Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Studies have shown that if the parents have a drinking problem, it can even have an impact on the development of the fetus. This is because of the fact that alcohol which is consumed reaches all the organs and tissues of the mother’s body which includes the placenta.

Alcohol from the placenta enters the fetus through the membrane. Such babies are born with a condition called FAS or the fetal alcohol syndrome. This can result in the babies being defective or deformed by birth. Statistics show an alarming number of babies being born with FAS in the United States each year.

Children who are born with FAS suffer throughout their lives for no fault of theirs. They are generally underweight and much shorter than normal children. Some of them are mentally retarded as their skull and brain is deformed. Since the alcohol affects the central nervous system of these babies, some of them also have a groove in their upper lip centre which is very long.

Their facial features also characteristically differ from other normal children. Children afflicted by FAS generally have upper lips which are thin, face which is flat, groove on their upper lip, eye openings which are narrower, etc.

Psychological problems associated with these children involve inability to concentrate on their studies, shorter span of attention, lack of sufficient judgment, memory problems, problems with solving and a whole lot of other problems associated with behavior.

Children afflicted with FAS generally lack social skills too. They tend to get easily frustrated thereby throwing temper tantrums very often. They exhibit symptoms of being over active and are not able to sit in a place.

They are impulsive by nature and their actions are not very coordinated. Some of them also exhibit symptoms of speech and hearing impairment. One sad thing about this is this condition is not treatable.

If the parent is irresponsible enough to give their child the FAS, then the child is stuck with an irreversible condition throughout his or her life. The effect is thus permanent and cannot be treated or altered. A lot of children lead a retarded life due to the irresponsible behavior of their parents.