How drinking while pregnant affects your child
Madison, WI – Dubbed as “delinquents” you see them sitting in detention for harassing teachers and assaulting peers. You’ve seen them snorting coke at parties, participating in gang violence, having risky sex and never scoring higher than 50% in any class. Yet, what if these “delinquents” were actually victims?
Experts Geoff Brown and Gwen Bhagroo introduce you to the families and lives of these “delinquents” suffering from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). By explaining the risks and science behind drinking while pregnant, professionals hope that with proper education, at risk women will seek treatment and FASD children may be accepted into their communities regardless of their behavioral disability.
Geoff Brown, with UW Hospitals and Clinics, has worked 5 years as a Brief Intervention Specialist for their Adolescent Alcohol/Drug Assessment Program (AADAIP). He’s seen countless teens and families enter with complaints about FASD related problems.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders is an umbrella term describing the adverse effects resulting from prenatal alcohol exposure. When a mother drinks while pregnant, alcohol interrupts the biological development in the womb, causing the child to be born with physical deformations, cognitive impairment and behavior issues.
According to the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, FASD is the most common form of developmental disability and birth defects in the western world. Trumping Down syndrome and Spine bfida, 50 in every 1000 births every year (2-5% of births in US alone) are to FASD children.
The most popularized expression of FASD is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). All children diagnosed with FAS were born with 2 distinct abnormalities: one involving facial dysmorphia, or disfiguration, and the other involving growth restrictions.
The more obvious aspect of FAS includes facial dysmorphia. Look for small eye openings, smooth or flat space between nose and mouth, and a thin upper lip (keeping the parent’s features in mind upon analyzing).
FAS children usually fall significantly below the average height and weight of their peers. The shape of the brain is also affected— especially the corpus callosum, cerebellum, and the basal ganglia – the parts of the brain that control and regulate movement.
When these areas of the brain are damaged, it’s impossible to maintain good posture, balance, coordination and speech. Lacking the dexterity and coordination makes something as simple as riding a bike or writing a grocery list the hardest task. This explains why FAS children struggle to interpret what happens during social situations in school, community, home.
Gwen Bhagroo with Minnesota’s Ramsey County Social Services has worked 15 years as a Foster Care Licensing Worker in Child Protective Services. She explains, “If you tell a FASD kid ‘when you come home, hang your coat up in the closet’ they will do it that one time. They won’t understand that you requested them to do it every time.”
Due to cognitive deficits in soft skills like communication, organization, planning, time management, and complex thinking make it difficult to find success and fulfillment in everyday life. Many have a concrete, sort of black and white way of thinking which only fuels their repeated poor decision making.
FASD kids are also hyperactive individuals who constantly are seeking ways to stimulate themselves typically through risky behavior. Many FASD children today remain undiagnosed, or wrongly diagnosed as children with Attention Deficit Disorders or Autism Spectrum Disorders.
“They are impulsive. Quick to react, quick to do . . . and that lands them in a lot of trouble.” Brown says. “These children don’t fear strangers, are vulnerable, immature and only seek superficial relationships. They follow the lead because they feel it is right to do so.”
Unfortunately, children growing up with this mindset often face legal repercussions. According to the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, individuals with FASD have been shown to have a higher incarceration and arrest rate than the general population, with approximately half of all people with FASD facing legal trouble at some point.
Individuals with FASD may forget rules for probation, or struggle to understand the rules as the courts usually use advanced language or give directions that may be confusing to a person with FASD.
Lying is often an issue with FASD. If an individual has poor memory they may create a story to fill in the gaps. They may steal because they have trouble understanding the concept of ownership – especially in the case that if the real owner is not there, then the object must have no owner.
Bhagroo sighs, “For an FASD child to call a jail cell home is outrageous . . . but unfortunately is still a reality today.”
Being a social worker, Bhagroo hopes to see more foster homes open to receiving FASD children. “These kids can drive you off the deep end – so we need parents who are calm, patient and good at explaining things in different ways – a soothing parent with a high tolerance for frustration.”
Although treatment for FASD is still evolving those like Brown and Bhagroo find counseling related treatment to be the most effective.
Utilizing the multi-dimensional approach which focuses on developing the familial behavior patterns as a whole, Brown meets with families and facilitates a therapy centered treatment to patients with FASD.
Bhagroo, although not dealing in the treatment of FASD, similarly meets with families with an FASD child to check in and lend support. At times, Bhagroo may need to act as the liaison between the court, school, treatment center and family.
Bhagroo explains, “There used to be a time when there was no concern involved with drinking while pregnant. When FAS became diagnosable there was a whole generation who felt guilty, thinking ‘Oh my god, I did that to my child.”
However Brown argues that even today, doctors are still unsure of the appropriate amount of alcohol consumption. “I know for sure that there are conflicting messages that women get during their pregnancies. I have 3 of my own children, and my ex-wife along with my current wife was told by their doctors that small amounts of alcohol once a week or less would be safe.”
Despite what some doctors say, the rate of safe alcohol consumption is still being discovered so Brown encourages mothers to not drink during pregnancy. Drinking allowances often cause women to underestimate their drinking.
Binge drinking or excessive drinking, for women is 4 or more drinks over the course of 2 hours. Risky drinking is 3 drinks over the course of 2 hours. But, simply because you consume 2 or less drinks over the course of 2 hours will not assure your child safe from FASD.
According to Brown’s research, 10% of women in the US aged 18-44 years report alcohol use during pregnancy and another 2% report binge drinking.
Binge drinking can lead to engaging in risky behaviors, unprotected sex, short term confusion, reduced inhibition, long term heart disease, bladder cancer, coma, and even death. And if you don’t experience these, your child born with FASD will.
“There is hope for these children," Brown says. Medical professionals everywhere are working hard to educate women of childbearing age on FASD. “In some communities, expecting mothers will be required to conduct alcohol screenings or in more serious cases, at risk mothers will be referred for intervention and treatment.”
Bhagroo also concludes saying FASD children are being more understood by the public today. Schools are creating positive support networks and reward systems for proactive behavior. New FASD research is being publicized and taught within all sectors of childcare. “I’m looking forward to seeing more kids off the street and instead invited into warm homes.”
