Why to avoid alcohol during pregnancy

Heavy alcohol drinking (5 or more drinks on one occasion), during early pregnancy, can cause a spectrum of birth defects know as the fetal alcohol syndrome. Moderate drinking may also produce problems.

Your baby is constantly growing and developing throughout these nine months. During the first four weeks of pregnancy, your baby's heart, central nervous system, eyes, arms, and legs are developing. Your baby's brain begins developing around the third week and continues to develop through the rest of your pregnancy. During the third trimester, your baby is rapidly growing in size. If you consume an excessive amount of alcohol during these crucial times of development, you may cause problems for your baby. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a combination of physical and mental birth defects that can result when a pregnant women drinks alcohol heavily. When a she has a glass of wine, beer, or mixed drink the alcohol will pass through the placenta to the developing baby.The baby may suffer lifelong consequences as a result of alcohol consumption pregnancy. Fetal alcohol syndrome can cause brain damage, deformities of the baby's face, and growth defects. Defects may be seen in the baby's heart, liver, and kidneys. The baby may develop vision and hearing problems as well. Children with fetal alcohol syndrome have difficulties with learning, attention, memory, and problem solving. Alcohol is a toxin. When you drink, it rapidly reaches your baby through your bloodstream and across the placenta. Too much alcohol can cause permanent damage to the cells of a developing baby. It can also cause problems such as miscarriage and premature birth (BMA 2007: 2; 9). Too much alcohol during pregnancy can change the way a baby's face, organs and brain develops. It can also affect the nervous system, which is why learning difficulties and life-long problems with movement and coordination often result.

Although many women are aware that heavy drinking during pregnancy can cause birth defects, many do not realize that moderate or even light drinking also may harm the fetus. In fact, no level of alcohol use during pregnancy has been proven safe. Therefore, the March of Dimes recommends that pregnant women do not drink any alcohol, including beer, wine, wine coolers and liquor, throughout their pregnancy and while nursing. In addition, because women often do not know they are pregnant for a few months, women who may be pregnant or those who are attempting to become pregnant should not drink alcohol.

Recent government surveys indicate that about 1 in 12 pregnant women drink during pregnancy. About 1 in 30 pregnant women report binge drinking (five or more drinks on any one occasion). Women who binge drink or drink heavily greatly increase the risk of alcohol-related damage to their babies. When a pregnant woman drinks, alcohol passes through the placenta to her fetus. In the fetus’s immature body, alcohol 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 remain elevated longer than the level in the mother's blood. This sometimes causes the baby to suffer lifelong damage.