How Does Alcohol Affect Babies

The quality of life for these children is unfortunately not the best. They can have limb, facial, and organ defects, and will have stunted physical growth throughout young adult life. Prenatal exposure can also have a negative effect on motor skills, especially fine motor tasks such as writing and balancing. The disabilities depend on the mother and her drinking habits. The children of heavy drinkers while pregnant, have many more developmental problems than of those whose mother was a light drinker. The most common problems among these children with alcohol exposure are with balance, coordination, and how they are able to play and handle a ball.

Alcohol, even at small portions, have a great effect on an infant. Toddlers become uncontrollable and hostile towards parents due to the consumption of liquor. In particular, mothers who drank while pregnant have increased the risk of having a daughter who has a mental illness. Drinking during pregnancy causes impairment to vital organs and causes permanent health problems to the soon to be born

The results of drinking alcohol with a baby in the womb can be very serious. There are a range of effects that can occur to the child exposed. The most serious result of drinking during pregnancy is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Some of the effects of FAS are hyperactivity, short attention span, learning problems, behavioral issues, delayed development, and abnormal facial features. The abundance of problems the child will have all depends on the amount of alcohol consumed by the mother during pregnancy.

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)

Behavioral malformations can include attention deficit or hyperactivity, as well as impaired adaptive behavior, social skills, and social communication.2 A range of affected behavior is evident, with any degree of general impairment possible in intelligence, reflex development, motor coordination, and hyperactivity of muscle.1 Core deficits that are found in a majority of cases of prenatal alcohol exposure include deficits in attention, learning, memory, emotional dysregulation, and executive functioning, which

According to Web MD there are many causes for the baby when the mother does alcohol while pregnant. One of the things that Web MD talked about is that the child will have distinctive facial features such as a small head, flat face, narrow eyes and this is obvious in the child at age two or three. It can be hard on a parent when they see a child in these condition but this website

Drinking can also cause the baby to be born with certain features that are different from a non-alcoholic pregnant woman such as being skinny and the head size being smaller than

The first, that screening children who have knowingly been exposed to alcohol before birth is crucial to understanding and predicting their development and the impact that alcohol exposure may have on them. Although it goes without saying that not all expectant mothers will disclose their drinking habits to their physicians, knowing that all children, regardless of a fetal alcohol syndrome diagnosis, should be cautiously monitored for delays is critical to supporting their development. In relation to this idea, there should be a higher importance placed on prevention and campaigning against fetal alcohol syndrome as well as more accessible intervention services. It is easy to assume that everyone is mindful of the dangers of drinking while pregnant, however it should not undermine the need for public awareness, especially because this study showed that even minor alcohol exposure is capable of causing developmental challenges. Public health services, such as screening for potential prenatal issues, should be available to everyone regardless of socioeconomic status. Lastly, the results of this study showed that many more children were eligible for intervention services than previously thought. “In many states documented delays of 25% or more in 1 area of development, including the motor area, will qualify a child for early intervention services” (Kalberg et al. 2006, p. 2043). Many of these children displayed delays

The dangerousness of consuming alcohol during pregnancy starts in the early stage of development. When the mother drinks excessively during the organ developmental stage, the physical malformation especially in facial features begins. FAS children have very noticeable facial features that are directly related to the alcohol. The period of time when a mother drinks excessively can also affect the central nervous system that causes the neurological and mental problems. Central nervous system

FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME is a serious condition that affects both a child’s PHENOTYPE and GENOTYPE. This condition is characterized by delayed growth causing lower than normal height and weight, brain damage (made apparent through an observably smaller sized cranium, accompanied with at least three areas of reduced cognitive functioning), and its iconic facial distortions including wide set eyes, an abnormal philtrum, and a thinner upper lip. Brain damage is probably the most serious of the accompanying conditions. The brain is actually structured differently, and the differences are made clear on an MRI. The ability to control one’s muscles properly, as well as poor

One effect that alcohol has is on pregnant women, this causes fetal alcohol syndrome, this cause low IQ, fine motor skills

It can permanently destroy your growing baby's cells, influencing how your baby's face, organs and brain develop. Heavy drinking can also damage your baby's nervous system, developing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders with issues ranging from mild learning difficulties or social problems to birth defects. Babies with fetal alcohol syndrome tend to have facial defects and smaller physiques for people their age. They also have learning difficulties, poor muscle tone and coordination, and behavioural issues, for a lifetime.

Alcohol can be very damaging to children when taken at a young age. Since children's bodies are still growing, their development can be greatly affected. Many children think that the effects of drugs and alcohol to their health are so far away in their live, that they have nothing to worry about. Recently, there has been a lot more people dying in their 20s for liver diseases as a cause of drugs and alcohol. Some of the health damages as a result of drugs and alcohol are mouth and throat cancer, liver cirrhosis and heart disease, and sexual and mental health problems such as depression. Many teens that die at a young age in car accidents are caused by alcohol, because when teenagers, drink or do drugs they have less inhibitions to make good

When in moderation and done responsibly, drinking normally isn't an issue. The important factor in that is that one uses moderation because, without it, drinking can have harmfull efects on a baby. First, I will disscuss how alchool can cause health issues in unborn infants. Second, I will discuss the developmental issues like FAS and how it can alter the growth of a child.