Describe alcohol's harmful effects on a fetus
Alcohol crosses the placenta freely and is directly toxic.
• A sudden dose of alcohol can halt the delivery of oxygen through the umbilical cord. The fetal brain and nervous system are extremely vulnerable to a glucose or oxygen deficit, and alcohol causes both by disrupting placental functioning.
• Alcohol slows cell division, reducing the number of cells produced and inflicting abnormalities on those that are produced and all of their progeny.
• During the first month of pregnancy, the fetal brain is growing at the rate of 100,000 new brain cells a minute. Even a few minutes of alcohol exposure during this critical period can exert a major detrimental effect.
• Alcohol interferes with placental transport of nutrients to the fetus and can cause malnutrition in the mother; then all of malnutrition's harmful effects compound the effects of the alcohol.
Before fertilization, alcohol can damage the ovum or sperm in the mother- or father-to-be, leading to abnormalities in the child.
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