by missy

Created on: March 01, 2007   Last Updated: May 21, 2007

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome
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I am writing this review to make people aware of the dangers of drinking alcohol whilst pregnant! This is not my usual light hearted type of review but one that I feel very strongly about.

I wasn't sure whether this review should go into pregnancy, alcohol or mental illness categories as it covers all three. But i must stress it is not only alcoholics this relates to! As you will see as you read on.....

I came across this whilst studying - "understanding children's behaviour", which was one of the units in my NC course for Early Education and Childcare.
I was horrified by some of the facts I learned about it all, and thought people should know some of the facts.

What is it?
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Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by the use of alcohol during pregnancy! This can cause life long behavioural problems and mental and physical development problems in affected children. This is a totally preventable condition, but has no known cure!

How common is it?
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It is thought between 1 in 300 babies are mildly affected and 1 in 3000 babies are born severely affected. When you compare this to the likes of Downs Syndrome which is a genetic disorder and affects 1 in 666 babies, then this is extremely worrying! Especially when it can so easily be prevented whereas genetic disorders cannot.

Who's most at risk of developing this?
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Basically studies in America, Scandinavia and South Africa and now in UK have shown that anyone who drinks during pregnancy is at risk of giving this condition to their unborn child. Those who drink chronically are most at risk of course, however in saying that there is an increasing evidence to suggest that binge drinkers, even occasional drinkers can cause some damage too. This may not be as serious as the full disorder which is usually all of the aforementioned symptoms but may still cause behavioural problems, It is believed that different parts of the brain are affected at different times during the pregnancy.
At present date there is NO SAFE LIMIT OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION that experts say is suitable, therefore the only safe level is to abstain altogether!

Would you offer your newborn baby a bacardi breezer/beer/vodka instead of milk in their bottle? I think not!

So why make your unborn baby drink alcohol as this goes straight from your bloodstream to your babies via the placenta!

Diagnosing Problem?
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Anecdotal suggests that this condition is usually unrecognised and may be labelled as ADHD (attention deficit

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