Everyone knows someone that has been pregnant and has had a small glass of wine or 1/2 of a cooler. My girlfriend’s doctor even told her that as long as she didn’t get tipsy, having the occasional drink while pregnant was okay. Is It?

Last night a friend, who doesn’t have kids, asked me if there were any long term effects to drinking while your pregnant. He wanted to know if the baby just felt the effects for just a couple of hours but then recovered like we do.

FASlink.org is a society dedicated to educating about the effects of alcohol on an unborn fetus. They also report on issues that may last long after the baby is born, straight into adulthood.

Alcohol damage to the fetus occurs over a wide continuum. Damage varies due to volume ingested, timing during pregnancy, peak blood alcohol levels, genetics and environmental factors.

FASD is not a threshold condition. It is a continuum ranging from mild intellectual and behavioral issues to the extreme that often leads to profound disabilities or premature death.

At the mild end, damage may be the loss of some intellectual functioning (IQ), visual problems and higher than normal pain tolerance. At the severe end, damage may be severe loss of intellectual potential, severe vision problems, dyslexia, serious maxilo-facial deformities, dental abnormalities, heart defects, immune system malfunctioning, behavioral problems, attention deficit disorders, hyper-activity, extreme impulsiveness, poor judgment, little or no retained memory, deafness, little or no capacity for moral judgment or interpersonal empathy, sociopathic behaviour, epilepsy, tremors, cerebral palsy, renal failure, heart failure, death.

Sadly, the statistics aren’t very good because Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is “grossly” under-reported.

These facts are very scary and really sad. Clearly, more people need to be educated about what is happening inside their bodies when they are pregnant.

Photo Credit:www.freefoto.com

Recently, I bought a teething toy for my son that has “NO Phthalate” stamped on the bottom. I followed it up by checking online to see why phthalates were not used and if they were harmful.

Phthalates (pronounced thay-lates) are added to make the PVC soft and squishy for use in infant toys that are chewed and sucked primarily to relieve teething irritation. Heavy metals like lead and cadmium are added to make the rigid type of PVC more durable for use in older children’s toys and other consumer products.

The toxic components in the PVC plastic used in these toys are not stable; the chemicals can leach out. These chemicals can be consumed by children when children suck or chew on the soft plastic and can show up in the bloodstreams of children. Laboratory studies show that some of these chemicals are linked to cancer and kidney damage and may interfere with the reproductive system and development.

Studies have shown that these chemicals are hormonally active and may interfere with hormone systems that regulate normal growth and reproductive development in children. www.oregontoxics.org

What toys have PVC in them, I wondered. PVC or vinyl, is commonly used in teethers and soft squeeze toys for young children, beach balls, bath toys, dolls and other products, such as knapsacks, raincoats, and umbrellas. If you are not sure, these products sometimes have a “New Smell” or you can smell the strong plastic.

Some companies like Little Tykes ,Lego, IKEA, Sassy, tinylove, and Lamaze(under 3) have gone PVC free. Chances are if you have bought your child a blow up pool or water wings this summer there is PVC in it. While looking for examples today I saw 2 things that my son has for the pool on the list. I figure for the 10-15 minutes that he sits in his turtle in the pool there shouldn’t be much of a problem. I just wouldn’t put him to sleep in a blow up bed!

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