Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

If you are interested in the symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome it is good to know that this isn’t one single birth defect.

In fact it refers to a group of problems that are the results of fetal alcohol exposure. Collectively, all the disorders regarding this problem are known as FASD.

Information about the fetal alcohol syndrome symptoms

This is a quite common problem that leads to mental retardation, although it is entirely preventable. The mental problems of the babies vary. Some of the affected children have far more severe problems than the other affected children.

Common signs of FAS

The children with this problem have distinctive facial features such as thin upper lip, small eyes, upturned and short nose and smooth skin between the lips and the nose. In the same time the children could have deformities in the limbs, joints and fingers.

Other symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome include slow physical prenatal and postnatal growth, hearing problems, sight problems, small brain size and small head circumference, delayed development, mental retardation, poor coordination and learning disorders.

When thinking about the fetal alcohol syndrome signs you also have to consider the behavioral problems like the ability to pay attention for only a short period of time, poor impulse control, hyperactivity, anxiety and extreme nervousness along with heart defects.

Further information

In case you are interested in the symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome you should know that the facial features of these children might also occur in case of normal children. In order to distinguish these features from the other facial features, it requires expertise in the field.

It is possible that the doctors will use other words to describe the warning signs of FAS. They may say that this is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a behavioral or mental impairment that is caused by exposure to alcohol.

When to talk to a doctor?

It is possible that you are thinking about the symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome because you are pregnant and you feel like you simply can’t stop drinking. If this is the case you should talk to your health care provider or your obstetrician.

Early diagnosis is very important in case of the conditions of this kind and this is why you should let your doctor know if you’ve been drinking. This way you can reduce the long-term effects of FAS on the baby. You shouldn’t wait for the problems to appear before you seek medical help.

In case you are a foster parent or you adopted a child, you might not know that you should be thinking about alarming signs of fetal alcohol syndrome. There is no way for you to know whether the mother has been drinking or not. However there could be some signs that alarm you.

You may notice some of the mentioned symptoms. If this happens you should talk to your doctor at once.

There is a lot of information that you should know about regarding symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome and the related signs to look out for.