Gold Dragon said:
I think one of the stranger things about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is that it doesn't happen more often. It is not uncommon for alcoholic pregnant women who drink large amounts during pregnancy to give birthto kids without FAS or any other alcohol related developmental problems.
In medicine, a systematic review is considered the highest level scientific evidence. [SIZE=-1]The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health published a systematic review that found no consistent evidence that prenatal binge drinking has any serious effects on the fetus.
Link (journal abstract) Link2 (news article)
My wife didn't touch alcohol while she was pregnant and I would recomend all pregnant women to avoid it. But I wouldn't freak if they had a drink or two somewhere during their pregnancy.
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When you drink alcohol, it rapidly reaches your baby through your bloodstream and across the placenta. This is fact.
Some degree of alcohol related damage will occur, though modern science has not yet created a way to measure it.
This is a growing fetus, which is still developing. An innocent little fetus growing into one of us. How wonderful! Let's treat God's blessings as just that!
http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1170.asp
Drinking Alcohol During Pregnancy
Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause physical and mental birth defects.
Each year, up to 40,000 babies are born with some degree of alcohol-related damage (1, 2). Although many women are aware that heavy drinking during pregnancy can cause birth defects,
many do not realize that moderate—or even light—drinking also may harm the fetus.
http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/preg/a/aa070997.htm
Potential Problems
For those who might think drinking during pregnancy is no big deal, here is a list of the potential problems their newborns could be facing as a result, according to Missouri Department of Mental Health, Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse:
* 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
No, it's not a pretty picture, but it is not intended to be.
It's very serious. These effects are not temporary; they can cause a lifetime of physical and emotional pain --not to mention expense. FAS is a large price to pay for a few drinks during pregnancy.If you are pregnant, don't take a chance with your baby's future; stop drinking immediately.
If you have tried to stop and find that you just cannot seem to give it up, help and support are available.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. (2)
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3)
heartless, unappeasable, slanderous,
without self-control, brutal, not loving good, (4) treacherous,
reckless, swollen with conceit,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people
