Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

When a pregnant woman drinks during her pregnancy, she is exposing her fetus to alcohol. Alcohol is very dangerous to a developing baby and can result in fetal alcohol syndrome.

Fetal alcohol syndrome affects approximately 1 out of every 1,000 births. Unlike most birth defects and disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome is 100% preventable if the woman does not drink alcohol while pregnant. A child born with fetal alcohol syndrome will experience physical, mental, behavioral and learning disabilities.

Some babies will die as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome. It is common for people born with this condition to experience poor coordination, hyperactive behavior, and problems with daily living, sleep disturbances, sucking disturbances which could lead to poor feeding, speech and language delays and poor judgment skills.

Physical, a child with fetal alcohol syndrome will have distinct facial abnormalities and will generally be small in size.