The substances you put in your body while pregnant directly affect your unborn child. This applies to the foods you eat, as well as the substances you choose to drink. Unfortunately, this also means that if you choose to drink alcohol pregnant, the alcohol can impact your baby. The risks are especially high for mothers who drink heavily or binge drink while pregnant. One of the main consequences of drinking while pregnant is fetal alcohol syndrome, or FAS, which can impact an infant with varying consequences, depending on how much you drink.
Alcohol and Your Baby
When you drink alcohol during a pregnancy, you directly expose the fetus to the alcohol you drink. Alcohol in your bloodstream can cross the placenta and affect the baby directly. In fact, several studies have shown that both the maternal and fetal alcohol levels after drinking have the same concentrations. The amniotic fluid also holds alcohol for longer periods of time, increasing the amount of alcohol exposure time to the fetus.
Abnormal Physical Development
Regular exposure to alcohol can have a dramatic impact on fetal development. The effects of alcohol can cause physical deformities in the joints, limbs and digits of the fingers and toes. Alcohol also can cause abnormal development of your child's head, resulting in a smaller head circumference. Development of the child's heart also may be affected, resulting in heart defects. Abnormal development may continue even after birth, with children born with FAS often growing physically at a slower rate than normal.
Mental Effects
Not only can alcohol cause physical side effects in a fetus, it also can create long-lasting mental side effects. Exposure to alcohol can affect the growth of your child's brain. In fetal alcohol syndrome, it's not uncommon to see small brain size, or microcephaly, delayed development, mental retardation, hyperactivity, attention-deficit disorder and other learning disorders later on in life due to fetal exposure to alcohol.
Premature Birth and Miscarriage
Alcohol also increases your risks for both premature birth and miscarriage due to the effects of alcohol on fetal development and the behavior and acts of mothers when under the influence of alcohol. This is especially true for women who regularly binge drink. Premature birth is considered birth before 37 weeks of gestation and can further increase the risks for a newborn, as the fetus often does not have enough time to fully develop important systems, such as the cardiovascular and respiratory system.
