What happens if you drink while pregnant?
Your Child
Nearly 15 per 10,000 people around the world are estimated to have FASD. Here’s a story on why we should not drink alcohol while pregnant.
This message is about innocent children and a big problem that is, technically, 100% avoidable. If the thought is troubling you, please do not hesitate to consult with your doctor.
Read the full story bellow
Merely 22 days after conception, the heart starts beating. Nestled in the perfect cocoon – designed over millions of years – an unborn child is effortlessly consuming all she needs from the person she is most connected to – the mother.
At just 20 weeks old, the little one suddenly realizes that something feels wrong. Technically children aren’t breathing yet at this point, but they are practicing their first moves to be ready for their big day. And it is this movement that gets interrupted.
The unborn baby begins to feel restless. Her heart rate, sleep pattern, and inner system are put out of sync. Decades later the little one would learn that on that day her mother had 2 glasses of wine. It was the day she began drinking again. During the next 14 weeks of the pregnancy, both were often intoxicated and the baby girl experiences unstable sleep patterns that impact the healthy development of her brain.
When born, the baby girl is early and small. Her mother is told that they were lucky she made it. A few hours later, the baby is diagnosed with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. She has a small head, small eyes, a smooth philtrum, and a thin upper lip.
The doctor tells the mother that children with FASD are likely to struggle with many of the following symptoms:
- Sleep problems
- Poor memory
- Difficulty with math
- Difficulty paying attention
- Speech and language delays
- Low IQ and poor judgment skills
- Vision or hearing problems
- And ADHD
He further explains that mothers that drink while pregnant, feed their child, through the umbilical cord, the same amount of alcohol that they consume themselves, with the difference that the child will be exposed to the alcoholic toxins up to 10 times longer. Alcohol can cause mental and physical handicaps and reduce the chances that their children find meaningful work. Children with fetal alcohol syndrome, the most severe form of the disorder, live on average only until age 34.
If you are pregnant, don’t drink.
