We know that the consumption of alcohol drinks has serious consequences, yet drinking alcohol has become commonplace in our society. Women who consume alcohol drinks while pregnant increase their chances of suffering a miscarriage and are posing a serious threat to the health and well being of their unborn child. Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects suffer serious and irreversible life long damage. It may be surprising but there are even facial differences in the children born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. For instance, children born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome have smaller heads, suffer brain damage, have a thin upper lip, and the Philtrum (the groove that extends between the center of the nose and the top of the upper lip) is not grooved, but smooth. Children born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome have smaller brains and suffer a host of emotional, learning, and behavioral difficulties.
There is no safe amount of alcohol drinks for a pregnant woman to consume. There is no "safety zone" for a woman to consume alcohol drinks without risking the life and health of her child.
It is amazing to me, that with the seriousness of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and the devastating and ravaging effects this takes upon an innocent child, that American society has done little to educate women of this horrible and unnecessary birth defect.
Alcohol drinks are the sole cause for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Effects. It is not a hereditary condition, it is not contagious, and a child will never be born with it by any other means. The only way a child will be diagnosed a victim of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, is if a pregnant mother consumed alcohol drinks during her pregnancy.
What is even more disturbing, is the fact that when most women do not realize that they are pregnant, during the first four weeks of pregnancy, is when they are most likely to consume the most alcohol drinks.
If you are female, and are in any way risking the chance of becoming pregnant, do not consume alcohol drinks.