Behavioral Problems From Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

Does alcoholism really affect a family’s household? In the book, The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, the father named Rex Walls, is an alcoholic. While i was reading the book, i got interested in the fact that he’s an alcoholic, because not many people know how much, or if alcoholism affects the families household; but the 3 most common factors of alcoholism, are stress, financial burden, and emotional hostage.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seventy six million Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in the family. That means one out of four families is affected by an alcoholic, making alcoholism responsible for more family problems than any other single cause (Parsons). Alcoholism is a disease that not only affects the individual, but also everyone around the alcoholic. Alcoholics can make irrational decisions that are harmful not only to themselves but also to the people around them. These irrational decisions can cause financial instability for the household which, in turn, contributes to neglect.

Many people across the world suffer from alcoholism, a family disease. It is called a family disease because the addiction harms the alcoholic, and everyone who has to live with them. Children consistently suffer when they share a house with an alcoholic. Unfortunately, alcoholism is common and many children find themselves in this situation. The emotional and psychological scars that children can develop in alcoholic homes can be so deep that they can last well into adulthood. Youth who grew up in an alcoholic home can develop similar personality traits and characteristics. Approximately 26.8 million children are exposed to alcoholism in the family and 6.6 million children 18 and younger live in households with at least one alcoholic

Whenever a mother drinks, her baby is at risk for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol Effect. When a pregnant women drinks alcohol, her baby does too. It is not clear whether there is a threshold amount of alcohol that must be consumed before damage to the baby occurs. There is also no proof that small amounts of alcohol are safe.

Among factors to consider, alcohol consumption is frequently associated with drug abuse, smoking, and malnutrition. All of these factors can cause serious harm to the developing embryo of a child. It is difficult for researchers to decide which effects are caused by alcohol alone.

The effects of excessive alcohol consumption has been proven to have had negative and persistent effects on babies, born from mothers who have consumed alcohol throughout their pregnancy, evidence linking that low to moderate amounts have put the fetus at risk for delays and have lifelong complications. (Nathanson, & O'Brien, 2000)

Alcohol is known as one the most dangerous teratogens. Every time a pregnant woman drinks, she allows alcohol to enter her blood stream and make its way into the placenta. Unlike the mother, the fetus is unable to break down alcohol that makes the blood alcohol level of the fetus the same or higher than the mother (Burk, 2013). Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), and prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) are considered some of the most serious consequences of maternal drinking during pregnancy. Children can exhibit physical abnormalities such as a flat mid-face, a thin upper lip, a smooth groove between the nose and upper lip, along with growth retardation, and cognitive difficulties. The affected children also have cognitive difficulties which include intelligence, language, memory, and learning (Wacha & Obrzut, 2007).

A pregnant woman’s lifestyle ultimately affects the development of her baby. Drinking alcohol when you are pregnant has been shown to cause harm towards the unborn baby as it develops in the mother’s womb. Mothers who drink alcohol while pregnant have a higher risk of their baby having long-term

The amount of alcohol that is safe for a mother to drink during her pregnancy hasn’t yet been determined, therefore the twenty-first century authorities say no alcohol should be consumed (Rank, J.). Alcohol is easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract to the blood stream and circulates to the fetus by crossing the placenta. The placental blood flow to the fetus is weakened from ethanol by constricting blood vessels. This includes hypoxia and fetal malnutrition. The fetus metabolizes the alcohol slower than an adult, causing your developing baby’s blood alcohol concentrations to be higher than those in your body. This causes problems with the ability to the fetus to receive oxygen and nourishment for normal cell development in the brain and other organs. The damage that is done to the baby depends on the gestational period, dosage, and chronicity of abuse. (Mayo Clinic Staff 3, Rank J., Fetal Alcohol Syndrome). The women that do drink when pregnant can cause problems by the amount of alcohol that they consume. For a woman to drink a large amount of alcohol at one time is more dangerous than if she were to drink little amounts several times (Rank, J.).

The scientific community didn’t recognize the potential harm of prenatal alcohol exposure until 1973, when Dr. David Smith and Dr. Kenneth Jones at the University of Washington in Seattle, published similar findings in the medical journal Lancet. It was then that the term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was coined (Stratton,1996). Since then, a spectrum of disorders connected to prenatal alcohol exposure has been recognised, with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome being the most severe.

Children with alcoholic parents suffer all kinds of abuse and it is often life threatening (20). Addiction is not something that begins and ends with one person, the impact addiction has is tremendous and devastating. "Addiction sends shock waves through an entire family unit" (Straussner 1). Over 27 million children live with an alcoholic parent. It is nearly impossible to find children from alcoholic homes who are completely unscathed (The Visitation Handbook for the Custodial Parent 167). Children who grow up with alcoholic parents are forced to mature and grow up much sooner than they ought. Over 22 million adults have come out and said they have lived with an alcohol parent when they were a child (Seixas and Youcha xi). Alcohol continues to be predominant in The United States, because it is a drug that works for the majority of people. Alcohol allows a person to temporarily escape from the problems they are suffering. Most people reap the consequences of previous actions daily and therefore turn to alcohol which allows them to temporarily escape reality. Alcohol may allow people to escape their reality for a time being, but it also creates a horrific reality for 27 million

Through various articles and extensive research, it can be proven that prenatal alcohol exposure has a variety effects on people, children to be more exact. Prenatal alcohol exposure is the most widely recognized reason for mental retardation and the driving preventable reason for birth defects in the United States. Fetal alcohol syndrome is described by a mix of impeded development, face and body mutations, and disorders of the central nervous system. Behavioral, memory, and cognitive deficits are effects that is brought upon prenatal alcohol exposure. People should be more educated on the use of alcohol during pregnancy and its consequences.

Teratogen Defined. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy is known to have teratogenic effects. Teratogen means that a particular agent is known to cause abnormalities on a developing embryo. The teratogenic effect the alcohol will have on the embryo is highly dependent on dose and frequency of consumption. As stated in the medical journal, Alcohol Abuse In Women, “Exposure to heavy drinking (over 48–60 gr. ethanol/day) may cause fetal alcohol syndrome; exposure to moderately high drinking, between 24–48 gr. ethanol/day which may result mostly in “alcohol effects….” (Ornoy, Ergaz 2010). Aside, from developing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), the developing fetus is at risk of also developing Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental

A study by Wolin and associates determined that children who originated from alcoholic families were not able to function in terms of behavior and emotion as successfully as those who originated from non alcoholic families. In the study, children of alcoholics scored notably lower when researchers looked at their behavioral and emotional

Along with gender differences, other factors that influence the addiction of alcohol amongst women include genetics, neuropsychology, and environment. The environmental factor plays a big role in alcohol addiction amongst women, especially in the family context. Holdcraft and Iacono wrote in an article, “Women have been found to have more drinking-related familial consequences while men suffer more adverse social, occupational, legal and violence-related consequences” (pp. 1026). Women of alcohol addiction have developed this disease more than not through some type of influence by family.