There are many women that expose their children to alcohol prenatally. Recent studies have been made to show these women the negative effects of drinking during pregnancy and why they shouldn’t do it. The main goal of this paper is to identify the effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure and why women should not do it. Specifically, alcohol exposure can affect mental health outcomes and the immune system, and result in detrimental birth defects. Keywords: Prenatal Alcohol Exposure
The Long-term Mental and Physiological Effects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure Many unexperienced mothers do not understand the importance of prenatal care and some could careless that it even exist. When most women get pregnant they are unaware of the many things they can do that will harm their children. A lot of mothers decide to ignore prenatal care and what is or is not healthy for their unborn child. These harmful choices that mothers make frequently can result in many long-term effects that will stay with their children for the rest of their life. One of the most well-known negative choices made by pregnant women is drinking throughout their pregnancy. As mothers expose their children to alcohol prenatally, it can result in lifelong mental and physiological effects that the child will
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Specifically, those who are diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome have primary defined features. Facial abnormalities such as a low nasal bridge, a flat midface and a short nose, a thin and unique shaped upper lip, and a thin vermillion border. Another defect commonly seen as a result of children who are exposed to alcohol is prenatal and postnatal growth deficits (Warren, Hewitt, & Thomas, 2011, p. 5). There are also many common mental problems as a result of PAS such as central nervous system abnormalities, learning/behavioral problems, and
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggestion that a pregnant woman should not drink alcohol during pregnancy (Advisory on alcohol use in pregnancy 2005) has been widely criticized as being unnecessarily paternalistic, but the CDC goes further into explaining that, “Alcohol consumed during pregnancy increases the risk of alcohol related birth defects, including growth deficiencies, facial abnormalities, central nervous system impairment, behavioral disorders, and impaired intellectual development” (Advisory on alcohol use in pregnancy
lip, skin folds at the corners of the eyes, indistinct groove on the upper lip, and an
a patient's birth defects. In other words, FAE is a less severe form of FAS.
Pregnant women who drink often miscarry or have low-birth weight infants, and are at a much greater risk of having a child who has fetal alcohol syndrome. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can include heart defects, poor coordination, hyperactive behavior; learning and developmental disabilities, and mental retardation. These problems are long term and also come with physical deformities like a narrow head, smaller eyes, and stunted growth. These effects are more common to women who are either heavy drinkers or binge drinkers.
“Can I consume even a miniscule amount of alcohol?” a common, yet preposterous question asked by numerous pregnant women. The common answer given by doctors is yes, you may. Many women don’t know, but according to nofas.org, women who drink as little as two glasses of wine per day can adversely affect their offspring’s effectiveness at school. According to the Institute of Medicine 1996, “Of all the substances of abuse (including heroin, cocaine,and marijuana), alcohol by far produces the most neurobehavioral effects in the fetus”. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a possible outcome of drinking while pregnant. This horrid disease can cause aberrant facial characteristics, growth deficits, brain damage that results in mental retardation, hyperactivity,
As you can see, drug and alcohol use during pregnancy can be very dangerous. It can affect the baby size, different parts of the body, and also causes learning, emotional and physical problem that may last a lifetime. Lingen (2012) reported that pregnancy can alter how the body deals with drugs, making some drugs even more dangerous to both the mother and the baby. Prevention for alcohol abuse must start in school educational programs, they must be created to primarily address toward high risk individuals and groups. Later, a motivational intervention to decrease the danger of an alcohol-exposed pregnancy in women (Ornoy & Ergaz, 2010).
A mother who drinks while she is pregnant stands a high risk of harming their unborn child because the alcohol passes through her blood to her baby, and that can harm the development of the baby’s cells. This is most likely to harm the baby’s brain and spinal cord. Many of the common effects of a child suffering from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is: distinctive facial features, growth problems making them smaller than the average child, and learning and behavior problems.
... excluded potential risk factors for preterm birth including previous pregnancies and multiple births. Thus, these results should only be applied to the risk of alcohol consumption for primiparous mothers with singleton pregnancies. However, despite the lack of risks identified in this study, alcohol use during pregnancy has been linked to disabilities. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP, 2011), its adverse effects include fetal alcohol syndrome, learning disabilities, social ineptness, depression, and anxiety. The AACAP strongly recommends against pregnant women consuming any form of alcohol at any level. Despite the data presented by Dale et al. (2016), the question of the other risks of alcohol consumption on the fetus was not explored and thus alcohol use during pregnancy should not be condoned solely based on this study.
Alcohol (wine, beer, or liquor) is the leading known preventable cause of developmental and physical birth defects in the United States. When a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, she risks giving birth to a child who will pay the price, in mental and physical deficiencies, for his or her entire life. One study (Phyllis Trujillo Lewis, MA, Philip A. May, PhD, and Virginia C. Shipman, PhD, 2007) asserted that “Numerous studies on alcohol-related birth defects have concluded that maternal drinking, compounded by other risk factors, leads to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS is a serious birth defect and the most common non-genetic cause of mental retardation” as said by (Hankin, 2002; Abel & Sokol,1986; O’Connor, Kogan, & Findlay, 2002; May & Gossage, in press). It is unknown how much maternal alcohol consumption results in FAS or other related disorders, or why some women who drink are at substantially higher risk of giving birth to a child with alcohol-related disabilities than others (Stratton, Howe, & Battaglia, 1996). However, researchers have identified several maternal risk factors differentially associated with FAS. These include advanced maternal age, number of pregnancies, previous births of a child with FAS, cohabitation with a male partner who drinks heavily, and low socioeconomic status (SES; May et al. 2004; 2008a; Viljoen et al., 2002). FAS is 100% preventable, which makes awareness and education the core preventative method for FAS. It is seen through Lewis, May & Shipman’s research that women who are less educated are less aware of the risks involved with drinking while pregnant.
The intake of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy can cause many different birth defects. Drugs and alcohol can easily reach the baby while inside the mother. When a pregnant woman consumes a drug or some alcohol it enters into her bloodstream, then makes its way to the placenta. When it reaches the placenta it travels through the umbilical cord to the baby’s body (Schniderman pg. 27). Once it reaches the bay it can cause a lot of different problems. Drinking alcohol can cause the baby to be born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. If too much alcohol gets into the baby’s bloodstream the baby will most likely have FAS. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can affect an infant after it is born or even later on in life. Kids with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can be impulsive at times, and they tend to not learn from their own mistakes and behavior unlike other children (Stewart pg. 47). Having a child with FAS could be very hard. They have difficulties trying to learn certain things. Learning from mistakes make life so much easier, and having a child who cannot do that could be very stressful. Many people put the...
Thousands of children are born with effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol. Alcohol is very dangerous to the child in the womb. In the U.S, prenatal exposure is the most common reason for birth defects. Alcohol during pregnancy may increase the risk of miscarriage, stillbirth, fetal alcohol syndrome, birth weight, preterm labor, and brain damage.
Children can be effected by their caregiver’s alcohol and substance abuse in numerous ways. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a pattern of birth defects caused by maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Children born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome tend to have physical abnormalities such as deformed facial characteristics. They are generally born with a variety of emotional and/or intellectual limitations. It is very common for these children to...
“I brought you into this world, and I can take you out!” A child has most likely heard that phrase at some point in their life. Although, it is not ethical or legal for a mother to “take her kid out of this world”, it does bring up a good point that it was through her body, that the child was born. One of the most important responsibilities in this world is a mother carrying a child in the womb. There are many divine processes that take place during gestation, but there are also many contributing factors from the mother that can affect the developing human. These factors may include what a woman ingests and exposes her embryo or fetus to. Sadly, alcohol use during pregnancy is an ongoing problem that can have detrimental affects on the fetus, including Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Choosing to drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy is a choice, a risky choice. Unfortunately some women don’t even know they are making a risky choice by consuming alcohol because it is in the early stages of pregnancy. It is common for a female to not find out they are pregnant until at least the fifth or sixth week after fertilization. In 2006, 49% of all pregnancies in the United States were reported unintended on a national survey.1 The highest rate of preventable birth defects and mental retardation is due to alcohol use.2 In this paper, I will further discuss FAS, the potential effects of binge drinking during the embryonic stage of gestation, and what actions need to be taken in order to reduce the incidences of alcohol related birth defects.
Alcohol is a drink that changes people mood in a legal way in most countries. It is a drink that makes the brain not function normally when a person over drinks. Alcohol has many bad effects on our life, and health. On the other hand, it can be used in useful uses such as the medical wipes but it must be used in limited and known quantity.
Ethanol, ethylic alcohol or simply alcohol is an organic substance with one or more hydroxil groups (-OH) [1]. For instance, it is used as a pharmaceutical compounds, in alcoholic beverages, as a dehydrating agent in labs and industries or as an antiseptic agent. Generally, ethanol is a CNS (central nervous system) depressant with anesthetic properties causing cognitive and motor damage at relatively low doses. Nevertheless ethanol in high doses can induce anesthetic effects, loss of sensory activity, nausea, vomiting, hypothermia and loss of consciousness. Some drugs have the potential to interact with alcohol and affect each others levels on blood, metabolism, absorption, distribution, excretion and change the colateral effects[2]. Additionally the duration of a regular consume and the amount ingested could change the effect of alcohol on drug metabolism [2].