It is a well-known fact that consuming alcohol during pregnancy could have different serious effects on the baby. These are known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. This refers to all the effects that alcohol can have on the developing baby. They can be divided into two groups.
What is FASP?
The sad truth is that this is one of the most common causes of mental retardation and in the same time this is the only one that mothers can prevent. The effects of the syndrome include skeletal system malformations, mental retardation and the malformation of the major organs.
In the same time the babies affected by the FASP problem also have to face growth deficiencies, poor motor skills, problems with the central nervous system, learning problems, mortality, problems with social interaction, memory, problem solving, attention span, hearing and speech.
It is also known about the problem of FASP that the babies have specific facial characteristics. These include having upturned or short nose, small eyes, thin lips and flat cheeks. The good news is that these characteristics get better with time, but children usually have a hard time coping with all the other effects.
Effects of the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
One of the categories of the problem is ARND. This is meant to describe the behavioral and mental impairments of the children. These include poor school performance, learning problems, problems with judgment, memory and attention and poor control over the impulses.
The second category of the problems associated with the disorder is known as ARBD. This refers to the malformations of the skeletal structure and the systems of the major organs such as the kidneys, heart, auditory system and bones.
How is the FASP condition different?
This disorder is the result of pregnant women drinking large amounts of alcohol or the baby being exposed to alcohol for longer periods of time. The fetal alcohol effects are the results of moderate alcohol consumption. However these are also lifelong and irreversible.
Safe amounts of alcohol and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
Some of the specialists say that there is no amount of alcohol that is safe to be consumed during pregnancy. The more alcohol pregnant women consume, the higher the chances get for the baby to be affected by the problem.
However there are some other specialists who believe regarding the condition of FASP that it is alright for women to have a glass of red wine every now and then. Even more, in some countries, such as France, it is believed that it is healthy for pregnant women to have a glass of wine from time to time.
How to prevent fetal alcohol spectrum disorder?
As it has been mentioned before, the problem can be prevented if pregnant women didn’t have any alcoholic beverages. This is why if you are pregnant or if you are trying to get pregnant you should give up drinking.
Now you know a lot more about fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and you can see that it all depends on you.
