Parentpedia

What Experts Say

Reviewed by Steven Johnson, M.D.

Lots of choices in pregnancy depend on the person instead of hard-and-fast rules: Natural childbirth or epidural? Massage, pro or con? But one pregnancy commandment should not be broken: Thou shalt not drink alcohol while pregnant.

"We do not know what, if any, amount of alcohol is safe," the U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said during a 2005 press conference. But, according to Carmona, we do know that the more the mother drinks, the more likely it is that the baby will be born with alcohol-related problems and they're more likely to be severe. These include:

• stillbirth and miscarriage
• birth defects
• mental retardation
• learning disorders...

Lots of choices in pregnancy depend on the person instead of hard-and-fast rules: Natural childbirth or epidural? Massage, pro or con? But one pregnancy commandment should not be broken: Thou shalt not drink alcohol while pregnant.

"We do not know what, if any, amount of alcohol is safe," the U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said during a 2005 press conference. But, according to Carmona, we do know that the more the mother drinks, the more likely it is that the baby will be born with alcohol-related problems and they're more likely to be severe. These include:

• stillbirth and miscarriage
• birth defects
• mental retardation
• learning disorders
• behavioral problems
• fetal alcohol syndrome

Nancy Green, medical director for the March of Dimes, put it more starkly, "There is no safe level of alcohol use for pregnant women."

Remember: If you take a drink, your baby does too. Even a small amount of alcohol could do lasting damage to your baby's not-yet-developed organs.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

FAS is a severe alcohol-related disorder. Babies with FAS often have birth defects, such as hearts that do not form properly, and they also have some degree of mental retardation. Children with the lesser form of the syndrome, known as fetal alcohol effect (FAE), have learning disorders and long-term behavioral problems.

Sadly, the effects of alcohol-related problems during pregnancy can linger well into a child's life. Psychological and behavioral problems often stay into adulthood.

In other words, the stakes couldn't be higher. But FAS, FAE, and other alcohol-related disorders are 100 percent preventable. Mothers-to-be can guarantee that their babies won't be born with an alcohol-related disorder by not taking that drink.

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