Experts are meeting in Birmingham today to look at how to educate women about the dangers binge drinking can have on their unborn babies.

One baby a day is born in the West Midlands with learning difficulties or physical deformities linked to Foetal Alcohol Syndrome.

National charity FAS Aware UK - which is backing the conference at Austin Court, in the city centre - claims that more than 1,300 children a year are harmed in the womb due to their mother's drinking.

Despite Government claims that mothers-to-be can drink up to four units a week, FAS Aware UK believes there is no evidence to prove drinking during pregnancy is safe.

Drinking at different stages of a pregnancy can cause further damage as the foetus develops, which can vary depending on the amount drunk, the mother's metabolism, and her diet.

Even drinking a small amount of alcohol can lead to a wide range of effects including flattened facial features, deafness, brain, heart or kidney abnormalities, behaviour problems, and learning difficulties.

Alison McCormick, the charity's social work consultant, believes the problem will get worse if women do not heed warnings over the dangers of binge drinking.

She said: "It didn't used to be the 'done thing' for women to binge drink and to be drunk but now it's seen as acceptable behaviour by society and it's a serious problem in Birmingham.

"But being drunk may lead to a pregnancy which could be affected by the woman's alcohol intake before she's even aware she's pregnant.

"Public awareness about FAS is very low, and not much is known about it in this country as studies aren't kept so there could be a lot more cases because it is often over-looked or misdiagnosed as Asperger's Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder and even Tourette's Syndrome.

"There's no evidence anywhere that drinking any alcohol during pregnancy is safe, there's no proof at all of that, so we would urge women not to drink at all - despite the Government's guideline which states it's okay to drink four units a week.

"If we don't address this problem now, I think we will see the number of cases explode in the next 12 months."

When a pregnant woman drinks, the alcohol passes through the placenta to her foetus and it is broken down much more slowly than in an adult' s body.

As a result, the alcohol level of the baby' s blood can be higher and can remain elevated longer than the mother's blood - which can lead to developmental problems.

Mrs McCormick, who has two adopted daughters with FAS - eight-year-old Jade and two-year-old Emily - will address the medical conference today.

She said: "When we adopted Jade she was five-years-old, she'd been put up for adoption then handed back, and it soon became apparent she had problems which is when I started researching the condition. One day I was looking at FAS website, which was covered with pictures of children who have it. Jade walked in and said 'They all look just like me' - that's when I realised what it was, and I just started crying, because she recognised they were the same as her."

After convincing her GP to carry out a number of tests, Mrs McCormick finally got to see a specialist with some expert knowledge of FAS.

She added: "Women across the Midlands need to wake up to the fact that drinking during pregnancy does harm their unborn babies, leading them to develop disabilities that are 100 per cent preventable.

"But for a disorder which experts believe affects one in 500 babies there is still very little being done about it, which is why this conference is so important."

* For more information about Foetal Alcohol Syndrome visit www.fasaware.co.uk