The risk of harm to the fetus is highest when prenatal exposure to alcohol occurs regularly or due to frequent binge drinking. The alcohol crosses the placenta and enters the baby’s blood where it can damage the developing brain and other organs leading to an FASD. FASDs are 100% preventable if a woman does not drink alcohol during pregnancy. These include medicines to help with some symptoms, medical care for health problems, behavior and education therapy, and parent training. It should include close monitoring, follow-ups, and changes when needed.
Signs and symptoms
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) is an umbrella term used to describe the range of effects that can occur in an individual with prenatal alcohol exposure. These effects can have lifelong implications including physical, mental, behavior, and/or learning issues. There is no consensus on a specific pattern of functional impairments due to prenatal alcohol exposure19 and only CDC guidelines label developmental delays as such,72 so criteria (and FASD diagnoses) vary somewhat across diagnostic systems. Alcohol use during pregnancy causes life-long issues that can be very serious. If you’ve consumed alcohol during pregnancy, talk to your healthcare provider.
Keeping safe
- These effects include an increased risk for spontaneous abortion, placental abruption, preterm delivery, amnionitis, stillbirth, and sudden infant death syndrome.
- Access answers to questions frequently asked about identification, diagnosis, treatment and care management of individuals with an FASD.
- In some cases, your healthcare provider might be able to diagnose a child with fetal alcohol syndrome at birth based on small size and specific physical appearance.
It’s not known whether a father’s drinking affects their sperm or contributes to fetal alcohol syndrome at conception. However, recognizing the problem early and getting treatment for symptoms of the disorder can improve outcomes for your child. And there is no time during pregnancy when it’s considered safe to drink alcohol, either. Receiving treatment as soon as possible in childhood can help decrease the likelihood of developing these secondary effects in life.
Support groups
The most effective treatments for fetal alcohol syndrome target your child’s specific issues. There are no medications to treat fetal alcohol syndrome specifically. But certain medicines can help with symptoms such as hyperactivity, inability to focus, or anxiety. The symptoms of this condition will be with the person throughout their entire life. Over time, a number of secondary effects can happen in people with FAS, particularly in those who aren’t treated for the condition in childhood. These drunken fetal syndrome are called secondary effects because they’re not part of FAS itself.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Diagnosis
Some studies have also found that prenatal alcohol exposure, particularly from heavy drinking during pregnancy, can increase SIDS risk. The NIH-funded Safe Passage Study elucidates how SIDS risk is influenced by the timing and amount of prenatal exposure to tobacco and alcohol. A report of the study appears in EclinicalMedicine, an online journal published by The Lancet. The prognosis for individuals with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is wide ranging. Some data suggest that having a confirmed diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome improves the prognosis, perhaps because this improves access to services. Other studies of fetal alcohol syndrome suggest that early diagnosis improves the prognosis because implementation of early intervention programs occurs at a younger age.
Reducing risk
These are a group of conditions present at birth that can happen when a pregnant person drinks alcohol. No one particular treatment is correct for everyone with fetal alcohol syndrome. FAS exists on a spectrum of disorders and the way each person is impacted by the condition can vary greatly. For some, it’s best to monitor their child’s progress throughout life, so it’s important to have a healthcare provider you trust. Find resources and tools to support provision of a medical home for children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in your practice. Neurobehavioral disabilities in FASD include deficient global intellectual ability and cognition, and poor behavior, self-regulation, and adaptive skills.
- An FASD diagnosis provides families, pediatricians and nonphysician clinicians a framework for understanding an individual’s behavior.
- The fetus appears to depend on maternal hepatic detoxification because the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) in the fetal liver is less than 10% of that observed in the adult liver.
- Prevention of FAS can help reduce the costs of healthcare and, more importantly, ensure that the children will have a better quality of life and normal functioning.
- Once a primary care provider has a strong suspicion for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, their patient should be referred to a team of specialists to rule out other possible conditions and make a definitive diagnosis.
- Information about a therapy, service, product or treatment does not in any way endorse or support such therapy, service, product or treatment and is not intended to replace advice from your doctor or other registered health professional.
- And as the baby continues to develop in the womb, it’s damaging to drink at any time during pregnancy.
- Some children with partial fetal alcohol syndromes show only some of the features.
- Immunofluorescent staining revealed that ethanol treatment downregulated Ap-2, Pax7, and HNK-1 expressions by cranial NCCs.
- A mental health nurse should offer to counsel to patients who have alcohol use disorder and are of childbearing age.
It is a causal factor in more than 200 diseases and injury conditions, and it causes more than 90,000 deaths each year.” Amelia Burgess, MD, MPH, FAAP, FASAM, is a board-certified pediatrician and addiction specialist. She tells us more about decreasing stigma and how to provide appropriate information to children and families. In the womb, a baby doesn’t have a fully developed liver that can process or break down alcohol, so it can easily get to and damage the baby’s organs. One study found that the people with FAS had a significantly shorter life expectancy.6 With the average life span of 34 years old, a study found that 44% of the deaths were of “external cause”, with 15% of deaths being what is alcoholism suicides.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome FAQs
There is no single test for fetal alcohol syndrome (a lifelong condition), but early detection and treatment can greatly improve the lives of children with FAS. Not all infants exposed to alcohol in utero will have detectable FASD or pregnancy complications. The risk of FASD increases with amount consumed, the frequency of consumption, and the longer duration of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, particularly binge drinking. The variance seen in outcomes of alcohol consumption during pregnancy is poorly understood.
Many different diagnostic guidelines are used for the diagnosis of FASD and the physical features are considered differently in each of them. There is a need for universal clinical criteria for the diagnosis of FASD if our goal is to favor universal recognition. In some cases, your healthcare provider might be able to diagnose a child with fetal alcohol syndrome at birth based on small size and specific physical appearance. However, diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders can be difficult. FASD may present in childhood or early adulthood with mild social or intellectual concerns, or it can present with birth defects and growth problems during pregnancy. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a condition that develops in a baby exposed to alcohol before birth.