Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

In order to avoid Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders or FASD, the CDC has stated that there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Any amount of alcohol ingested can put the fetus at risk for FASD. That is likely the reason some medical personnel recommend no alcohol if a woman is trying to become pregnant. By the time a pregnancy is recognized the fetus will already be exposed. When the pregnancy is recognized differs for an individual woman. Some experience breast changes within a couple of weeks. Others don’t recognize the pregnancy until they have missed a menstrual cycle or two. Research at Huffman’s laboratory at the University of California, Riverside, reported that FASD can be heritable. It can pass biologically to at least the third generation.