: What Are Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders FASDs?

Pregnant women are advised not to drink any alcohol during pregnancy. Many mothers-to-be don’t realise during the first few weeks that they are pregnant or didn’t plan to get pregnant in the first place. Most people in the UK do not know the severe harm that drinking alcohol in pregnancy can cause to the unborn baby. It stands for Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and it’s a surprisingly common condition. Studies suggest FASD affects at least 3.6% of the UK population (McCarthy et al, 2021, McQuire et al 2019).

Alcohol exposure

• Since then, we continue to recruit through newsletters, social media posts, conference and webinar presentations, and ongoing communication with participants.
• ND-PAE is the only one of the FASDs to be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5).
• The NOFASD website provides a downloadable worksheet called “What Matters,” which caregivers can use to help them identify their child’s values, strengths, and goals for the future and list the steps necessary to achieve those goals.
• They may be able to help you stop drinking before it causes harm to your pregnancy and the developing fetus.
• Non-alcohol dependent drinkers will benefit most from brief, straightforward education and support from their primary care provider.
• All alcohol, including beer, wine, ciders and hard liquor can all cause FAS.

Make an appointment with your child’s pediatrician to discuss why you think your child may have an FASD. You can share your concerns and ask for a referral to a doctor who specializes in FASDs for further support. Experts explain that diagnosis may involve a team of doctors and other professionals and may include a neuropsychological exam. There’s no cure for FASDs, but early treatment can help your child thrive.

How is fetal alcohol syndrome diagnosed?

Because there is no monetary incentive for completing this survey, we expect that the risk of having bots in the sample is quite low. As well, there are several open-ended items early in the survey which are helpful for detecting bots, and we collect timestamps to monitor how quickly items were answered. We also screen and monitor data on a routine basis and have detected no suspicious responding thus far. Identifying information (name and contact details) are collected and retained only for participants who choose to receive resources developed from the study, or those who wish to be contacted for future research.

Developmental stages

This condition can be prevented if you don’t drink any alcohol during pregnancy. It’s possible that even small amounts of alcohol consumed during pregnancy can damage your developing fetus. Because this research is intended to be ongoing drug addiction treatment and longitudinal, the survey is reviewed regularly, and content will be updated as new evidence, questions, or priorities emerge. Specifically, the study team plans to engage in a full review of the survey every three years.

How Are Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Diagnosed?

Between each review cycle (i.e., 18 months after each revision), the research team will seek feedback from participants who consented to be contacted about the study. Less than 4% of the U.S. population are alcohol dependent or alcoholic to the extent of requiring medical treatment and intensive behavioral counseling. However, 25% of the population are considered to be at-risk alcohol users. Non-alcohol dependent drinkers will benefit most from brief, straightforward education and support from their primary care provider. A woman who drinks alcohol at risky levels may not always follow prescribed procedures for effective contraception. This might include providing secondary, back up, or emergency contraception methods.

Partial fetal alcohol syndrome (pFAS)

These services are appropriate for children from birth to 3 years of age and can help a child learn important skills such as walking, talking, and interacting with others. Because children with FAS often have delayed growth or distinctive physical characteristics, a physical assessment can help doctors screen for the condition. Caregivers can help a child with FAS in many ways, including by seeking early diagnosis and intervention services, adapting the child’s environment, and identifying and building on the child’s unique capabilities and strengths. Other helpful resources include Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA). It’s important to understand that FASDs can result from occasional drinking as well. Each type includes different physical or developmental characteristics on the spectrum.

• If you’re a light or social drinker, don’t drink if you think you might become pregnant anytime soon.
• The symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome vary from child to child but are lifelong.
• This is because a woman could get pregnant and not know for up to 4 to 6 weeks.

Emerging findings from this study =https://ecosoberhouse.com/ have been disseminated in several ways, including biannual participant updates, social media posts, conference presentations, and webinars. This study has received approval from the University of Alberta Research Ethics Board (Pro ) and data management procedures align with these institutional policies and regulations. Specifically, participant responses are saved anonymously to REDCap, which is locally hosted within the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry’s data centre. When data is to be analysed, raw responses are downloaded to an offline document that is stored on a password-protected and encrypted computer.

Mental Health 101

• If your child is diagnosed with an FASD, the diagnosis will be for a specific condition under the umbrella of FASDs, as listed above.
• There is no amount of alcohol that's known to be safe to drink during pregnancy.
• When a pregnant woman stops drinking at any time during pregnancy, she decreases the risk of harm to her child.

Children can be diagnosed with partial forms of fetal alcohol syndrome if they show the abnormal features even when there is no clear proof that their mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. Some children with partial fetal alcohol syndromes show only some of the features. This may be called “fetal alcohol effects.” When a pregnant person drinks alcohol later in pregnancy, sometimes the physical facial features do not develop in the child, but the other problems still happen. When a woman consumes alcohol while pregnant, her fetus is exposed directly to alcohol through her bloodstream.

It makes the level of alcohol in your blood (and the baby’s blood) go very high very quickly. Even if you don’t drink every day, you may put your baby at risk for FASD if you drink alcohol. Alcohol use in pregnancy has significant effects on the fetus and the baby. Dependence and addiction to alcohol in the mother also cause the fetus to become addicted. But since the alcohol is no longer available, the baby's central nervous system becomes over stimulated, causing symptoms of withdrawal. Alcohol withdrawal may begin within a few hours after birth, and symptoms may last up to 18 months.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Providing appropriate care and support can help a child with FAS reach their full potential. A discussion of the patient’s at risk alcohol use can be woven into your assessment of clinical issues and management options. Patients are likely to be more receptive, open, fetal alcohol syndrome and ready to change than you expect. Most patients don’t object to being screened for alcohol use by clinicians and are open to hearing advice afterward.