Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - Short Essay

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - Short Essay

I was reading an article in ABILITY magazine talking about fetal alcohol syndrome. She said that she was talking to a pregnant lady drinking spiked eggnog saying she knew what fetal alcohol syndrome was and that you have to be an alcoholic to be born with it. She also said the doctor said it was ok to drink as long as it was only occasionally. Why don’t people understand how bad it is to drink? The doctors may say its ok but don’t we know that health risks it can cause to our children? Fetal alcohol syndrome is not a child being born addicted to alcohol, its more “characterized by mental retardation, growth restrictions and even facial abnormalities” (Parents). “One study found that although nearly two-thirds of women had heard of fetal alcohol syndrome, 70 percent of them thought it meant an infant was born addicted to alcohol” (Ability).
We really need to think about these factors before we take a drink. I know as a mother myself that I would never take a drink knowing what it would do to my child. You would have tremendous guilt for the rest of your life if your child had one of these characteristics. When they ask you why they’re different what are you going to say? I would never want my child to be born like that. If you know that you can’t handle not drinking then protect yourself with birth control.
“Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most clinically recognizable form of a larger group of problems caused by prenatal alcohol consumption, termed fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which also includes the more diagnostically elusive alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder. Children with FAS have some tell-tale facial anomalies, growth deficiencies and various levels of brain damage; behavioral and learning problems result, and the consequences are generally lifelong. ARND describes a similar behavioral and cognitive syndrome without the characteristic facial abnormalities or growth deficiencies of FAS. With fewer physical clues, diagnosis of ARND is more...

Similar Essays