This destructive influence alcohol has on pregnancy & the unborn child

Whether it's beer at a barbecue, red wine with pasta or a cocktail under palm trees, alcohol is part of our culture as a stimulant. However, this view changes abruptly as soon as you become pregnant, because then you are no longer just responsible for your body, but also for the health of your unborn child. In fact, it should be a matter of course that you take care of your body during pregnancy. Pregnancy, keeps her hands off alcoholic beverages. However, many women seem to ignore the warnings of health experts. To underline the danger of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, in the following article we will take a closer look at the consequences that even sporadic binge drinking according to the motto "once is never" can have.

What happens in your body during pregnancy

When you are pregnant, your child is growing inside you. This is an obvious fact, but not every expectant mother seems to be aware of it. It also means that everything you eat and drink comes into direct contact with your child through your blood. So if you drink alcohol, it will also reach your child through the bloodstream and can cause serious damage. It doesn't matter whether you drink beer, wine, sparkling wine, spirits or cocktails, because the alcohol contained in them is and remains the same. The range of possible damage extends from growth problems to physical and psychological damage that can last a lifetime. Children born with severe alcohol-related damage suffer from so-called fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

What are the possible consequences of binge drinking during pregnancy?

However, if you think that drinking alcohol regularly is more dangerous than the odd slip at a party, you're completely wrong. Pregnant women who occasionally binge drink from Friday to Saturday may not consume as much alcohol on balance. However, it is the concentrated amount of alcohol that poses the danger to the unborn child. This, in turn, significantly increases the already high risk of severe damage to the fetus or even death of the still unborn child. Consequences such as an abnormal development of the neuronal system, a measurably reduced IQ as well as the tendency to delinquent behavior in later life are thus the order of the day. Since the consequences of alcohol consumption during pregnancy are very complex, they are summarized under the generic term "fetal alcohol syndrome".

What is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)?

Fetal alcohol syndrome is a summary of a whole series of mental and physical defects that can develop in the unborn child if the expectant mother drinks "too much" alcohol during pregnancy. For those who think that a little bit of alcohol during pregnancy can't do much harm, let's list just a few consequences that this behavior can have on the unborn child. Here is a small selection of consequences that the Missouri Department of Mental Health lists in its publications:

- Too small body size and life-threatening underweight
- Significantly slower mental and physical development
- Deformed ribs respectively a malformed sternum
- Misalignments of the spine and hips
- Crooked, fused or missing fingers and toes
- Reduced mobility
- A head too small
- Deformations in the area of the face
- Eye sockets too small
- Adhesions on eyes and nose
- Drooping eyelids
- Myopia
- Severe congenital strabismus
- Malformations of the nose
- A barely present bridge of the nose
- Formation of cleft palate
- Much too thin lips
- Sunken cheekbones
- Malformed ears
- Deformities of the internal organs
- Cardiac arrhythmias and heart damage
- Deformities in the genital area
- Kidney damage
- Disabilities due to damage to the central nervous system
- A brain too small
- Defective connections between nerve cells in the brain
- Mental retardation
- Learning Disabilities
- Decreased attention
- Increased irritability in childhood
- Hyperactivity especially during childhood
- Poor coordination skills
- Below average fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination

Conclusion

No, the list of possible consequences of alcohol abuse during pregnancy truly does not paint a flattering picture. But as harsh as it sounds, this is exactly what can happen to an unborn child when alcohol is involved. So if you don't want to bear the responsibility for the death of your child or possible lifelong disabilities, you should keep your hands off alcohol. No short-term fun in the world is worth this price.