Alcohol+During+Pregnancy


 * Alcohol and Pregnancy **



Drinking during pregnancy is never a wise choice. There are many risks to your unborn infant’s health that are unrecoverable and affect their development for the rest of their life. Alcohol is a toxin. When you drink alcohol, it rapidly reaches your baby through the placenta, via your bloodstream. Heavy, regular or binge drinking can cause [|miscarriage] and [|premature birth]. Too much alcohol can even increase the risk of your baby being [|stillborn] (Centre).

Risk Factors
A major risk is for you r unborn child to be born with FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) and also Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) (About.com)


 * Small body size and weight
 * Slower than normal development and failure to "catch up."
 * Deformed ribs and sternum
 * Curved spine and hip dislocations
 * Bent, fused, webbed, or missing fingers or toes
 * Limited movement of joints
 * Small head
 * Facial abnormalities
 * Small eye openings
 * Skin webbing between eyes and base of nose
 * Drooping eyelids
 * Nearsightedness
 * Failure of eyes to move in same direction
 * Short upturned nose
 * Sunken nasal bridge
 * Flat or absent groove between nose and upper lip
 * Thin upper lip
 * Opening in roof of mouth
 * Small jaw
 * Low-set or poorly formed ears
 * Organ deformities
 * Heart defects or heart murmurs
 * Genital malformations
 * Kidney and urinary defects
 * Central nervous system handicaps
 * Small brain
 * Faulty arrangement of brain cells and connective tissue
 * Mental retardation -- occasionally severe
 * Learning disabilities
 * Short attention span
 * Irritability in infancy
 * Hyperactivity in childhood
 * Poor body, hand, and finger coordination

(About.com)

=Works Cited= About.com. //About.com//. 8 November 2013. http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/preg/a/aa070997.htm. 20 October 2013. Centre, Baby. //Baby Centre//. June 2013. http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a3542/alcohol-during-pregnancy#ixzz2kBgWUefl). 20 October 2013.