How Does Alcohol Affect Child Development

There are many factors that can affect a baby’s growth and development before birth, one of these factors is drinking during pregnancy. This can cause foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs). This is a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects can include physical problems with behaviour and learning.
FASDs are caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy; alcohol in the mother’s blood passes to the baby through the umbilical cord. When a woman drinks alcohol so does her baby. There is no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy or when trying to get pregnant. There is also no safe time to drink during pregnancy. Alcohol can cause problems for a developing baby throughout
People with FASD may also have a small head size, be shorter than average height and a low body weight. This is because as the mother has been drinking alcohol during the pregnancy it has affected the baby’s growth and development and therefore the baby has not had chance to develop and grow properly. FASD can also affect a person’s intellectual development as people with FASD can have poor coordination, hyperactive behaviours, difficulty with attention, poor memory, difficulty in school especially with math, learning disabilities, speech and language delay, intellectual disability, poor reasoning and judgement skills. This is because the mother has been drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and so it has affected the baby’s intellectual development and has affected the development of the brain. Having FASDs can also affect an individual’s emotional development as they may have self-confidence issues due to their abnormal facial features and may have emotional problems with their learning difficulties. FASDs can also affect a person’s social development as they may have trouble with communication, vision and hearing which can affect their social interaction with