No alcohol during pregnancy

Doctors warn against alcohol consumption during pregnancy on the day of the alcohol-damaged child.

(09.09.2010) Today is the 9th of September, this day is dedicated to the child with alcohol abuse. In this context, medical professionals warn against the use of alcohol during pregnancy. Because alcohol is the most common non-genetic cause for mental and physical disabilities of newborn children.

The most common non-genetic cause of disability for babies is alcohol use during pregnancy. On average, every third alcoholic mother gives birth to a disabled child. In Germany, about 2,200 children are born every year who have significant damage, malformations or developmental disorders due to alcohol during pregnancy. The initiative "FASworld" has therefore proclaimed the 9th of September as the day of action against alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Worldwide, the effects are likely to be alarming. Exact numbers and statistics are so far only in Germany.

The words of the doctors are insistent and clear, because the disabilities of the children could be avoided. As the website of the initiative states: "If a woman drinks alcohol during pregnancy, she risks giving birth to a child who has suffered the consequences of life for a lifetime." The symptoms of an alcohol-damaged child are usually recognizable after birth. According to the chief physician of the children's intensive care unit at the Kinikum Klagenfurt, Dr. med. Martin Edlinger, the symptoms appear after the first hours after birth. The babies are rather small and very thin, the face shows clear changes. Because normally the faces of newborns are so different that none resembles the other. In children with the syndrome FASD facial features are less differentiated and quite identifiable. In about 90 percent of children, for example, eye changes occur. After birth, most alcohol-damaged children scream very shrilly and irritatingly.

Also growth disturbances and malformations of the internal organs occur frequently. In addition, damage in mental and motor development can be observed in later development years. The children suffer for a lifetime. For this reason, pregnant women without exception should abstain from alcohol and also from smoking. There is not, as many claim, a safe limit is an amount of alcohol that is considered harmless. Yet only very few women abide by this commandment. According to a survey by the DHS, only 2 in 10 women do not comply with this requirement to drink alcohol during pregnancy. So much education is needed so that this number increases significantly. (Sb)

Also read:
Pregnancy: abstinence from alcohol is required
If desired after children no alcohol
Late treatment of alcohol addiction

Image: Lisa Black