are many alterations to the disabilities and the development of sub-groups. Thereby, the term FASD is introduced to ensure the incidence of all the characteristics (mental, behavioral and physical) associated with prenatal exposure to alcohol. The exposure to alcohol during the pregnancy places the infant at the risk of developing problems such as abnormal appearance, low body weight, poor coordination, low intelligence, facial abnormalities, neuropsychological deficits, central nervous system deficits and growth delays (Riley, Infante & Warren, 2011). As the paper progress, we will discuss the characteristics, causes and the epidemiology of FASD. In addition we will all focus on the mental disorder such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) associated with FASD and a

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) refers to a group of physical and mental birth defects resulting from a women’s drinking alcohol heavily or at crucial stages during pregnancy. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was first named and treated in the late 1960's. This condition results from the toxic effect of alcohol and its chemical factors on the developing fetus. FAS is the leading cause of mental retardation occurring in 1 out of every 750 births. The frequency of FAS occurs about 1.9 times out of every 1000 births according to the latest figures, and minor effects can be seen in up to 20% of pregnancies per year. This number changes drastically for women who are clearly alcoholics. As high as 29 children out of every 1000 births will suffer from FAS

Fetal alcohol syndrome is physical and mental damage in a child caused by alcohol exposure while in the womb. This a group of symptoms that appear together just like any syndrome. If a pregnant woman drinks wine, beer, or liquor (any alcohol) she risks giving birth to a child with a birth defect for his or her entire life. It's the most serious type of FASD. Damage can be done in the first few weeks of pregnancy when a woman might not know that she’s pregnant yet.

Fetal alcohol syndrome- It is frightening to know that doctors used to tell their patients that it was ok to drink a glass of wine when pregnant this is a big NO, even a sip can cause FAS. What is FAS? This is when a mother who is pregnant drinks alcohol and it reaches the fetus cause adverse birth defects. When ethanol (alcohol) is drank, it is met by enzymes who break down the substance, women have less of ADH then men making alcohol very dangerous for women just in general. Therefore when a women drinks even the littles drop it is hurting the baby in more ways than one and that one drop can cause FAS. When a drug like alcohol breaks thru the placenta barrier into the fetus there called teratogens (this is what causes the birth defect).

Today in class we talked about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and it is caused when a pregnant mother drinks heavily. It can be a physical or cognitive disease (Myers, 2014).

Even a small amount of alcohol has the potential to hurt the child. The unborn child of a person who occasionally drinks is at risk of receiving fetal alcohol effects. This condition causes children to receive some of the same of the same effects that come from fetal alcohol syndrome. A child may not receive any of these conditions due to a mother’s alcohol consumption, but there are still some potential effects. Evidence shows that when a pregnant mother consumes an average of two alcoholic beverages per day, her child may have a lower amount of intelligence and is also at risk for having mental retardation. Also, there is research that suggests that even low quantities of alcohol consumed during pregnancy can have contrary effects on the child’s behavioral and psychological functions, and can cause a child to exhibit behaviors such as hyperactivity, unusual nervousness or anxiety, and poor impulse control. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can also cause children to have less accuracy in their spatial and visual reasoning later in their lives. Due to these results, Sarah should be advised to not drink alcohol while she is