What is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)?

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a disease in a child caused by exposure to alcohol during the mother’s pregnancy. This syndrome causes brain damage and developmental problems. The problems caused by fetal alcohol syndrome vary from child to child, but the defects caused by it are not reversible.

There is no amount of alcohol that is safe to consume during pregnancy. If you drink alcohol during pregnancy, you put your baby at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Women who drink alcohol during pregnancy can give birth to babies with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, sometimes known as FASD. FASD is an umbrella term for a wide range of disorders. These disorders can be mild or severe and cause congenital physical and mental defects. Types of FASD include:

Partial fetal alcohol syndrome
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
Alcohol-related birth defects
Alcohol-related neurodevelopment disorder

FAS is a severe form of this disease. Affected individuals may have problems with their vision, hearing, memory, attention span, and ability to learn and communicate. While defects vary from person to person, the damage is often permanent.

Symptoms

Because Fetal Alcohol Syndrome covers a wide range of problems, there are many possible symptoms. The severity of these symptoms varies from mild to severe and can include the following:

Hyperactivity
Lack of focus
Poor coordination
A small head
Below average height and weight
Learning disabilities
Intellectual disability
Poor judgment
Problems seeing or hearing
Kidney defects and abnormalities
Deformed limbs or fingers
Mood swings
Delayed growth and problems in speech, thinking, movement, and social skills
A very thin upper lip
A flat ridge between the upper lip and nose
Small, wide eyes, or other abnormal facial features

Causes

When the mother is pregnant and consumes alcohol:

Alcohol enters the bloodstream and passes through the placenta to the developing fetus
Alcohol increases the concentration of blood alcohol in the developing fetus compared to the mother’s body because the fetus metabolizes alcohol later than adults
Alcohol interferes with the delivery of oxygen and optimal nutrition to the growing child
Prenatal alcohol exposure can damage the development of tissues and organs and cause permanent brain damage in the child

How much alcohol causes fetal alcohol syndrome?

Any amount of alcohol during pregnancy can cause FAS. There is no safe amount to take. Damage to the developing fetus can occur at any stage of pregnancy. It’s not even safe to have a drink at first. All alcohol, including beer, wine, cider, and hard liquor, can cause FAS.

Complications

Alcohol, including wine, beer, and liquor, is the leading preventable cause of birth defects in the United States. In the womb, a baby does not have a fully developed liver that can process or break down alcohol, so it can easily reach the baby’s organs and damage it. Which can cause:

Miscarriage
Stillbirth
Preterm labor
Birth defects

Problem behaviors that are not present at birth and can be caused by fetal alcohol syndrome (secondary) may include:

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Alcohol or drug misuse
Aggression and inappropriate social conduct
Mental health disorders
Inappropriate sexual behaviors
Problems staying in or completing school
Early death by accident, homicide, or suicide

When to see a doctor

If you’re pregnant and can’t stop drinking, ask your obstetrician, primary care physician, or mental health professional for help. Because early detection may help reduce the risk of long-term problems for babies with fetal alcohol syndrome, tell your doctor if you drank alcohol during pregnancy.

If you’ve adopted a child, you may not know whether the biological mother drank alcohol during pregnancy, and it may not initially occur to you that your child may have fetal alcohol syndrome. However, if your child is having trouble learning and behaving, talk to their doctor to determine the root cause.

How common are FASDs?

It is difficult to determine the exact number of children who have FASD. Some experts estimate that approximately 40,000 babies may be born with FASD in the United States each year. Based on studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others, it is estimated that between 800 and 8,000 babies are born with FAS in the United States each year.

Prevention

Experts know that FAS is completely preventable if women do not drink alcohol during pregnancy. These guidelines can help prevent fetal alcohol syndrome:

Do not drink alcohol if you are planning to get pregnant. If you’ve never stopped drinking alcohol, stop as soon as you find out you’re pregnant or even if you think you might be pregnant. It’s never too late to stop drinking during pregnancy, but the sooner you stop, the better for your health and your baby.
Avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome is completely preventable in children whose mothers do not consume alcohol during pregnancy.
If you are sexually active and have unprotected sex, avoid alcohol during your fertile period. Many pregnancies are unplanned, and damage can occur in the first weeks of pregnancy.
If you have an alcohol problem, get help before you get pregnant. Get help from a professional to determine your level of alcohol dependence and create a treatment plan.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome requires expertise and complete evaluation. Early diagnosis and services can help improve a child’s ability to function. For diagnosis, the doctor:

The doctor talks to the mother about drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Obstetricians and other health care providers can help determine the risk of fetal alcohol syndrome if the mother correctly reports the timing and amount of alcohol consumption. Although doctors cannot diagnose FAS before the baby is born, they can assess the health of the mother and baby during pregnancy.
Watch out for the signs and symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome in the first weeks, months, and years of a child’s life. This includes evaluating the child’s physical appearance and distinctive features and monitoring the child’s physical and brain growth and development.

The doctor may also evaluate the following:

Health issues
Learning and language development difficulties
Cognitive ability

Many of the features seen with fetal alcohol syndrome may also occur in children with other disorders. If a child is suspected of FAS, a pediatrician will evaluate the child.

After ruling out other disorders with similar signs and symptoms, a referral is made to a pediatrician, a neurologist, or other specialists with special training in fetal alcohol syndrome.

Treatments

While FAS is incurable, there are treatments for some of the symptoms of this syndrome. The sooner the doctor diagnoses the disease, the better the recovery process can be. Depending on the symptoms children with FAS develop, they will likely need many visits to a doctor or specialist. Special education and social services can help young children. For example, speech therapy helps toddlers learn to speak, making their speech problems less.

At home

Children with FAS should benefit from a stable and loving home. They may be more sensitive to everyday events than a normal child. If children with FAS are exposed to violence or abuse in the home environment, especially in adulthood, they develop violence and substance abuse problems. These children appear well with a regular routine, following simple rules and receiving rewards for correct and positive behavior.

Medications

There are no specific medications that cure FAS. However, several medications may relieve the symptoms or reduce their severity. These include:

Antidepressants to treat anxiety problems and negative reactions
Stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other behavioral problems
Neuroleptics to treat anxiety and aggression
Anti-anxiety drugs to treat anxiety and tension

Counseling

It is possible that behavioral training can also help in this regard. For example, social skills training such as friendship. Executive function training may improve skills such as self-control, reasoning, and understanding of cause and disability. Likely, children with FAS will also need academic help.

There is a possibility that parents and siblings also need help to deal with the challenges caused by this condition and syndrome and to accompany the patient. This help can be through talk therapy or support groups. Also, parents can receive appropriate parenting training related to their children’s needs. Parental training teaches how to best interact with and care child.

Does more drinking cause more harm?

The more alcohol a woman drinks, the greater the risk of alcohol-related brain and organ damage to the developing fetus. Binge drinking (drinking four or more drinks at a time) is the worst drinking pattern. However, even small to moderate amounts of alcohol can have adverse effects on the brain and organs of a developing fetus. Therefore, the best advice is to avoid drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

The bottom line

Fetal alcohol syndrome spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that occur in an infant due to maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, behavioral, and learning problems. Often a person with FASD has a combination of these problems.

Drinking any amount of alcohol during pregnancy is dangerous. If you drink alcohol during pregnancy, you put your baby at risk of fetal alcohol syndrome. If you suspect that your child has this syndrome, talk to your doctor as soon as possible. Early detection may help reduce problems such as learning disabilities and behavioral problems.

Additional questions

Why does the desire for alcohol increase during pregnancy?

Hormonal changes can affect women’s mental health. It is common to feel anxious, weak, or confused during the nine months of waiting. This can make alcohol more tempting.

Can a father’s drinking cause harm to the baby?

New evidence has found a link between alcohol consumption by the father before conception and the likelihood of birth defects in the fetus. Fathers who regularly drink alcohol before conception are associated with a higher likelihood of birth defects such as congenital heart disease, clefts, limb anomalies, and digestive tract anomalies.

Does fetal alcohol syndrome affect intelligence?

Researchers have found that, on average, people with FASD tend to have intelligence levels in the borderline to low-average range as measured by IQ tests. This means that they generally tend to have somewhat lower intellectual abilities.

What is considered “a drink”?

In the United States, a “standard drink” is defined as any alcoholic beverage that contains 0.6 fluid ounces (14 grams) of pure alcohol. Generally, 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, or 1 ounce of hard liquor are each a standard drink. Mixed or alcoholic drinks served in restaurants/bars often contain more than one standard drink.

Is there a safe time during pregnancy when a woman can drink alcohol?

No, there is no point in drinking alcohol being considered safe during pregnancy. The adverse effects of alcohol can happen to the developing fetal brain early in pregnancy, even before a woman realizes she is pregnant. Because different aspects of the baby are developing at all stages of pregnancy, the effects of alcohol on the developing baby can be caused by alcohol consumption at any stage of pregnancy. Alcohol is a known neurotoxin, so since the brain develops during pregnancy, the developing brain and nervous system are always at risk.