DO NOW: Do you think pregnant women should risk the health of a child for the pleasure of drinking an occasional beer? A glass of wine? A cigarette? An Advil?

During the first few months of a pregnancy when essential organs are forming in the embryo, environmental factors can affect the development of the baby. Placenta Therefore, an embryo may be harmed if the mother has a poor diet, is exposed to certain toxic substances, gets certain infections such as German measles or AIDS. For the most part, the baby is protected by the placenta. The placenta acts as a barrier that separates the mother’s blood and the fetus’s blood so that they do not mix. HOWEVER, food, gases, and wastes can cross the barrier through the process of diffusion. Unfortunately, harmful environmental factors such as alcohol, drugs and tobacco, are also able to pass across this barrier.

Harmful environmental factors: Poor diet Alcohol Drugs Tobacco Toxic substances Infections: German measles & AIDS Therefore, an embryo may be harmed if the mother has a poor diet, is exposed to certain toxic substances, gets certain infections such as German measles or AIDS. ALL of these substances can cross the placenta!

FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME …the effect of alcohol on your unborn child…

? QUESTIONS ? What if I only drink a little while pregnant? I don’t drink the hard stuff… is that okay? Will I be okay if I stop the last few months? Beer doesn’t count, does it?

ANSWER: Drinking alcohol, any kind and at any time, during your pregnancy may be harmful. If you drink while pregnant, your baby will be at risk to be born with FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME. Yet many pregnant women do drink alcohol. It's estimated that each year in the United States, 1 in every 750 infants is born with a pattern of physical, developmental, and functional problems.

How much is too much? No evidence exists that can determine exactly how much alcohol will produce birth defects. Individual women process alcohol differently. Other factors vary the results, too, such as the age of the mother, how often the mother drinks, and whether the mother has eaten any food while drinking. Because alcohol can easily diffuse across the placenta and because of the size of the unborn baby, the fetus cannot eliminate alcohol as well as its mother and as a result, it tends to receive a high concentration of alcohol that also lingers longer in its system.

When is drinking worst? Mothers who drink during the first trimester of pregnancy have kids with the most severe problems because that is when the brain is developing. The connections in the baby's brain don't get made properly when alcohol is present. Of course, in the early months, many women don't even know they're pregnant. But drinking in the final months is also dangerous because some of the most complex developmental stages in the brain occur in the second and third trimesters, a time when the nervous system can be greatly affected by alcohol. Even moderate alcohol intake, and especially periodic binge drinking, can seriously damage a developing nervous system.

What are the characteristics of FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME? Leading cause of mental retardation, or some degree of mental disability Short attention span Hyperactivity Social and behavior problems Abnormally small at birth Small head circumference Small, widely spaced eyes Flat mid-face Thin upper lip and underdeveloped jaw

WHAT ABOUT DRUGS? A fetus is very sensitive to drugs and cannot eliminate drugs as effectively as an adult; therefore, the chemicals can build up to extremely high levels in the baby's system and can cause permanent damage. In general, drugs cause miscarriage, stillbirth, small size, low birth weight, premature birth, birth defects, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and drug-dependency in the infant. After pregnancy, many drugs can pass through breast milk and can harm the baby.

THALIDOMIDE BABIES: Thalidomide was a drug given to women to with morning sickness in the 1950s, but it caused over 10,000 babies to be born with abnormal arms and legs. Today, some doctors want to use thalidomide to help treat patients with various cancers, do you approve??