“Are you pregnant?” This is the question women who toast with apple spritzer at a party must expect. Because everyone knows: Sparkling wine, beer, wine, cocktails and other drinks with alcohol are taboo for pregnant women. Nevertheless, in Germany alone, several thousand babies are born every year with alcohol damage because their mother drank during pregnancy. When it comes to the most extensive form of such damage, doctors speak of “fetal alcohol syndrome” (FASD for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder). Here we explain what FASD means and what consequences these children have to struggle with throughout their lives.
What happens in the body when a pregnant woman drinks alcohol?
Already ten minutes after drinking, the alcohol reaches the blood through the mucous membranes of the stomach and small intestine and is quickly distributed throughout the body. It crosses the mother’s blood-brain barrier just as easily as the umbilical cord that connects the bloodstream of the pregnant woman with that of her baby.
“The same amount of blood alcohol flows into the unborn child as the mother,” explains Christian Albring, a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics in Hanover and president of the professional association of gynecologists. “However, the baby is exposed to the cytotoxin up to eight times longer because its liver is still immature.” The organ cannot break down the alcohol because a certain enzyme is still missing, alcohol dehydrogenase. “While countless existing brain cells perish in the mother as a result of alcohol intoxication, they cannot even form in the embryo under the prolonged influence of alcohol,” says Albring. Alcohol is particularly toxic to cells that divide rapidly or tissues that are highly specialized, like the brain. And there is no time in pregnancy when it is not dangerous.
What are the consequences for the children?
Worst of all are the consequences for the baby’s brain. Because alcohol intoxication in the fetus causes malformations of its central nervous system, it can lead to reduced intelligence and memory, as well as speech and concentration disorders. “The working memory does not work optimally, and mental processes that control behavior, attention and emotions are just as limited,” explains Gela Becker, qualified psychologist and director of the Sonnenhof children’s home in Berlin, which specializes in caring for children with alcohol damage.
“Those affected cannot learn from the consequences, which throws up the whole pedagogy”(Gela Becker)
According to Becker, the »disruption of sequencing«, as it is called in technical jargon, is also serious: »Those affected cannot learn from the consequences, which throws up the whole pedagogy.« In addition to the intellectual, emotional and social impairments, there is also alcohol damage for many Outwardly it can be seen: Children who had to consume alcohol in the womb are often below average, have a small head, a bulging forehead and a noticeably short nose with outwardly curved nostrils.
Wrinkles form in the inner corners of the eyes, the eyelids droop. The so-called philtrum – the groove between the nose and upper lip – is missing. The upper lip itself is narrow, the chin receding, the ears sit low on the head and are rotated backwards. If there are facial abnormalities, growth disorders and brain damage at the same time, doctors and therapists speak of FASD, the fetal alcohol syndrome.
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