While there is no cure for FASD, there are many treatment options. While FASD presents lifelong challenges, there is help and hope for children and adults living with FASD. Treatment will vary greatly based on the specific diagnosis, the particular symptoms, and the environmental context. Early intervention has been shown to improve outcomes significantly. Physical treatments may include occupational therapy and medical and dental care.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome – What is It and What are the Symptoms?
They can be even more sensitive to disruptions in routine than an average child. Children with FAS are especially likely to develop problems with violence and substance abuse later in life if they are exposed to violence or abuse at home. These children do well with a regular routine, simple rules to follow, and rewards for positive behavior. According to many studies, alcohol use appears to be most harmful during the first three months of pregnancy.
References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)
If you, your child’s doctor, or other care provider is concerned about your child’s development, ask to be connected with your state or territory’s early intervention program to find out if your child can get services to help. If your doctor is not able to connect you, you can reach out yourself. This can mean that damage is being done without the mother even knowing it.
Risk factors
- Frequent consumption of alcohol may also reduce milk production.
- There’s no known lower limit of safe alcohol consumption or whether there is a cut off level where it is okay.
- Some patients can resolve symptoms of auto-brewery syndrome by stopping antibiotics and following a sugar-free, low-carbohydrate diet.22 Others may require antifungals or antibiotics, along with diet modification.
- Whie FAS is a lifelong condition, early interventions — such as speech therapy, medications and surgeries — can help your child reach her full potential.
There is no safe time to drink, and no safe type of alcohol for a pregnant woman to consume. To avoid the possibility of damaging a developing fetus, then complete abstinence is the only fail-safe method. Although people debate the amount of alcohol that can be safely consumed during pregnancy, the simple fact remains – FASDs happen because a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy.
There’s no known safe amount of alcohol to drink during pregnancy, and there’s no type of alcohol that is safe. Also, men are more likely to severely shake a baby hard enough to cause shaken baby syndrome than women are. Adults with FAS may require additional support and services to help them manage symptoms. “There’s this enormous burden that’s put on women,” says Golding. “But male health is important to foetal development. There is a responsibility of both parties here to support and provide for the health of the baby.”
Damage to your developing baby can happen at any point during pregnancy. All alcohol, including beer, wine, ciders and hard liquor can all cause FAS. Fetal alcohol syndrome happens when a person drinks any Sobriety alcohol during pregnancy, including wine, beer, hard ciders and “hard liquor”. One reason alcohol is dangerous during pregnancy is that it’s passed through your bloodstream to the fetus through the umbilical cord. The baby doesn’t metabolize (break down) alcohol in the same way an adult does – it stays in the body for a longer period of time. Many mothers-to-be don’t realise during the first few weeks that they are pregnant or didn’t plan to get pregnant in the first place.
WHAT IS NEW ON THIS TOPIC: FETAL ALCOHOL SPECTRUM DISORDERS
The lifetime cost of caring for a person with fetal alcohol syndrome is estimated to be at least $2 million, and the overall annual cost of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder to the U.S. healthcare system to be more than $6 billion. FAS is caused by the mother drinking alcohol during her pregnancy. The alcohol passes from the mother’s bloodstream through the placenta into the blood supply of the developing baby. Alcohol in the baby’s system can kill developing brain cells, slow growth of the brain, interfere with the neural connections in the brain, and affect other organs. Often mothers who drink have poor eating habits that also affect the baby.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Symptoms
Alcohol passes from your bloodstream through the placenta to your baby. The placenta grows in your uterus (womb) and supplies your baby with food and oxygen through the umbilical cord. Our Find fetal alcohol syndrome a Provider tool makes it easy to search Cleveland Clinic’s trusted network.
