Alcohol and pregnancy level
Name
Walden University
2022
Alcohol and pregnancy level
(Babor, 2003) notes that, alcohol is a teratogence. Teratogence is a substance known to be
harmful to human development. Alcohol crosses the placenta to the baby. When drinking
alcohol, so does the baby. Because the baby is so small, alcohol breaks down much more slowly,
this causes the alcohol to stay in the baby’s blood much longer than in the mother’s blood. This
can result in irreversible harmful affects to the baby's development. All drinks that contain
alcohol can be harmful to the baby. There is no known safe amount of alcohol to consume while
pregnant.
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause a wide range of physical and mental birth defects.
The term “fetal alcohol spectrum disorders” (FASDs) is used to describe the many problems
associated with exposure to alcohol before birth. Each year in the United States, up to 40,000
babies are born with FASDs.
Although many women are aware that heavy drinking during pregnancy can cause birth defects,
many do not realize that moderate or even light drinking also may harm the fetus. In fact, no
level of alcohol use during pregnancy has been proven safe. Pregnant women do not drink any
alcohol, including beer, wine, wine coolers and liquor, throughout their pregnancy and while
nursing. In addition, because women often do not know they are pregnant for a few months,
women who may be pregnant or those who are attempting to become pregnant should not drink
alcohol, (Babor, 2003)
Thombs (1999) suggests that, when a pregnant woman drinks, alcohol passes through the
placenta to her fetus. In the fetus’s immature body, alcohol is broken down much more slowly
than in an adult's body. As a result, the alcohol level of the baby's blood can be higher and
remain elevated longer than the level in the mother's blood. This sometimes causes the baby to
suffer lifelong damage. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause FASDs, with effects that
range from mild to severe. These effects include mental retardation; learning, emotional and
behavioral problems; and defects involving the heart, face and other organs. The most severe of
these effects is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a combination of physical and mental birth
defects.
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy increases the risk for miscarriage and premature birth (before
37 completed weeks of pregnancy). Studies also suggest that drinking during pregnancy may
contribute to stillbirth. A 2008 Danish study found that women who binge drink three or more
times during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy had a 56 percent greater risk for stillbirth than
women who did not binge drink. Another 2008 study found that women who had five or more
drinks a week were 70 percent more likely to have a stillborn baby than non-drinking women,
Thombs (1999)
According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (1999), pregnant women
should not drink any form of alcohol. Pregnant women who think they have should be aware of
the serious and negative effects of alcohol on the development of the baby (fetus). In the United
States, prenatal exposure to alcohol is the most common cause of birth defects. Exposure to
alcohol during pregnancy causes damage to the brain and affects the child's behavior; these
effects can be prevented by 100 percent.
Galanter, (2005) affirms that, thousands of children are born with the effects of prenatal exposure
to alcohol. While many people drink, alcohol is poisonous to the child that grows inside the
womb. The ingestion of even an alcoholic beverage per day during pregnancy the baby in
desarrrollo exposed to the risk of serious birth defects. A small amount of alcohol can cause
permanent damage to the child. The use of alcohol during pregnancy can cause serious problems
in children and adolescents: Infants may show slow growth and developmental delay, unusual
facial features, irritability, brain and neurological disorders, mental retardation and problems
with their attachment to their fathers.
Drixler, (2001) points out that, kids and school-age children may have problems with learning,
low tolerance for frustration, inadequate social boundaries and difficulty reading. Teenagers can
have continuous learning problems, depression, anxiety and inappropriate sexual behavior. Fetal
Alcohol Problems (AFP) described the negative effects and problems caused by drinking alcohol
while pregnant. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (SFA) is a more specific group of symptoms caused by
drinking alcohol while pregnant. A child is diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (SFA) when
there is a prenatal exposure to alcohol and has: Facial deformities, Slow and retarded
development and Brain and neurological problems.
Children who are suspected of SFA must be carefully evaluated by a pediatrician, child and
adolescent psychiatrist or other clinical experience. Fetal alcohol exposure is often overlooked as
the cause of the problems in the child's behavior. The effects of alcohol on the developing brain
during pregnancy are not reversible. However, early intervention can reduce the severity of the
disability and improve the chances of success for the child. The early intervention for EAF or
SFA includes occupational therapy, special education and speech therapy evaluations, Drixler,
(2001)
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