A state of a very vulnerable condition is where a pregnant woman sits. During this time, she is hugely defenseless from different classes of toxins and harmful substances. Some of the different substances that might negatively affect the fetus inside the mother’s womb are alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. Teratogens is the term given to these kind of harmful substances. An abnormal baby can even be a result of taking in these substances.
Alcohol is one of the so called teratogens that can greatly affect pregnancies. There will be a very problematic outcomes when a woman who is into alcohol addiction gets pregnant. People may not be conscious of its danger and still allows a woman to take in alcoholic drinks during her pregnancy, but the effect of this would be carried by the baby for the rest of his or her life. In the United States alone, alcohol is known to be one of the primary cause of mental and physical birth defects. Though, this is only a probability, the rate is high.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a disorder that can occur to the embryo when a pregnant woman ingests alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol crosses the placental barrier and can stunt fetal growth or weight, make distinctive facial stigmata, harm neurons and brain structures, and cause other physical, mental, or behavioral problems. The main effect of FAS is permanent central nervous system damage, especially to the brain. Developing brain cells and structures are not fully developed or malformed by prenatal alcohol exposure, often creating an array of primary cognitive and functional disabilities including poor memory, attention deficits, impulsive behavior, and poor cause-effect reasoning, as well as secondary disabilities for example, mental health problems, and drug addiction.
The signs and symptoms of having fetal alcohol syndrome are very small birth weight, undersized head circumference, developmental delay, organ malfunction, facial abnormalities, including decreased eye openings, flattened cheekbones, and indistinct philtrum (an underdeveloped groove between the nose and the upper lip), epilepsy, poor coordination, poor socialization skills, such as difficulty building and maintaining friendships and relating to groups, lack of imagination or curiosity, learning difficulties, including poor memory, inability to understand concepts such as time and money, poor language comprehension, poor problem-solving skills, behavioral problems including hyperactivity, inability to concentrate, social withdrawal, stubbornness, impulsiveness, and anxiety.
The main feature of fetal alcohol syndrome is its damage on the central nervous system. Central nervous system damage can be evaluated in three factors such as structural, neurological, and functional impairments. Structural impairments can include microcephaly (small head size) of two or more typical deviations below the average, or other abnormalities in brain structure. During the first trimester of pregnancy, alcohol obstructs with the migration and organization of brain cells, which can create structural deformities within the brain. During the third trimester, damage can be caused to the hippocampus, which plays a role in memory, learning, emotion, and encoding visual and auditory information, all of which can make neurological and functional CNS impairments as well.
When structural impairments are not observable or do not exist, neurological impairments are assessed. Neurological problems are showed as either hard signs, or diagnosable disorders, such as epilepsy or other seizure disorders, or soft signs. Soft signs are broader, nonspecific neurological impairments, or symptoms, such as impaired fine motor skills, neurosensory hearing loss, poor gait, clumsiness, poor eye-hand coordination.
When structural or neurological impairments are not observed, all four diagnostic systems allow CNS damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure to be assessed in terms of functional impairments. Functional impairments are deficits, problems, delays, or abnormalities due to prenatal alcohol exposure (rather than hereditary causes or postnatal insults) in observable and quantifiable domains related to daily functioning, often referred to as developmental disabilities.
Although there are no evidences that will tell us the amount of alcohol that will produce birth defects, ingesting alcohol no matter the amount is still very dangerous. It is very important that before a women considers herself to become a mother, she must let go of her alcohol addiction.
Fetal alcohol syndrome is one of the consequences of a pregnant woman who is into alcohol addiction.
