Alcohol Babies

Crack Babies! Meth Babies! Cocaine Babies! We have seen and heard about all. In fact, I have had adoptive mothers tell me they went to Europe to adopt because they did not want crack or meth babies. It is so easy to identify and demonize mothers who deliver crack or meth babies. It is so socially acceptable to look to those mothers and say they are producing babies that the rest of society will need to take care of. We have no problem as a society to identify the crack and meth babies. But here is the problem. We only know of the crack and meth babies if the mother is using crack or meth at the end of the pregnancy. Evidence of any impact the drug has will only be evident if the drug is being used at the end of the pregnancy. Both drugs will leave the body within days. Certainly damage will occur with a crack or meth baby, but not the type of brain damage that will have lifetime reprecussions.

People are not getting the message when we use terms like FAS, FAE, FASD, ARND, pFASD, etc. We need to simplify the message. We need to link to what everyone knows. We need to reach the ones who don't care. Well, here is my solution.

I submit we need to start a new designation, one that is short and to the point......ALCOHOL BABIES. The difference between crack and meth babies and Alcohol Babies is when and how and what damage occurs. An Alcohol Baby can be damaged before the mother even knows she is pregnant. Drinking alcohol any time during the pregnancy will cause damage. Alcohol Babies are permanently damaged. An expectant mother could binge one day and go through all the rest of her pregnancy without drinking and create an Alcohol Baby. Evidence of the damage from drinking does not disappear like it does with meth and crack babies. Alcohol Babies are putting much more strain on our social system than crack and meth babies, we just don't know it. We need to have a shock campaign to get the message out loud and clear! Alcohol Babies cost our system over hundreds of thousands of dollars and more each over the course of their lifetime. Alcohol Babies fill our special education systems, judicial systems, and social systems. Many Alcohol Babies grow up to be violent offenders, abusers, and sexual predators. Many Alcohol Babies grow up and have Alcohol Babies. We need to stop this epidemic of Alcohol Babies!