How Alcohol Affects the Baby's Brain:
The most common effect is permanent brain damage which leads to learning disabilities,
behavior problems, memory deficits, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, and/or mental
retardation.This is called "static encephalopathy" meaning brain damage that doesn't get
any better and doesn't get any worse.There is way to reverse the damage.
More subtle damage from occasional binge drinking can cause damage that is like buck
shot - scattered holes in the brain that affect whatever area that was developing at the
time, causing brain cells death, migration of cells to the wrong place, or tangles in the
neurons with inaccurate connections.
Regions of the brain most affected:
.Corpus Callosum - processes information between right brain and left brain
.Cerebellum - motor control
.Basal Ganglia - processes memory
.Hippocampus - learning and memory
.Hypothalamus - controls appetite, emotions, temperature, and pain sensation
.Frontal lobes - executive functions, impulse control, judgment
The corpus callosum and the frontal lobes are affected by alcohol exposure in ways that
are manifested in behavior that is perceived to be inappropriate and immature.
The corpus callosum separates the right brain from the left brain and passes information
from one brain to the other.The left brain controls rules, consequences, concrete ideas,
practical details, and orderly sequences.The right brain controlsabstract thinking,
emotions and feelings, creativity, and intuition.The corpus callosum helps both sides of
the brain work together to make everyday decisions.
In persons with FAS, the corpus callosum is damaged and does not function
adequately.There are not as many patheways between the two sides of the brain, and so
information is passed slowly or ineffectively.This may account in part for why a person
with FAS/FAE has an impulse to do something, and the action may happen first, and the
