So what is FASD?

We, adults who are the survivors, are saying it LOUD and CLEAR

No Amount of Alcohol is Safe for a Developing Fetus. Ever.

Try to live with this disability - Perhaps then you will believe us?

 

FASD means fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. It is an umbrella (that means over the top) term of the other diagnosis that come under it like Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE) etc. Alot of people argued about "what to call this" over the past thirty years - We don't care what you choose to call it.

We are the survivors who were being bathed in alcohol before our births.

A bit of history:

• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a pattern of defined birth defects cause by prenatal alcohol exposure ("Module").
• The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) states "The term FAS was first used in 1973 by Dr. David Smith and Dr. Ken Lyons Jones at the University of Washington." These birth defects typically include: prenatal or postnatal growth retardation, smooth philtrum (the groove above your upper lip), palpebral fissures (folds of skin extending from the medial end of the eye lids) plus abnormalities to the Central Nervous System (CNS).
• For a firm diagnosis of FAS there must be confirmed Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol (PEA) (Coles). That means someone must have seen your birth mother drinking or she told someone she drank alcohol while she was pregnant.

So What Is FASD?

• Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) is the term used to describe an affected person with various Alcohol Related Birth Defects (ARBDs) when he or she does not exhibit the specific birth defects for a diagnosis of FAS.

How Do FASDs Happen?

Outside of the body alcohol can be very useful ("Fetal Alcohol"). It can power machines, fight heart disease and kill fast growing cells like viruses and bacteria. It can also KILL the fast growing cells of a fetus (that's the very beginning of becoming a baby)

A fetus, in simplest terms, is a group of fast growing cells; therefore one must ask:
"How much alcohol is safe for a developing fetus?" (Tanner pg. 46)

All major health authorities agree that no amount of alcohol
is safe for a developing fetus.

The first 2.5 weeks of pregnancy (up to three days following conception)

• The zygote (that is what the egg and sperm connected new organizm is called) is believed to be protected from the effects of alcohol. During this time the zygote does not share the mother's blood supply. It is traveling to the implantation site (that means it connects to the mother's body to grow and get nutrition.
• After implantation is called an embryo.
• The mother is at higher risk for having an unrealized miscarriage if consuming alcohol during this time. She will probably think it's her menstrual cycle starting.

After the implantation and during the next stage in development, the embryo is at the greatest risk of morphological changes if exposed to alcohol.

• The mother may still not know she is pregnant and continue to drink alcohol.
• On day 19 and 20 days after fertilization (known as the period as Embryonic Organogenesis)
  • The face is being rapidly developed as well as the foundation for all organs. If exposed at any time during these two days the baby can be born with facial abnormalities that are typically associated with FAS, as well as defects to other organ systems.
  • At this stage there is risk of damaging the Central Nervous System (CNS), eyes, heart, limbs, teeth, ears and external genitalia.
  • The damage is caused by some cells dying or being damaged and the inhibition of cells to migrate to the proper location. This is particularly damaging to the CNS which includes the brain.

From the embryonic stage all the way through birth, alcohol has adverse effects, yet provides no nutritional value.

• For decades geneticists and psychiatrists have strongly supported the evidence that no amount of alcohol exposure can be deemed "safe" for a fetus. This prompted the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the (NIAAA) to issue warnings and eventually require alcohol companies to place warning labels on the bottles of products containing alcohol.
• The CDC and the NIAAA both agree that a woman should completely abstain from alcohol while pregnant.

At birth, babies with profound (that means a lot of alcohol) exposure typically are very small for gestational age (at or below the 10th percentile for height and weight) (Golden, 2005).

• Babies with light or moderate exposure will often look very typical and be given a clean bill of health.
• Deficits are not usually detected because a child may be mildly developmentally delayed, but within normal range which may not raise too much concern.

At school age, children with FASD are often identified as having one or more behavioral, attention or learning difficulties, and are typical typically diagnosed as having ADHD.

• People with FASD often grow into adulthood having multiple conflicts with authority and are overrepresented in the criminal justice system.
• In "Recognizing and Managing Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Fetal Alcohol Effects: a Guidebook," Brenda McCreight describes people with FASD to be having poor impulse control, an inability relate behavior to consequences, no sense of connection to social rules, poor short-term memory, an inconsistent knowledge base, poor personal boundaries, confusion under pressure, difficulty
• grasping abstract ideas, an inability to manage one's anger, poor judgment and a tendency to be stubborn. This leads the affected person to live a life with more stress, obstacles, loneliness, failure and fewer successes (Kanter and Streissuth 1997).

With the overwhelming evidence that alcohol causes varying levels of damage to a developing fetus and that Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol (PEA) is the leading cause of mental retardation, one might wonder why 40,000 babies a year are born with FASDs (Centers for Disease Control).

Many mothers did not know they were pregnant or were unaware of the risks associated with prenatal alcohol exposure and their point in pregnancy.

• The media portrays women who are late in the 3rd trimester with a rounded belly of pregnancy drinking alcohol and this leads to misunderstandings. It leads women to believe that only in late pregnancy is alcohol dangerous or believe the opposite that drinking in late pregnancy is allowed. These messages create confusion.
• Some messages leads women who drink wine to not identify with the image and believing wine is somehow less dangerous. Wine is alcohol and is just as harmful as all other alcoholic drinks, however there is less of a stigma associated with women who have a glass of red wine with dinner than women who drink a beer or a shot of tequila (Nofas.com).
• For other women, they may know the dangers, but simply cannot quit.

The NIAAA states "Alcohol abuse and alcoholism cut across gender, race, and nationality.

• In the United States, 17.6 million people--about l in every 12 adults--abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent." They describe alcoholism as a strong need or urge to drink.
• Symptoms include: "Not being able to stop drinking once drinking has begun, withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety after stopping drinking and the need to drink greater amounts of alcohol to get `high'."

Generally, women do not intentionally harm their babies.

• "The Challenge of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: Overcoming Secondary Disabilities" by Jonathan Kanter and Ann Streissuth documents the "Birth to 3" intervention program that follows women from the postpartum period (that's the time after the baby is born) to when the child is three years of age.
• Women who self-disclosed their alcohol use were used for the study as well as a control group.
• The thousands of women involved in the study that drank alcohol while pregnant, none reported that they began drinking alcohol during pregnancy. This shows that they knew that alcohol was not safe for their babies.
• "Birth to 3" focused on overcoming embarrassment and on women independently becoming alcohol free. Subjects were never asked to leave the program for noncompliance.

Prenatal alcohol exposure is a very sensitive subject, especially when the effects are obvious.

• Mothers often feel intense guilt and are typically blamed for the damage to the affected person.
• To better understand and to raise awareness of the effects of even light exposure, women need to feel that they will not be judge and that they can openly speak about their alcohol consumption as it relates to their children's difficulties.
• Some physicians do not tell the mother that the alcohol she may have already drank may have caused damage to her baby. Rather, they tell her to quit now and the baby will be "fine."
• Some women may mistake the doctor's reassurance of the baby's health, and continue drinking alcohol, thinking that if the baby is "fine" thus far, then what would a few more drinks hurt.

The Internet has provided an avenue for people to learn more about conditions and treatments. The Internet has also allowed mass distribution of misinformation.

• There are many sites that encourage women to binge drink even while pregnant and the authors refute the conclusions of very credible studies proving the link between alcohol and ARBDs.
  • Some sites make claim such as "Europeans drink wine regularly with dinner, where are their alcohol affected children?" The fact is European countries that do not have warnings about PEA, indeed have higher rates of ARBDs.
  • The Ukraine has one of the highest rates of FAS and FASD's because of the wide acceptance of maternal alcohol consumption. Because of the stigma and shame associated with PEA, some have gone to great lengths to fight against awareness of FASDs.
  • Elizabeth Armstrong and Ernest Able state in "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: The origins of a moral panic." very strongly advise against warning women of the dangers of alcohol because they feel it causes undo moral panic. They suggest FAS as less of a medical diagnosis and more of moral judgment to punish mothers (Able, and Armstrong). The duo, however, never claimed that alcohol does not cause damage.
  • In 1978 Julia Child endorsed drinking alcohol while pregnant when she called the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Fire arms "foolish" for also issuing warning about the effects of maternal alcohol consumption. In her letter she writes "…anything is dangerous to one's health when taken in excess, such as beef, pork, even cornflakes." (Golden). What she did not realize, any amount of alcohol is excessive (CDC.gov).

This kind of misinformation does a great injustice to women who are seeking help and accurate information and to the professionals who have painstakingly made advances in understanding maternal alcoholism without casting judgment, with hope for the mother to lead a normal healthy life with her healthy child.

• Scientific evidence proves alcohol at any level can cause varying levels of damage to a fetus (Kanter and Streissuth).
• The damage may go unnoticed or may not immediately affect the quality of life for the affected person (McCreight, 1997).
• Adequately educating the public and medical practitioners will help mother make an informed decision when putting things into her body that may affect her baby's development.
• An effort needs to be made to identify at-risk individuals and to make women feel free to discuss maternal alcohol consumption.
• A mother needs to ask herself how much damage is acceptable and if drinking alcohol while pregnant is worth the potential damage.

AND if you are a person not affected by FASDs and don't believe this is true.

Please ask "THE EXPERTS" we live with it every moment of our lives -
We - tens of thousands each year - were simply born like this!

Persons with FASDs	Friends & Family	Braided Cord Teams
Tips to make life easier Meet people with FASDs Meet the Experts with FASD	Importance of Friendship Family Ideas Community Public Awareness | Safety	Healthcare | Social Service Education | Employment Safety | Housing | Judicial