The growing up in New Zealand study is a longitudinal study following around 7000 children and their families from across the wider Waikato and Auckland regions of New Zealand. Report one looks at the vulnerabilities and risks for children before they were born. A very interesting finding from this study is found in subsection 7.6 and looks at the maternal alcohol consumption for mothers with planned and unplanned children. The results from the study displayed that while a majority of mother did abstain from drinking by the first trimester as around 89% of mothers in the unplanned group and 85% of mothers in the planned pregnancies group did stop a majority of the number of mothers did continue to drink, Overall drinking throughout pregnancy around 25% of planned pregnancies 35% percent of unplanned pregnancies was reported to have had any were between one drink per week to 20 plus drinks per week. However, it should be noted that only 2 percent of non-planned pregnancies reported drinking this much alcohol.
Prenatal drinking increases the risk for a wide range of catastrophic outcomes. For instance, spontaneous abortion which is where the fetus dies within the first twenty months of gestation. Evidence suggests that this is mostly associated with a mother who induced five more drinks per week but there is no consistent evidence for a mother who drank less. Stillbirth is another devastating outcome and is where the baby dies twenty weeks after gestation, current research
Although throughout the United States activist and educational campaigns have flooded U.S citizens with education on the detrimental effects of maternal alcohol consumption, women are still continuing to consume alcohol while pregnant. Fifty three percent of non-pregnant woman drink alcohol, and despite health warnings, twelve percent of pregnant mothers in the United States still consume alcohol (Pruett &Waterman & Caughey, 2013, p. 62). Fetal alcohol exposure is also believed to be widely underreported in the United States (Pruett et al., 2013, p. 66). Current research concludes that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, nor a safe time during gestation for alcohol consumption to take place (National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome [NOFAS], 2014). Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term used for the various conditions that maternal alcohol consumption causes. Although each case of FASD can present differently, cognitive disabilities, facial deformities, and growth retention are a few of the hallmark adverse effects that alcohol has when it enters fetal circulation (Paley & O’Connor, 2011, p. 64). The United States is impacted economically by these debilitating conditions as well, as it costs our nation $746 million dollars annually to care for these children (Bhuvaneswar, Chang, Epstein & Stern, 2007, p. 3). Nurses in America, and across the globe have a key role in helping to eliminate, and minimize adverse effects of these conditions
Attention-Getting Statement – Does anyone want to take a guess at what the nations leading preventable cause of developmental disabilities and birth defects?! Consuming alcohol during pregnancy
The fetus is not the only one harmed by alcohol consumption during pregnancy, but the mother is as well. In fact, many doctors urge women who think they are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant to stop drinking (“Fetal Alcohol”). “One percent of all mothers consume fourteen or more drinks per week during the three months before pregnancy” (Walsh 3). To the average person one percent is not too large of a proportion. However, the volume of alcohol consumed is high during
In the article, “Is Drinking Alcohol While Pregnant an Unnecessary Risk to Prenatal Development,” Phyllida Brown believes that drinking is bad for pregnant women and can put the baby at risk for Fetus Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) (76). She supports her claim by providing follow-ups on children whose mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy. The children whose mother consumed alcohol, tend to be more aggressive and had a hard time focusing compared to children whose mother didn’t consume alcohol. Some physical traits that children with FAS have are thin lips and tend to be smaller than the average kid (Brown 76). Brown also supports her argument by using a counterargument about how some women claims that it is okay to drink wine or alcohol every once
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a concise, uniform definition for conditions caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. FASD is a broad term used to describe the range of effects that can occur in an individual whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy (Caley, Kramer, & Robinson, 2005). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can also cause growth retardation, birth defectscomma and deficits in cognitive, languagecomma and motor development (Coles et al., 2015). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a teratogenic effect, which is caused by daily, chronic, heavy and frequent alcohol use while in utero. Chances of an infant diagnosed with FASD are 0.5 to 3 in 1,000 live births (Cone-Wesson, 2005). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder has many different diagnoses. There is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), partial fetal alcohol syndrome (PFAS)comma and alcohol-related neuro-developmental disorder (ARND)comma all under the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder umbrella (Brown et al., 2015). Maternal alcohol use is correlated to the timing, frequencycomma and quantity of the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy. Drinking during the first trimester may not be as detrimental as drinking during the second or third trimester. The frequency of alcohol consumed is also a key factor in FASD, such as how often per day drinks are consumed, the quantity of alcohol consumed, and how many glasses or cans per day the mother consumes
The scientific community didn’t recognize the potential harm of prenatal alcohol exposure until 1973, when Dr. David Smith and Dr. Kenneth Jones at the University of Washington in Seattle, published similar findings in the medical journal Lancet. It was then that the term Fetal Alcohol Syndrome was coined (Stratton,1996). Since then, a spectrum of disorders connected to prenatal alcohol exposure has been recognised, with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome being the most severe.
As stated earlier, alcohol has its greatest effect on the developing embryo during the first trimester of pregnancy with its teratogenic effect causing mental retardation as well as characteristic craniofacial abnormalities that are characteristic of the disease. It has also been demonstrated with experimental animal models that there is a clear "dose-response" effect between the amount of alcohol consumed by the mother and the risk that is associated with developing FAS symptoms (Walpole, p. 875). It has been proposed by Walpole and associates that there are various degrees to which the fetus An be effected. Walpole uses the term "fetal alcohol syndrome" to refer to serious effects due to heavy maternal drinking and "fetal alcohol effect" to refer to those effects thought to occur with lower maternal alcohol intake (Walpole, p. 875). Regardless of the degree to which
would not be able to live a normal life for the rest of its life. The
Considering the multitudes of things that could go wrong during a pregnancy, why would mothers consume alcohol despite the warnings of possible birth defects? Many are familiar with the "Just Say No" campaign spearheaded by Nancy Reagan in the 1980 's to prevent drug and alcohol use among teens. However, many turn a blind eye to the warnings of the surgeon general stating alcohol consumption during pregnancy can result in birth defects. When a pregnant woman consumes alcohol, she puts her fetus at risk from mild to severe physical, mental and cognitive disabilities. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is the term that is used to describe an array of disorders that occurs as a consequence of women consuming alcohol during pregnancy. There are many types of FASD including fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), partial fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol-related birth defects(ARBD), alcohol-related neurodevelopment disorder(ARND), and neurobehavioral disorder associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. Although alcohol consumption during pregnancy is ill-advised, throughout the United States mothers continue to drink during pregnancy. Being FASD is the most preventable of developmental disabilities, I will examine the irreparable consequences of alcohol consumption during pregnancy and its behavioral, physical, cognitive and educational implications on the fetus and the family.
Drinking can also cause the baby to be born with certain features that are different from a non-alcoholic pregnant woman such as being skinny and the head size being smaller than
Among factors to consider, alcohol consumption is frequently associated with drug abuse, smoking, and malnutrition. All of these factors can cause serious harm to the developing embryo of a child. It is difficult for researchers to decide which effects are caused by alcohol alone.
Even a small amount of alcohol has the potential to hurt the child. The unborn child of a person who occasionally drinks is at risk of receiving fetal alcohol effects. This condition causes children to receive some of the same of the same effects that come from fetal alcohol syndrome. A child may not receive any of these conditions due to a mother’s alcohol consumption, but there are still some potential effects. Evidence shows that when a pregnant mother consumes an average of two alcoholic beverages per day, her child may have a lower amount of intelligence and is also at risk for having mental retardation. Also, there is research that suggests that even low quantities of alcohol consumed during pregnancy can have contrary effects on the child’s behavioral and psychological functions, and can cause a child to exhibit behaviors such as hyperactivity, unusual nervousness or anxiety, and poor impulse control. Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can also cause children to have less accuracy in their spatial and visual reasoning later in their lives. Due to these results, Sarah should be advised to not drink alcohol while she is
Drinking during the trimester stages while pregnant may cause any type of damage, even when not a lot is consumed. A study written by Watt, Eaton, Choi, Velloza, Kailchaman, Skinner, and Sikkema, discusses various reasoning’s many women may say they consume alcohol even before knowing they are pregnant. The most common aspect is stress. Within this article there were many key factors that discussed the drinking process amongst women. The study was focused on women in South Africa, and was focused here because research for this country tended to show high rates of many women who poured a drink to cure their emotions. Watt, Eaton, Choi, Velloza, Kailchaman, Skinner, and Sikkema, mention five factors that contributed to reasoning’s many women consumed liquor while pregnant or after pregnancy. They stated the following “women used alcohol as a strategy to cope with stressors and negative emotions, women drank as a way to retain social connection; often during a difficult period or transition in life, social norms in women’s peer groups supported drinking during pregnancy, women lacked attachment to the pregnancy or were resistant to motherhood, and women were driven physiologically by alcohol addiction” (Watt, Eaton, Choi,
The research seeks to divulge the extent of the abuse of alcohol among other drugs by the pregnant women and bring forth the manner in which the society and the medical practitioners in particular can contribute to the control of the habit and guarantee better health for the mothers to be and the children.
New Zealand’s society has become more tolerant to regular alcohol consumption, which results to the increasing rate of women, especially young women who drinks alcohol while they’re pregnant. If a woman doesn’t know that she is pregnant, or is pregnant, or trying to get pregnant, it can result to various pregnancy issues like miscarriage, and the baby born with a range of lifelong effects and even death. A child who was exposed to alcohol during pregnancy can result psychological, behavioural and numerous physical disorders such as premature birth, growth retardation and brain damage. The term used to describe the range of effects that can occur is called, foetal alcohol spectrum disorders or FASD and it is estimated that between 600 and 3,000 New Zealand babies are born every year with this conditions. (Health Promotion Agency, 2015).