To diagnose fetal alcohol syndrome, doctors look for unusual facial features, lower-than-average height and weight, small head size, problems with attention and hyperactivity, and poor coordination. They also try to find out whether the mother drank while they were pregnant and if so, how much. Children with prenatal alcohol exposure come from every social, economic, racial, and ethnic group. In the United States, nearly 1 in 7 pregnant people report alcohol use in the past 30 days. However, while higher amounts of alcohol are more harmful, there is no known amount or type of alcohol that is safe to consume while pregnant. All alcoholic drinks, including wine and beer, have a similar effect on a developing baby.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
They may be able to direct you to further options for achieving your goals and provide the medical care that may be necessary to withdraw from alcohol. Prenatal alcohol exposure is the leading preventable cause of congenital (present at birth) conditions in the United States. When consumed during pregnancy, alcohol crosses the placenta and enters the fetus’s bloodstream. 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.
How is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) diagnosed?
Long-term problems in children with FASDs may include psychiatric problems, gang and criminal behavior, poor socialization, unemployment, and incomplete education. Diagnosing FASDs can be hard because there is no medical test, like a blood test, for these conditions. And other disorders, such as ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and Williams syndrome, have some symptoms like FAS. If your child is diagnosed with an FASD, the diagnosis will be for a specific condition under the umbrella of FASDs, as listed above. In 2019, CDC researchers found that 1 in 9 pregnant people drank alcohol in a 30-day period of time. Tony Loneman, a character in Tommy Orange’s 2018 novel There There, was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which he calls “the Drome”.
NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT
Children born with this syndrome experience the symptoms throughout their entire lives. Some symptoms can be managed with treatment by a healthcare provider, but they won’t go away. If you did drink any amount of alcohol during pregnancy, it’s important to know that your healthcare provider and your baby’s pediatrician need fetal alcohol syndrome to know to help you plan for your child’s future. Fetal alcohol syndrome happens when a person drinks any alcohol during pregnancy, including wine, beer, hard ciders and “hard liquor”. One reason alcohol is dangerous during pregnancy is that it’s passed through your bloodstream to the fetus through the umbilical cord.
Social and behavioral issues
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However, early treatment of some symptoms can lessen the severity and improve your child’s development. No, but early diagnosis and treatment for specific FAS symptoms can greatly improve your child’s life. It’s not known whether a father’s drinking affects their sperm or contributes to fetal alcohol syndrome at conception. A child with fetal alcohol syndrome needs to be watched closely to see if their treatment needs to be adjusted. You can also find your nearest alcohol support services or read advice on cutting down your drinking and alcohol in pregnancy.
Neurodevelopmental Symptoms
- Moreover, it is estimated that one in every 67 women who consumed alcohol during pregnancy would have a child with FAS, which translates to approximately 119,000 children born with FAS worldwide annually [4].
- A single episode of binge drinking, especially during the first few weeks of pregnancy, can lead to FAS.
- If you suspect your child has fetal alcohol syndrome, talk to your doctor as soon as possible.
- Facial abnormalities include short palpebral fissures, epicanthal folds, flat midface, hypoplastic philtrum, and a thin upper vermilion border (Fig. 1) [12,13].
- Physicians must accurately obtain the medical history of the mother and provide safe antenatal care and education for FAS once maternal alcohol consumption is confirmed.
- Unfortunately, up to 5% of first graders in the United States have FASD.
- Brain maturation can become prolonged, and aging can accelerate.
- Thus, hypoxia may affect cell damage during fetal development, and this process can explain abortions related to alcohol exposure [37].
