I knew it was advised to not drink alcohol during pregnancy, but I had no idea it was this serious, so I am posting it here, just in case...

Alcohol (wine, beer, or liquor) is the leading known preventable cause of mental and physical birth defects in the United States.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a disorder of permanent birth defects that occurs in the offspring of women who drink alcohol during pregnancy. It is unknown whether amount, frequency or timing of alcohol consumption during pregnancy causes a difference in degree of damage done to the fetus. Thus, although prenatal alcohol exposure does not automatically result in FAS, the current recommendation is not to drink at all during pregnancy.

Alcohol crosses the placental barrier and can stunt fetal growth or weight, create distinctive facial stigmata, damage neurons and brain structures, and cause other physical, mental, or behavioral problems.

Surveys found that in the United States, 10-15% of pregnant women admit to having recently used alcohol, and up to 30% use alcohol at some point during pregnancy.

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 referred to as fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), while another 40,000 are born with fetal alcohol effects (FAE).

The main effect of FAS is permanent central nervous system damage, especially to the brain. Developing brain cells and structures are underdeveloped or malformed by prenatal alcohol exposure, often creating an array of primary cognitive and functional disabilities (including poor memory, attention deficits, impulsive behavior, and poor cause-effect reasoning) as well as secondary disabilities (for example, mental health problems, and drug addiction). Fetal alcohol exposure is the leading known cause of mental retardation in the Western world ( comparable to or higher than other developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome or spina bifida).

The risk of brain damage exists during each trimester, since the fetal brain develops throughout the entire pregnancy.

Prevention Is the Key. FAS can be completely prevented by not drinking any alcohol during pregnancy.

http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/fas.html