Most baby bottles with milk or formula. Since babies a little older, maybe some prefer juice. But how many mothers would fill their Infant's bottle with beer or wine?
That is indeed what happens when pregnant women drink alcohol, and it is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation and birth defects in the United States. Researchers estimate that one in every 100 children may be through some type of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the condition is more common than autism.
"If the mother drinks, the baby drinks," said Paula Lockhart, director of the Fetal Alcohol Research Center in Baltimore Kennedy Krieger Institute.
The effects last a lifetime. Alcohol exposure in the womb can lead to facial deformities, mental retardation, poor coordination and motor skills, and attention problems, which led to difficulties, a job or live independently as adults.
At the first birth as a defect in 1973, fetal alcohol syndrome was thought that only children born to alcoholic mothers. Other research has shown that milder effects, also known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders may by a prenatal exposure to alcohol.
Just last month, researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, that women who binge drink during pregnancy can double or triple their chances for a baby born with a lip or cleft palate.
Severity of FAS is easily recognizable by its physical effects: a small head, small eyes, a flat mid-face and short nose, a flattened philitrum (the distance between mouth and nose) and thin upper lip.
Many children with mild, mainly neurological symptoms are incorrectly diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or Asperger's syndrome, Lockhart said, and others are simply labeled difficult or stubborn. These children may have average IQS and verbal skills, disqualify them for special education or other services, as there is no definitive test for FAS and related disorders, she said.
There is no way to tell how alcohol will affect a particular fetus, said Lockhart. When two mothers drink during pregnancy can be a healthy child, while the other has serious problems.
"You're playing Russian roulette, if you drink during pregnancy," she said. "Some are lucky. We do not know who is who and who not."
FAS is an expensive problem, too. According to the National Organization for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, lifetime care of a person born with FAS range from $ 860,000 to $ 4.2 million. Care of people with the condition, cost $ 5.4 billion in 2003, not even with milder spectrum disorders, so that prevention can save money and improve quality of life, said Lockhart.
Karla Robeson, senior support coordinator at the ARC of Frederick County, works with families, the FAS, and said she was stunned when they discovered the best drink during pregnancy. Robeson guess was the first young, unmarried women with low incomes.
But the latest survey by the Maryland Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System shows that drinking during pregnancy is the furthest among married, non-Hispanic mothers older than 35 with college degrees and incomes of $ 20000 or more.
Robeson can be said, because doctors assume older, educated women who already know that they do not drink during pregnancy and need not be warned.
About one third of mothers in Maryland Kinderwagen poll said the health care professionals do not talk to them about alcohol will affect their children, and about 20 percent said their doctors did not ask about their alcohol use. A mother reported that they drank every day during pregnancy to help her relax and to prevent premature labor, as provided by their physician.
Most medical schools are no classes on FAS or how the communication of the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy to expectant mothers, said program director Erin Frey NOFAS, but the organization is working with Georgetown University on an elective class to start in this autumn.
Other data show that the mothers, according to their consumption of alcohol, May hide the truth.
A study published in the April issue of American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed 94 of 103 pregnant women, when asked how much they had consumed alcohol during pregnancy, it would have none. However, through hair and urine samples, researchers found that 19 of the women were drinking.
The dangers of alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been largely overlooked, said Robeson, the Frederick County organizes first conference on fetal alcohol syndrome and disturbances in this spring. The conference was attended by experts in medicine, mental health, education and social services, Robeson, and said she hopes to continue the success of the event to help even more families know where to go for help.
That is indeed what happens when pregnant women drink alcohol, and it is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation and birth defects in the United States. Researchers estimate that one in every 100 children may be through some type of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the condition is more common than autism.
"If the mother drinks, the baby drinks," said Paula Lockhart, director of the Fetal Alcohol Research Center in Baltimore Kennedy Krieger Institute.
The effects last a lifetime. Alcohol exposure in the womb can lead to facial deformities, mental retardation, poor coordination and motor skills, and attention problems, which led to difficulties, a job or live independently as adults.
At the first birth as a defect in 1973, fetal alcohol syndrome was thought that only children born to alcoholic mothers. Other research has shown that milder effects, also known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders may by a prenatal exposure to alcohol.
Just last month, researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, that women who binge drink during pregnancy can double or triple their chances for a baby born with a lip or cleft palate.
Severity of FAS is easily recognizable by its physical effects: a small head, small eyes, a flat mid-face and short nose, a flattened philitrum (the distance between mouth and nose) and thin upper lip.
Many children with mild, mainly neurological symptoms are incorrectly diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or Asperger's syndrome, Lockhart said, and others are simply labeled difficult or stubborn. These children may have average IQS and verbal skills, disqualify them for special education or other services, as there is no definitive test for FAS and related disorders, she said.
There is no way to tell how alcohol will affect a particular fetus, said Lockhart. When two mothers drink during pregnancy can be a healthy child, while the other has serious problems.
"You're playing Russian roulette, if you drink during pregnancy," she said. "Some are lucky. We do not know who is who and who not."
FAS is an expensive problem, too. According to the National Organization for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, lifetime care of a person born with FAS range from $ 860,000 to $ 4.2 million. Care of people with the condition, cost $ 5.4 billion in 2003, not even with milder spectrum disorders, so that prevention can save money and improve quality of life, said Lockhart.
Karla Robeson, senior support coordinator at the ARC of Frederick County, works with families, the FAS, and said she was stunned when they discovered the best drink during pregnancy. Robeson guess was the first young, unmarried women with low incomes.
But the latest survey by the Maryland Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System shows that drinking during pregnancy is the furthest among married, non-Hispanic mothers older than 35 with college degrees and incomes of $ 20000 or more.
Robeson can be said, because doctors assume older, educated women who already know that they do not drink during pregnancy and need not be warned.
About one third of mothers in Maryland Kinderwagen poll said the health care professionals do not talk to them about alcohol will affect their children, and about 20 percent said their doctors did not ask about their alcohol use. A mother reported that they drank every day during pregnancy to help her relax and to prevent premature labor, as provided by their physician.
Most medical schools are no classes on FAS or how the communication of the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy to expectant mothers, said program director Erin Frey NOFAS, but the organization is working with Georgetown University on an elective class to start in this autumn.
Other data show that the mothers, according to their consumption of alcohol, May hide the truth.
A study published in the April issue of American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology showed 94 of 103 pregnant women, when asked how much they had consumed alcohol during pregnancy, it would have none. However, through hair and urine samples, researchers found that 19 of the women were drinking.
The dangers of alcohol consumption during pregnancy has been largely overlooked, said Robeson, the Frederick County organizes first conference on fetal alcohol syndrome and disturbances in this spring. The conference was attended by experts in medicine, mental health, education and social services, Robeson, and said she hopes to continue the success of the event to help even more families know where to go for help.
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