According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, about 5000 babies are born each year with severe damage caused by FAS; another 35000 babies are born with more mild forms of FAS (Berger, p.37).In general, the more severe the mother’s drinking problem during pregnancy, the more severe the symptoms of FAS in infants.
Babies born with FAS are shorter and underweight compared to normal babies.
They have deformities of the brain and skull, and very characteristic facial features such as small eye openings; thin upper lips; long, flat faces; and a long groove in the middle of their upper lips.
According to the Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1966), alcoholism is defined as “ a diseased condition due to the excessive use of alcoholic beverages” (p.35) Silverstein in his book “Alcoholism” (1990) gives three criteria that the American Psychiatric Association listed for physicians to diagnose this disease (p.30) : 1.
physiological problems, such as hand tremors and blackouts 2.
psychological problems, such as an obsessive desire to drink 3.
behavioral problems that disrupt social or work life Alcoholics can be of any age, background, income level, social, or ethnic group.An alcoholic can totally disrupt family life and cause harmful effects that can last a lifetime. Alcoholism is responsible for more family problems than any other single cause.According to Silverstein (1990), one of every four families has problems with alcohol.Each member of the family may be affected by alcohol differently.Parental alcoholism may affect the fetus even before a child is born.Studies have shown that because children of alcoholics feel that they are different from other people, they develop a poor self-image, in which they closely resemble their alcoholic parents (Silverstein, 1990, p.75).