A mother who drinks during pregnancy may not be fortunate enough to enjoy the blessing of a healthy newborn. The mother may have a miscarriage, stillborn, or premature baby. Premature babies have to be under the hospital’s care for weeks and hooked up to machines just to stay alive. The technology has evolved but does not guarantee survival for the child. A mother and the family have to go through each day with the thought that the baby could stop breathing at any second. A child born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome has low birth weight, a small head, flattened nose, thin upper lip, small eyes, and is short in length.
The birth defects caused by Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are not always evident at birth or even shortly after birth. Due to the birth defects not being readily observable at birth the child and families become devastated as the child grows up. The induced damage to the infant’s developing brain is less evident at birth but becomes more apparent with development. Mother’s of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome infants have difficulties dealing with the health of the baby. Babies with FAS tend to have poor sucking reflexes which means the baby does not reach for food like most babies do. Proper nutrition is important for adults and even more important to newborns. “They tend to be irritable and fussy. Some do not like to be held. They wiggle and squirm. It is difficult to comfort or quiet a baby with FAS.” Amy Nevitt explains. Having a baby, caring for a baby, and watching a baby grow should be the best moments a woman has in their lifetime. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can transform these precious moments into the worst moments with a history of drinking during pregnancy that causes irreversible complications in newborn development.
The effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome begin to surface even more noticeably as the baby develops into a toddler. When a child does not response to, its bed time, and the mother typically passes the silence off as being ignored. Usually it is not until the teacher sends a note home saying, “I think your child has a hearing disability”, that’s when mother starts to worry. The child may start developing hearing defects or teeth growing incorrectly. The mother, as early as the first month, could be taking the child to a heart specialist. Defects with the heart, kidneys, muscles, joints, and sex organs seem to develop out of nowhere. How do you tell your child they may not be able to have children when they become an adult? As a child, there is not much thought about a family. As the FAS child grows and matures, having aspirations of their own family becomes a more important dream. Problems with sex organs cause an increase in chemical imbalances in the child’s body. Chemical imbalances lead to a variety of social interaction problems. As the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome child goes to school the child has a difficult time maintaining the level with other students of the same age. The FAS child struggles to learn which is a direct result of the memory that was affected tremendously due to brain damage as a fetus. A primary stress in a child’s life is peer pressure. A child going to school and being diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome will have not only experience the normal adolescence conflicts but will have magnified social problems due to chemical imbalances. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome causes the child to suffer physically more than the mother. Both the mother and child have to deal with the mental effects while dealing with the problems she has caused.
As a child enters grade school the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome defects become more of an inconvenience to the child and people around them. The child is friendlier with FAS and very outgoing. A child in grade school does not normally talk to strangers without being scared. FAS children do not become nervous and may not think twice to do exactly what a stranger may request of them. The child does not think about the consequences of their actions. A child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome does not understand rules very well and tend to be hyperactive. A child that is hyperactive tends to affect other students as well. Grade school child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome have problems, but the defects only get worse as the child becomes older.
As a child with FAS enters their teen years they start to notice they are different in many areas than their other peers. Teenage years are the most difficult time in most everyone’s life. Mother’s that drink alcohol during pregnancy have increased their child’s problems tremendously for their teen years. Depression is a major illness many teens experience. Normal teens are able to sit down with a trusted, older individual and work out their problems to make them feel better. Teens with FAS cannot overcome depression and treatments have only limited duration. Students try to get the FAS student to do “reckless or dangerous things” and the FAS student does not know the difference. The defects increase becoming more difficult each year for the child and family.
Very few pregnant women who drink alcohol excessively admit to themselves that they need professional help. Women who are not pregnant have the same struggle in denying that they have a drinking problem. Their family, friends, and other supporters cannot just expect a woman who is pregnant and an alcoholic to stop drinking instantly. Women need to start with the simple steps and work up to the complex steps. Doctors working for the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism suggest not keeping alcoholic drinks at the house. Socializing with those who drink is also a major issue that the National Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism stresses to be addressed. Alcoholics tend to drink around their friends and close family members. The Nation Institute on Alcohol and Alcoholism recommend telling your friends and family you have to stop drinking for your child. If the mother’s friends and family truly care about her, they will stop drinking around her to be respectful, and help her take on new and healthy habits. Have a glass of juice, water, or lemonade instead of an alcoholic drink. If this is difficult, avoid situations where you would normally drink. This is an important suggestion from the advisors with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. In some cases, family and friends can ignore or they can be in denial that the one they love is an alcoholic. The pregnant woman needs to seek support from a social worker, religious leader, or healthcare provider. There is always someone, no matter what the case that would be willing to help out. There are many networks of support especially for a pregnant woman. During the process of recovery, a woman goes through withdrawal. A mother shakes, sweats, vomits, cannot sleep, and craves alcoholic beverages. If the mother does not succeed in overcoming, alcoholism, the baby will have these same symptoms of withdrawal. During the first days the baby will even suffer with seizures.
Pregnant woman usually cannot overcome alcoholism with just the support of family, friends, or religious leaders. Unfortunately, only about fifteen to twenty women a month, on average, are admitted to step programs. According to Program Director Dace Svikis, CAP, (Center for Addiction and Pregnancy), incorporates the specialties of mental health/substance abuse treatment, obstetric/gynecological care, family planning and pediatrics, in addition to offering transportation, nutritional support and childcare services.”. The Center for Addiction and Pregnancy offers quality benefits to attract women who are experiencing a problem with alcohol including those who are financial needy. CAP uses a method such as starting out tough and then lightening up. The patient spends seven days in residential domiciliary care, during which time a thorough evaluation of their medical and obstetric condition is completed. The women also receive approximately eight hours of interdisciplinary, individual and group counseling each day. The patient then starts a three level program beginning with at least three complete weeks of programming for six and one-half hours a day and eventually trickling down to one day a week. The Center for Addiction and Pregnancy observes the patient and the progress they make. CAP will not allow a patient to move up in the three level programs until the person has successfully completed a level. Having patience is the key to success just as it is in everyday life. Each patient is assigned a master’s level therapist because CAP believes group counseling is very important in the treatment process.
“We used to be really hung up on action. The pull-up-your-socks, get-a-grip-on it and deal-with-it attitude. However, there is a lot of work to be done before someone even gets to the action stage.” Janet Amos, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Fetal Alcohol Effects Coordinator, BC Women’s Hospital, stated. Women go through a series of stages to reach success in the rehabilitation process. Precontemplation is the first stage. This stage is where people have no intention of changing and deny they have a problem. The patient is not there for themselves; they are there to please other people that care for them and want them to overcome this harmful disorder. The second stage is contemplation. This stage is when they begin to acknowledge they have a problem. Patients tend to come to this stage after listening to bits and pieces of what their counselors have to say. Preparation is the third stage. Preparation is when the patient is planning to take action. The patient has the confidence in their heart to withstand the tough road to overcoming alcoholism. The action stage is the forth stage. In this stage, the counselors can clearly see behavioral changes in the patient. During the action stage a patient uses the confidence in their hearts to take a positive step in changing their life. The maintenance stage is next. During the maintenance stage, people work towards keeping the gains they have made and avoiding relapses. This stage is the hardest for most patients to be successful. The patient has to shun the people around alcohol or be strong enough not drink the alcohol. Most patients have no problems during this process of rehabilitation until the maintenance stage. Termination is the last stage. This stage is when the patient is confident they will never relapse. In most studies people do not reach this stage. Patients that choose to take each step one-by-one will be successful. They have to set short term and long term goals to keep their minds in focus.
A pregnant woman chooses a positive role in taking care of herself and the baby by not drinking, or the pregnant woman can cause the baby to be diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome by consuming extreme amounts of alcohol. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome causes the fetus, infant, and grown child to go through abnormal changes, which healthy people do not have to struggle with throughout life. The Fetal Alcohol Syndrome child is affected mentally, physically, and socially. Nothing can treat FAS; the child, mother, and the rest of the family are affected beginning the moment the mother takes her first drink of alcohol throughout the rest of the child’s life. A variety of programs and options are available to aid an alcoholic pregnant woman who seeks to overcome alcoholism. In the end, the only key to success is the desire of the individual to face alcoholism and make lifestyle changes. If a woman is not stable enough to be able to control her own drinking there is no reason for the woman to take on the wonderful but challenging responsibility of taking care of a child.
