Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Print Version)

Also called: Also called: FAS

If you are pregnant and drink alcohol, so does your baby. This can hurt your baby's growth and cause life-long physical and behavioral problems. One of the most severe effects of drinking during pregnancy is fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). FAS is a group of problems that can include

Mental retardation
Birth defects
Abnormal facial features
Growth problems
Problems with the central nervous system
Trouble remembering and/or learning
Vision or hearing problems
Behavior problems

FAS lasts for a lifetime. There is no cure. Special school services can help with learning problems. Routines and consistency at home may help with behavior problems. Women can prevent FAS and other problems related to alcohol use by not drinking when they are pregnant or might get pregnant.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Start Here

Drinking and Your Pregnancy(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) - http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/DrinkingPregnancy_HTML/pregnancy.htm
Also available in Spanish http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/spanish.htm
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome(Nemours Foundation) - http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/fas.html
Also available in Spanish http://kidshealth.org/parent/en_espanol/embarazo/fas_esp.html

Overviews

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas/
Also available in Spanish http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/Spanish/fas/
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD); Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)(American Pregnancy Association) - http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/fetalalcohol.html

Diagnosis/Symptoms

Understanding Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Getting a Diagnosis(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/WYNKDiagnosis_5_colorJA_new.pdf

Prevention/Screening

Drinking Alcohol(March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation) - http://www.marchofdimes.com/pnhec/159_530.asp
Also available in Spanish http://www.nacersano.org/centro/9246_9633.asp
Preventing FASD: Healthy Women, Healthy Babies(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/WYNK_Preventing_FASD.pdf

Coping

Eight Magic Keys: Developing Successful Interventions for Students with FAS(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/EightMagicKeys.pdf
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome: A Parent's Guide to Caring for a Child with FAS(Wake Forest University, School of Medicine, Organization of Teratology Information Services) - Large PDF file - http://otispregnancy.org/pdf/FAS_booklet.pdf
Independent Living for People with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/WYNKIndLiving_6_colorJA_new.pdf
Strategies for Daily Living(National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) - http://www.nofas.org/living/strategy.aspx

Related Issues

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders among Native Americans(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/Prevline/pdfs/SMA06-4245.pdf
How Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Co-Occur with Mental Illness(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/WYNK_CoOccurMentalIllnes.pdf
Microcephaly: When Your Baby's Head is Abnormally Small(Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) - http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/microcephaly/AN00236/METHOD=print

Pictures & Photographs

Areas of the Brain That Can Be Damaged in Utero by Maternal Alcohol Consumption(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) - http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Resources/GraphicsGallery/FetalAlcoholSyndrome/mattson.htm
Craniofacial Features Associated with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome(National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) - http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/Resources/GraphicsGallery/FetalAlcoholSyndrome/FetalAlcohol.htm

Research

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders(National Institutes of Health) - Links to PDF - http://www.nih.gov/about/researchresultsforthepublic/FetalAlcohol.pdf

Journal Articles

References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

Article: Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders: problem behaviors and sensory... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18557002&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Building clinical capacity for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder diagnoses in... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18544794&tool=MedlinePlus
Article: Pregnancy characteristics of women giving birth to children with fetal... - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=18532953&tool=MedlinePlus
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome -- see more articles - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=fetal+alcohol+syndrome[majr]+AND+english[la]+AND+humans[mh]+NOT+(letter[pt]+OR+editorial[pt]+OR+case+reports[pt])&doptcmdl=summary&cmd_current=Limits&pmfilter_EDatLimit=last+1+Year&tool=MedlinePlus

Directories

Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Locator(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - http://dasis3.samhsa.gov/

Organizations

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Center for Excellence(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - http://fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation - http://www.marchofdimes.com/
Also available in Spanish http://www.nacersano.org/
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/
Also available in Spanish http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/defaultspan.htm
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism - http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/
National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - http://www.nofas.org/

Statistics

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders by the Numbers(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/WYNK_Numbers.pdf

Children

"Fetal Alcohol Syndrome" Quest(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) - http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/kids/kfaspage.htm
Adopting and Fostering Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/WYNK_Adoption.pdf
Effects of Alcohol on a Fetus(Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) - Links to PDF - http://www.fasdcenter.samhsa.gov/documents/WYNK_Effects_Fetus.pdf

You may also be interested in these MedlinePlus related pages:

Alcoholism - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alcoholism.html
Genetics/Birth Defects - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/geneticsbirthdefects.html
Pregnancy and Reproduction - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/pregnancyandreproduction.html
Substance Abuse Problems - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/substanceabuseproblems.html

The primary NIH organization for research on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism - http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/