Alcohol in pregnancy is the use of alcohol during pregnancy, including the time before women know of pregnancy. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy. The most severe form of this condition is known as fetal alcohol syndrome. Problems may include abnormal appearance, short height, low weight, small head size, poor coordination, low intelligence, behavior problems, hearing loss, and vision problems. Those affected are more likely to have problems at school, legal issues, participate in high-risk behaviors, and have problems with alcohol and drug use. Alcohol use during pregnancy can also cause spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, low birth weight, and prematurity. Not all infants exposed to alcohol in the uterus will have a defect associated with alcohol consumption. Alcohol use during pregnancy may also result in an inability to care for babies after birth if drinking continues. Alcohol use during pregnancy is associated with domestic violence and potential harm to the baby.
Fetal alcohol syndrome usually occurs when a pregnant woman has more than four drinks per day during the first trimester, with mild symptoms found with two drinks per day. Evidence of damage from less than two drinks per day or 10 drinks per week is unclear.. Most health organizations recommend total abstinence from alcohol during the first three months of pregnancy, when the fetus is most susceptible to the effects of alcohol mutations, and recommends overall moderation throughout the entire pregnancy.
Video Alcohol and pregnancy
Embryology
Different body systems in infants grow, mature and develop at certain times during pregnancy. Alcohol consumption during one or more developmental stages can only produce one or more conditions.
From conception through to the third week, the most vulnerable systems and organs are the brain, the spinal cord, and the heart. Although these body systems complete their development later in pregnancy, the effects of alcohol consumption in early pregnancy can cause damage to these systems and organs.
During the fourth week of pregnancy, limbs are being formed and it is at this point that alcohol can affect the development of arms, legs, fingers and toes. Eyes and ears also form during the fourth week and are more prone to the effects of alcohol.
In the sixth week of pregnancy, teeth and ceilings are formed and current alcohol consumption will affect this structure. The use of alcohol in this window is responsible for many characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome.
By the 20th week of pregnancy, organ formation and organ systems develop well. Babies are still vulnerable to the damaging effects of alcohol.
The baby's brain, body, and organs develop throughout pregnancy and may be affected by exposure to alcohol at any time. Because every pregnancy is different, drinking alcohol can hurt one baby more than the other. A child who has been affected by alcohol before birth may appear 'normal' at birth. The intellectual disability may not appear until the child starts school.
Maps Alcohol and pregnancy
After birth
When the baby is born and looking healthy, the baby may still have invisible abnormalities and organ defects caused by exposure to alcohol during pregnancy. Social problems in children have been found to be associated with alcohol use during pregnancy. Alcohol is the cause of microcephaly.
Alcohol use during pregnancy does not affect the ability to breastfeed babies. In addition, babies can breastfeed even if their mother continues to consume alcohol after birth. Infants born to mothers who have alcohol dependence can by alcohol withdrawal after birth.
Treatment
A woman may choose to stop alcohol once she knows that she is pregnant. A woman can have serious symptoms that accompany the withdrawal of alcohol during pregnancy. These symptoms can be treated during pregnancy with benzodiazepine.
Epidemiology
One in 67 women who drink alcohol during pregnancy will have children with birth defects. The five countries with the highest prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy were Ireland (about 60%), Belarus (47%), Denmark (46%), UK (41%) and Russian Federation (37%). The lowest prevalence in countries where religious beliefs regulate their alcohol consumption. Birth defects caused by alcohol consumption can reach 1% in many places. This may mean that FASD may be higher than anencephaly, Down syndrome, spina bifida and trisomy 18. Globally, one in 10 women drink alcohol during pregnancy. Of this population, 20% binge drink and have four or more alcoholic drinks every single occasion.
"Binge drinking is a direct cause of FAS or FASD.This finding is alarming because half of pregnancies in developed countries and over 80% in developing countries are unplanned, which means that many women do not realize that they are pregnant during the early stages and that they continue to drink while pregnant. "
Public health recommendations
Beginning in 1981, US general surgeons began issuing warnings asking pregnant women to abstain from alcohol during the remainder of pregnancy. The American Academy of Pediatrics issues a series of recommendations by 2015: "During pregnancy, the amount of alcohol intake should not be considered safe, no safe trimester for drinking alcohol, all forms of alcohol, such as beer, wine, and liquor, have a similar impression. , and alcoholic binge poses dose-related risks to developing fetuses. "The World Health Organization recommends that alcohol should be avoided completely during pregnancy, given the relatively unknown effects of even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has suggested that women avoid alcohol completely during the first three months of pregnancy, and that if women choose to drink they should drink no more than one or two drinks once or twice a week.
Controversy
There is some controversy surrounding the "zero tolerance" approach taken by many countries when it comes to alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The statement that moderate drinking causes FAS is said to be lacking strong evidence and, in fact, the practice of equalizing responsible levels of drinking with potential harm to the fetus may have negative social, legal, and health impacts.
In February 2016 infographics created by the CDC caused controversy because it recommended that women of childbearing age distance themselves from alcohol if they were not in birth control. This is because the window for developing fetal alcohol syndrome is very early, before women know they are pregnant. However, the recommendation was considered too heavy or too widespread with some sources claiming it was "a shameless woman."
See also
- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disturbance
- Smoking and pregnancy
- Long-term effects of alcohol consumption
References
External links
- Harvard's Health
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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