If you drink while you're pregnant, you're putting your unborn baby at serious risk of fetal alcohol syndrome and the array of complications that come with it. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, some of that alcohol easily passes across the placenta to the fetus. The body of a developing fetus doesn’t process alcohol the same way as an adult does. The alcohol is more concentrated in the fetus, and it can prevent enough nutrition and oxygen from getting to the fetus’s vital organs. For example, if a child has two of the three characteristic facial signs of FAS and evidence of damage to the nervous system, a doctor may diagnose FAS.
How can you help a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome?
The features of this alcohol fetal syndrome are more congenital abnormalities involving the bones, heart, and kidneys, as well as hearing and vision anomalies with no neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Clinical Review BoardAll Ignite Healthwise, LLC education is reviewed by a team that includes physicians, nurses, advanced practitioners, registered dieticians, and other healthcare professionals. The effects that alcohol has on a fetus depends on how much, how often, and at what stage of pregnancy alcohol was used. The most severe effects often are related to heavy alcohol signs of fas use.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Treatment
Joining support groups and engaging with community organizations can provide a sense of belonging and understanding. These groups offer a platform for individuals with FAS, caregivers, and families to connect, share experiences, and learn from one another. Support groups can offer emotional support, practical advice, and access to resources relevant to living with FAS. Community organizations dedicated to FAS awareness and advocacy can provide valuable information about available services and opportunities for involvement. Choosing the right medication, or combination of medications, depends on an individual’s symptoms.
- Executive function training may improve skills such as self-control, reasoning, and understanding cause and effect.
- People with FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders), due to their lifelong disabilities, are often misunderstood, isolated, and discriminated against in societal norms.
- Neurocognitive therapiesiTherapeutic training addressing neurological disorders to promote the development of higher cognitive abilities.
- What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations.
- Stopping alcohol consumption as early as possible can help reduce the chance of FASDs.
Specific Guides
Quit drinking if you are trying to get pregnant or if you think you’re pregnant. Your doctor will look at behavioral symptoms, such as attention and coordination. They will ask you if drug addiction treatment you drank while you were pregnant and if so, how much.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) is an umbrella term used to describe the range of effects that can occur in an individual with prenatal alcohol exposure. These effects can have lifelong implications including physical, mental, behavior, and/or learning issues. If you drank any amount of alcohol while you were pregnant, talk with your child’s health care provider as soon as possible and share your concerns. Fetal alcohol syndrome include a range of physical and intellectual disabilities that are not always easy to identify when a child is a newborn.