Symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)/ Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE)
Alcohol can affect a fetus, or developing baby, in a number of ways; FAS is diagnosed when three different signs are present:
- Small for age. Babies with FAS are below average in length and weight when they are born and tend to be smaller than other children their age. Due to small size, their developmental delay sometimes is not recognized for being as severe as it is. A child in the second grade and the size of the average seven-year-old acting more like she is six years old doesn't really cause too much alarm. What a minute, though, that child is actually nine years old!
- Differences in facial characteristics. Babies will FAS tend to have heads that are not as wide around (the medical term for this is microcephaly - which is Latin for "small head"). The groove on their upper lip is less developed. They also have a thin upper lip and the space between their eyes is wider than normal. Try this test. Put one finger on both sides of your eye. This is the width of your eye socket. The space between your two eyes is the exact same width. One sign of FAS is the width between your eyes would be greater.
- Damage to the central nervous system, including brain damage. Children with FAS have major problems in school and with learning and will likely also have behavioral problems.
Some children who are heavily exposed to alcohol while still in their mother’s womb do not have all three of these symptoms but are diagnosed as having fetal alcohol effect (FAE).
Children with FAS and children with FAE have much in common. Their IQ scores tend to be low and both have problems in learning, reasoning and memory. In particular, they have problems remembering newly learned information. Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure is often linked to problems in a large number of areas, this includes both reasoning and fine-and gross motor performance.
A NORTH DAKOTA PROBLEM, AN INDIAN CONCERN
In North Dakota, an average of 15 babies are born with this preventable disease every year. However, even more upsetting is that research has found that 1 in 4 Indian women gives birth to a baby with FAS. Rates of alcohol-related retardation and other developmental problems are six times higher in Indian country than it is in the rest of the United States.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is completely preventable if a mother does not drink during pregnancy. Also, if a woman has been drinking and finds out that she is pregnant, if she stops drinking the negative effects drinking can have on her baby will be less than if she continues to drink the entire time.
