Alcohol and pregnancy

If you’re pregnant there’s no doubt about one thing – you’ll be bombarded with health advice. A major factor to consider is how alcohol will affect you and your developing baby.

If you continue to drink heavily when you are pregnant you put your baby at risk of developing foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

Whereas previously the occasional drink (one or two units once or twice a week) was considered OK for a pregnant woman, Government advice now states that pregnant women should avoid alcohol altogether.

The same advice is aimed at women trying to conceive – ditch the booze.

But other health guidelines say it’s fine to drink small amounts after the third month of pregnancy. Confused? It’s not surprising.

Key issues

So why the change in advice? For about 10 years, expectant mothers were advised to drink in moderation. Before that the received wisdom was that pregnant women could drink about eight units a week, and midwives even urged their charges to drink stout because it's high in iron. But in 2007 ministers changed their advice on drinking during pregnancy after research found that almost one in 10 expectant mothers drink more than the recommended limit.

And because many women do not realise they are pregnant straight away, the advice to avoid alcohol was extended to women trying to conceive.

In March 2008 the health watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidance advising women not to drink at all during the first three months of pregnancy, adding that a small amount of alcohol one or two days a week after the first trimester was safe. “There is uncertainty about how much alcohol is safe to drink in pregnancy, but at this low level there is no evidence of any harm to [the] unborn baby” the guidance says.

In short, scientists are not sure about the precise impact of small amounts of alcohol on unborn babies.

Risks

Various studies have found that women are drinking more generally, and as a result this will lead to rising levels of drinking during pregnancy.

When you drink, the alcohol crosses from your bloodstream through the placenta into your baby’s blood.

If you drink heavily when you are pregnant you could be putting the development of your baby at risk. In the first three months of pregnancy, heavy drinking can damage the developing organs and nervous system of the foetus.

If you continue to drink heavily when you are pregnant you put your baby at risk of developing foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The condition is a life long one, and children can have a range of symptoms, including low birth weight, facial abnormalities and learning and behavioural difficulties.

The severity of the condition depends how much alcohol was consumed during pregnancy.