Basics about FASDs

FASDs can only happen when a pregnant woman consumes alcohol. However, it is important for the father of the baby or the supportive partner to encourage the pregnant woman to abstain from alcohol throughout the pregnancy. Especially https://ecosoberhouse.com/ striking was the finding that prenatal tobacco exposure alone had an effect on brain volume that fell just short of statistical significance. “About 20 percent of women who smoke continue to do so during pregnancy,” Rivkin notes.

These can then concentrate in the baby’s brain cells and cause damage. In 2019, CDC researchers found that 1 in 9 pregnant people drank alcohol in a 30-day period of time. However, several organizations devoted to FAS also use the advocacy model at a community practice level as well. Fetal tissues are quite different from adult tissues in function and purpose. For example, the main detoxicating organ in adults is the liver, whereas the fetal liver is incapable of detoxifying ethanol, as the ADH and ALDH enzymes have not yet been brought to expression at this early stage.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder

When evaluating a patient for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, each of the five conditions that comprise fetal alcohol spectrum disorders has specific diagnostic criteria. Using alcohol during pregnancy is the leading cause of preventable birth defects, developmental disabilities and learning disabilities. However, the only way to prevent FAS is to avoid drinking beverages containing alcohol during pregnancy. For many adopted or adults and children in foster care, records or other reliable sources may not be available for review. Reporting alcohol use during pregnancy can also be stigmatizing to birth mothers, especially if alcohol use is ongoing. In these cases, all diagnostic systems use an unknown prenatal alcohol exposure designation.

• Most often, a healthcare provider can diagnose FASDs based on the mother’s history and how the baby looks.
• FAS is the only expression of FASD that has garnered consensus among experts to become an official ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis.
• Infants and children with FAS have many different problems, which can be difficult to manage.
• PFAE and ARBD have fallen out of favor because these anomalies are not necessarily specific to maternal alcohol consumption and are not criteria for diagnosis of FASD.
• Alcohol can cause problems for a developing baby throughout pregnancy, including before a woman knows she’s pregnant.

There may be a support group to which your child’s doctor can refer you, or you can find one through your community, church, or school system. All children with involvement in foster care or adoption processes―especially international adoptions―should always be evaluated for a possible FASD. There are concerns about long-term, repeated exposures of infants to alcohol via the mother’s milk, so moderation is advised. Chronic consumption of alcohol may also reduce milk production.

National Institutes of Health

Certain physical findings, developmental problems, behavioral concerns, or school failure should trigger the parents and the pediatric medical home to consider FASDs as potential diagnoses. Children with an FASD can have brain abnormalities that lead to problems in day-to-day functioning despite having a normal IQ, so a comprehensive evaluation is indicated. A study using magnetic resonance imaging brain scans suggests that prenatal exposure to cocaine, alcohol, marijuana fetal alcohol syndrome or tobacco may have effects on a baby’s brain structure that persists into the child’s early adolescence. The findings are of public health significance, since it’s estimated that more than 1 million babies born annually in the United States have been exposed to at least one of these things in utero. There is no “safe” amount of alcohol that pregnant women can drink. And there is no time during pregnancy when it’s considered safe to drink alcohol, either.

Fetal alcohol syndrome causes brain damage and growth problems. The problems caused by fetal alcohol syndrome vary from child to child, but defects caused by fetal alcohol syndrome are not reversible. Using alcohol during pregnancy can cause the same risks as using alcohol in general.