How Does Alcohol Affect Prenatal Development

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Fetal Alcohol Effects
Drugs and chemicals that can harm the developing embryo are known to be teratogens. Pregnant woman who actively engage in consuming any form of teratogens can affect prenatal development. Having good health and avoiding drugs from conception to birth is extremely important during the thirty eight weeks of prenatal development. As a result, alcohol conception during pregnancy can be abusive to the new human life, and can cause life-long damages.
The zygote, embryo, and the fetus are all three significant periods of pregnancy that each plays a major role in developing a baby (Kail and Cavanaugh, 2010). Therefore, drinking alcohol is harmful to the developing fetus all throughout pregnancy. During week one through twelve of the first trimester the new creation of life has already passed through the zygote, embryo, and a small portion of the fetus period. Alcohol consumptions can dangerously affect the developing embryo, and can cause a range of malfunctions …show more content…

In effect, the permanent damage that alcohol leaves behind to the baby during conception and after birth is developmental disabilities. Prenatal alcohol exposure attacks the fetal brain structure and function causing FAS (Mattson, Schoenfled, & Riley, n.d.). Mothers who drink an unhealthy amount of alcohol during her pregnancy can hurt the baby’s corpus callosum, which is a significant part of the brain. The corpus callosum is the part of the brain that has a large amount of nerve fibers connecting each side of the hemisphere together, this allows for the right and left side of the brain to communicate with one another (Mattson, et.al., n.d.). People born with FAS’s corpus callosum is out of proportion and they struggle with reading, learning, and have deficits in attention (Mattson, et. al, n.d.). Individuals that are born with

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