Any alcohol your drink during pregnancy enters your bloodstream and crosses the placenta to reach the fetus. Just like you, the undeveloped fetus has to process the alcohol, but because of its immaturity, the metabolic rate of process is very slow. This results in a high blood alcohol concentration for the fetus that remains elevated a lot longer than yours.

The presence of alcohol in the fetus can impair nutrition for the baby’s developing tissues and organs, and it can also damage brain cells. If the alcohol affects the child, he or she is usually referred to as having Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) was first described in the United States in 1973 when researchers observed that children whose mothers drank heavily during pregnancy had a distinct set of facial abnormalities as well as growth retardation and significant behavioral and cognitive problems.

Today alcohol related birth defects are described in three ways: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), Alcohol Related Birth Defects (ARBD) and Alcohol Related Neurodevelopment Disorder (ARND). The broad name given to all three is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). ARBD and ARND are also referred to as Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE).

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is identified as a pattern of physical, developmental, and functional abnormalities in a child resulting from the mother drinking alcohol during her pregnancy. Characteristics of a child with FAS or partial FAS include:

• Facial anomalies
• Low birth weight
• Small head circumference
• Slow growth and small size
• Learning and developmental disabilities, especially in mathematics and memory
• Poor coordination
• Poor socialization skills and delayed social and emotional development

Alcohol Related Birth Defects (ARBD) describes the condition of a child who has physical defects as a result of the mother’s alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Physical defects include:

• Deformities in joints, limbs and fingers
• Heart defects
• Vision difficulties including nearsightedness
• Malformations and faulty development of bones and kidneys

Alcohol Related Neurodevelopment Disorder (ARND) refers to the neurodevelopment abnormalities and/or behavioral problems that occur in a child as a result of alcohol exposure during pregnancy.