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Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Symptoms, Causes, Treatments

Also write down any new instructions your provider gives you for your child. Families may also get help by learning parenting skills and having access to respite care. If you find Facts for Families© helpful and would like to make good mental health a reality, consider donating to the Campaign for America’s Kids.

conditions

The number of alcohol fetal syndrome symptomsD-related features vary among individuals and the severity of features can be from mild to severe. One or more diagnostic schema can be used to identify an FASD, dependent upon the presentations. Pediatricians are an important first resource for parents and caregivers who are worried about their child’s emotional and behavioral health or who want to promote healthy mental development. People with FAS may have problems with their vision, hearing, memory, attention span, and abilities to learn and communicate. While the defects vary from one person to another, the damage is often permanent. The quantity and pattern of maternal drinking and, therefore, the dose and duration of exposure to alcohol are the critical factors in conferring risk.

How can fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) be prevented?

From animal models, we know that prenatal alcohol exposure affects all stages of brain development through a variety of mechanisms, the most significant of which result in cognitive, motor, and behavioral dysfunction. This contradicted the predominating belief at the time that heredity caused intellectual disability, poverty, and criminal behavior, which contemporary studies on the subjects usually concluded. A case study by Henry H. Goddard of the Kallikak family—popular in the early 1900s—represents this earlier perspective, though later researchers have suggested that the Kallikaks almost certainly had FAS. General studies and discussions on alcoholism throughout the mid-1900s were typically based on a heredity argument. The primary disabilities of FAS are the functional difficulties with which the child is born as a result of CNS damage due to prenatal alcohol exposure.

  • The estimated lifetime cost on average for an individual with FAS in 2002 was 2 million US dollars.
  • Several characteristic craniofacial abnormalities are often visible in individuals with FAS.
  • However, diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders can be difficult.
  • Alcohol in the mother’s blood passes to the baby through the umbilical cord.
  • The higher ends of these ranges are seen in high-risk populations such as those with low socioeconomic status and those of racial and ethnic minority populations.

Fetal tissues are quite different from adult tissues in function and purpose. For example, the main detoxicating organ in adults is the liver, whereas the fetal liver is incapable of detoxifying ethanol, as the ADH and ALDH enzymes have not yet been brought to expression at this early sthttps://ecosoberhouse.com/. Among those women who are alcoholic, an estimated one-third of their children have FAS. Microcephaly is determined by comparing head circumference to appropriate OFC growth charts. Other structural impairments must be observed through medical imaging techniques by a trained physician.

Diagnosis and Tests

Joining a support group or 12-step program such as Alcoholics Anonymous also may help. In addition to the acute effects of withdrawal, babies often suffer the teratogenic effects of alcohol. Specific deformities of the head and face, heart defects, and intellectual disability are seen with fetal alcohol syndrome .

  • FASDs need a medical home to provide, coordinate, and facilitate all the necessary medical, behavioral, social, and educational services.
  • Children with FASD tend to be friendly and cheerful and enjoy social interaction.
  • Children with fetal alcohol syndrome have facial features such as small eyes, a thin upper lip, and a smooth philtrum .
  • Whether patients are referred to us or already have a Cleveland Clinic ob/gyn, we work closely with them to offer treatment recommendations and follow-up care to help you receive the best outcome.
  • Treating the mother’s alcohol use problem can enable better parenting and prevent future pregnancies from being affected.
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