Women who drink are the only ones who can ensure that their babies will not have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or any other alcohol-related outcomes and that's by not touching alcohol. There is no cure for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, it is an irreversible disease. The easiest way to prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is to quit drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Together alcohol and pregnancy present a great danger.
Throughout pregnancy, drinking alcohol may not allow the internal organs of an unborn child to form correctly; alcohol interferes with the body's ability to get enough oxygen and nourishment for normal cell development. Generally, babies with FAS may have the following characteristics: mental retardation and low IQ; poor memory and reasoning skills; restless; sucking and sleep disturbances in infancy; small eye openings; speech and language problems, eating, hearing and vision problems; inappropriate sexual behavior, etc.
Mental retardation is the extremely critical consequence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Generally, it is like a handicap which is in a direct relation with physical malformation. Many FAS babies have more behavioral and motor problems. In the case if a women drinks alcohol in the period of pregnancy and her baby does not manifest symptoms of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, it is very possible that this baby may have some alcohol-related neurodevelopment disabilities (ARND). Frequently, babies with such disabilities may have behavioral and emotional problems, which are the consequences of drinking alcohol.
No one knows the quantity of alcohol which may cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. That is why it's better to just eliminate alcohol (that includes liquor, beer and wine) from a diet during pregnancy. It is well-known that all drinks which contain alcohol can provoke to unborn child different problems. How much or how little can alcohol harm a developing baby? Nobody knows what a safe level of alcohol consumption is for a pregnant woman. If a woman in the period of pregnancy ignores to avoid the danger of relation alcohol and pregnancy, if she drinks alcohol, so does her unborn child, because alcohol crosses the placenta freely.
Women who drink heavily are two to four times more likely to have a miscarriage between the fourth and sixth months of pregnancy than are nondrinkers. The elimination of alcohol consumption during pregnancy is essential to optimize the chances for a health of unborn child. Obstetricians and gynecologists recommend that alcohol and pregnancy are incompatible. They recommend that women should be careful about alcohol consumption in pregnancy, especially the women who drink large amounts of drinks containing caffeine, the women who smoke or have a poor diet.
Teenagers who mix the alcohol and pregnancy are even more vulnerable. Thus, children born by young women of teen age who drink a lot are exposed to twice as serious risk as the other, because the girl herself is a growing individual. The unborn child as well as her "young mother", needs to get proper nutrients constantly in order to develop and grow.
Thus, in a pregnant teenager, the young mother exposes her body to the excessive stress and the unborn baby is very likely to be born with serious aberrations in weight and height, or to be born prematurely.
The best advice is that women should not mix the alcohol and pregnancy.