Alcohol children: poisoned in the baby bump

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Women who drink while pregnant can cause great harm to their children - mentally and physically. Kids like Kevin. He suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome.

Kevin Braun, 19 years old and a bear from a young man, proudly wears his brand new black and yellow work outfit. A few days ago he started his apprenticeship as a parcel delivery service at DHL. It's a great victory for him.

Kevin suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Because his mother drank while she was pregnant. Especially Kevin's mental development has suffered from their alcohol consumption: "I have trouble concentrating and it is harder for me to learn new things," he said in an interview with

Kevin was four months old when he came into his foster family. Actually, this was only planned temporarily - until his mother managed her withdrawal. But she can't get away from the bottle. “So he stayed with us,” says Veronika von Bargen, his foster mother. “That'll be fine,” she said to herself at the time - and worked hard: Kevin receives riding lessons and early support in music: the drummer takes him under his wing.

Bargen's commitment pays off. Kevin finished secondary school at Waldorf School - an amazing career for children with FAS. "He could also have become Federal Chancellor," says the foster mother.

Even a glass of wine can destroy a lot

Drinking while pregnant is like playing Russian roulette. The frequency and amount of alcohol consumption alone are not decisive; even a little alcohol can destroy a lot. "There are women who have only had a few glasses of wine in a single crisis situation and whose children have suffered massive damage," reports psychologist Dr. Reinhold Feldman from the University of Münster, who heads a FAS day clinic in Münsterland.

A lower limit from which alcohol is guaranteed to be harmless to the embryo during pregnancy cannot be named. Conversely, some women who drink a bottle of vodka a day have almost healthy children.

March through to the genome

How alcohol affects the unborn child depends above all on the genetic makeup of the child. "It has to penetrate the nuclear membrane in order to get into the cell nucleus," explains Feldmann. In around 60 percent of children he cannot do this, but in 40 percent the alcohol overcomes the natural barrier that is supposed to protect the sensitive genetic material. The damage it causes there is not always the same. But it can be devastating.

Alcohol inhibits the division of cells, destroys existing ones, and prevents their networking. The consequences affect every organ. And especially the brain of the fetus. Because the tiny babies in the womb still have no way of coping with the alcohol. When the mother's intoxication is long gone, the poison continues to work in the unborn's body for a long time.

Alcohol shapes the face

The alcohol consumption of many children is literally written on their mothers' faces: if they drink between the third and fourth month of pregnancy, when the facial features develop, the eyes remain small, the upper lip narrow and the groove between the nose and mouth is missing. The ears are lower and close to the head.

Normal glasses will then not fit. "If you have a child like that, you need a skilled optician," says Gisela Michalowski, chairwoman of FASD Germany e.V., the most important association for affected children, mothers and foster families. FASD stands for “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder”, a term that encompasses all forms of prenatal alcohol damage.

Much more serious than ADHD

However, if you do not look directly at the damage to the children, years often pass before the diagnosis: “With our first foster child, we constantly asked ourselves what we were doing wrong. Why the boy doesn't follow the same track as our own children, ”says Michalowski. Like so many foster parents, she did not know that his mother had been drinking. She says: “Even as a foster mother, you have ideas and dreams about what could become of the child. You then have to say goodbye to them. "

Typical consequences of fetal alcohol syndrome are poor concentration and fidgety, as we know from ADHD children. This misdiagnosis is therefore common with FAS. "But anyone who has to do with alcohol-impaired children knows: that's not all," says FAS expert Feldmann. Unlike ADHD children, FAS children are naive, extremely trusting, seducible and lacking in distance.

Making friends is difficult for FAS children. With their lack of distance and through no fault of their own, they scare away other children and irritate adults.

Learn to brush your teeth anew every day

In addition to the behavioral problems, a lack of learning ability is the biggest problem. This also applies to everyday things: “Some children have to learn anew every day to brush their teeth. Or they keep doing the same nonsense, ”says Feldmann. Some people keep getting burned on the stove because they cannot learn for the future from the painful consequences of their actions.

Happiness with the surrogate family

Kevin is lucky in adversity - his mental damage is less severe than that of many other FAS children. And he does not end up, like so many of his fellow fates, in a nursing home, but in a foster family that supports him lovingly and with a lot of patience. He even gets his driver's license. With a lot of practice and only by a hair's breadth, but now he's rightly proud of himself.

He only met his birth mother twice. “When we invited her, she almost always said she had a doctor's appointment. But we didn't believe her. ”The bitterness at this rejection still resonates in Kevin's voice. His mother is now dead, from the consequences of her addiction.

Lifelong handicap

Perhaps guilty conscience and shame prevented her from visiting her son. "FAS is always a diagnosis that affects two people," says Feldmann.

You can't make up for anything anymore. FAS is a lifelong fate. Severely affected people need support throughout their lives. They cannot handle money, despair of buying a ticket, fail to organize their everyday life.

"Some believe that just because I've grown up now, the problems should be less. But that's not true," says even Kevin, who can manage a lot. Sometimes he is really mad at his mother, he admits. But then he would be happy again, because otherwise he would not have come into his foster family.

Above all, well-off women drink

But anyone who believes that fetal alcohol syndrome is primarily a problem for the socially disadvantaged is wrong. On the contrary: “The rich have most sick children. The more affluent a family is, the more alcohol is drunk - also by women, ”says Feldmann. The expensive glass of wine is part of their lifestyle. But it is hidden behind high hedges. "When poor people drink, everyone can see it." That is why social perception is distorted.

An international study recently revealed how many women also consume alcohol during pregnancy: According to this, every tenth woman worldwide drinks alcohol while a child is growing in her. In Germany it is even every fourth. 2000 children with the full picture of the fetal alcohol syndrome are therefore born in this country every year. And another 4,000 who also suffer from alcohol-related damage. That is 6000 avoidable disabilities too many.

"Abolish Trump and Putin"

Kevin still wants to achieve a lot in his life: "Even people with disabilities can achieve a lot - sometimes more than people who are healthy," he is convinced. What are these goals? “First complete the training. Otherwise, I'm someone who likes to be surprised by what's coming. And who then makes the best of it. "

What would he have done if he had actually become Federal Chancellor? "First and foremost, abolish Trump, Putin and Erdogan!" He says emphatically. And, oh yes: he would have strengthened the rights of the disabled.

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