Alcohol And Pregnancy
Alcoholism during pregnancy is undoubtedly one of the most controversial topics in the modern day world. It has even become more controversial in the recent times with gender equality and female liberation at its peak. Gone are the days when a woman’s job was to stay at home, take care of the housework and bear children. The modern day woman is a career woman. She is not tied down to staying at home and can always enjoy herself with a drink or two after work. This is as opposed to those times when it almost seemed like a taboo for women to drink. Naturally, the rate of drinking among women has increased with liberation and so has the rate of alcoholism during pregnancy.
Alcohol circulates in the mother’s blood and passes to the fetal circulation system through the placenta. Since the fetus is intolerant to alcohol, chances of their development being affected are high. Children born of mothers who took alcohol during pregnancy have what is commonly known as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). These can be either physical, behavioral, mental or learning disorders. The FASB are incurable and cause serious physical, mental and learning behaviors in the children during growth. There are unusual behaviors that are noticed in children born of alcoholic mothers especially during pregnancy. This is an issue of concern and the necessary measures should be taken to mitigate this in pregnant women.
The issue of alcoholism during pregnancy as stated above is a very controversial topic. There are those who believe that moderate or controlled drinking during pregnancy poses no danger to the unborn child. There are others who believe that taking alcohol during pregnancy is highly risky to the unborn child. The truth is that for whatever reason that we try to justify alcoholism during pregnancy, it is highly risky for the fetus and alcohol during pregnancy should be avoided at all costs. Its effects are permanent and they cause pain and suffering that lasts a lifetime. They are not in the very least worth missing a few drinks during the nine months. Abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy would save the world from a lot of childhood malformations and the expenses that come with trying to revert or comfortably live with them. It is no doubt one of the steps towards making the world a better place and giving innocent children the fullness of life that they deserve.
It is worth noting that of all the drugs that one can abuse, alcohol is the most dangerous neural teratogen to a growing fetus. Its effects are also felt and observed in virtually all parts of the body of the unborn child. Alcohol is that it is able to circulate from the mother’s system, break the placental barrier and get into the fetus’ circulation. This means that every time the mother drinks, the unborn baby also drinks (Buddy, 2009). The unborn baby however unlike the mother has very little tolerance for alcohol. Its blood alcohol level can rise to or even surpass that of the mother. This level stays high for a longer period of time because the unborn baby’s system is not as well developed to break down alcohol as that of its mother. Some reports even suggest that women who are planning on getting pregnant should refrain from alcohol before they conceive.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy results in a range of disorders called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Individuals who are said to have this condition show some but not all the disorders that arise from alcohol consumption in prenatal period. These can be either physical, behavioral, mental or learning disorders. They include, alcohol related birth defects alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorders and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). The most serious of these disorders is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This is a disorder that comes from women drinking too much alcohol when they are pregnant and children having this condition may show all the above mentioned symptoms. The issue of concern however is the fact that nobody seems to have defined the limit of drinking during pregnancy. It is thus advisable to avoid drinking altogether at this crucial time (fasdcenter.samhsa.gov, 2007).
Fetal alcohol syndrome is an incurable and permanent condition that manifests itself as a series of physical and mental disorders. These disorders bring about serious handicap which include growth deficiencies, abnormal facial structures and central nervous system disorders. Sufferers of this condition are also prone to secondary conditions that result from this syndrome. The secondary conditions include mental health problems, inappropriate sexual behavior, drugs and alcohol problems, and general problems in the day to day life. People with this condition also have problems with memory, attention, vision, hearing, communication and integration of all these factors leading to disruption of their education. The victims of this handicap may thus require a lifetime of special care.
When alcohol gets in to the circulation of the fetus, it triggers a number of destructive processes at different sites. It is known to cause cell death in the fetus. This results in abnormal development in the areas where death of cells has occurred.
