Читать книгу Need to Know Fertility, Conception and Pregnancy - Harriet Sharkey - Страница 75

There is no doubt that women who consume large amounts of alcohol in pregnancy can damage their developing baby and extremely high consumption of alcohol on a regular basis can lead to so-called ‘fetal alcohol syndrome’. This condition is rare, however, affecting between 1:300 and 1:2,000 pregnancies. The full syndrome affects only about a third of babies whose mothers drink around the equivalent of three bottles of wine a day in pregnancy. The fact that only a third of these babies are affected suggests that other factors such as poor nutrition, genetic make-up or drug abuse need to be present, in addition to heavy alcohol intake, for the syndrome to develop.

Fetal alcohol syndrome has several features: the baby is small; there may be abnormalities in the brain and nervous system that affect development and intellectual ability; there may also be physical abnormalities, such as a short, up-turned nose, receding forehead and chin and asymmetrical ears, causing a characteristic facial deformity.