Drinking alcohol during pregnancy has a potential risk of harming your baby. Although some health professionals may say it is fine to drink occasionally, still a lot of doctors advise not to drink because there are no known quantities that are considered safe.
Why is it harmful for the developing fetus?
Alcohol is a toxic substance that reaches your baby through the bloodstream going to the placenta. The more you drink alcohol during your pregnancy, the greater is the risk for your baby. Mothers who drink regularly in a period of nine months develop problems including stillbirth, miscarriage, premature birth and small birth weight.
Heavy alcohol drinking during pregnancy can permanently cause harm to your baby's brain, organs and face.
Your baby can develop a problem known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Babies who have this disorder have the same facial features including small head, narrow and small eyes and having a thin upper lip portion.
Children with fetal alcohol syndrome also develop disease such as liver damage, ear problems, epilepsy, kidney and heart defects, facial problems, hormonal disorders, height and weight problems and even cerebral palsy.
The effects of drinking alcohol during pregnancy have not been determined yet due to the factors variability during pregnancy. The factors include how often and in what stage a mother drinks alcohol, use of drugs or smoking during pregnancy, and genetic factors.
"The problem with drinking alcohol during your pregnancy is that there is no amount that has been proven to be safe," says Jacques Moritz, MD, director of gynecology at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in New York.
Since there is no known limits or extent to how much a pregnant woman can drink alcohol, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the U.S. Surgeon General advice women not to drink alcohol during pregnancy.
A new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health in October 2010 suggests that pregnant women who drink occasionally of one to two alcoholic beverages in a week showed no risk for the baby's cognitive and behavioral development.
However, the study revealed that problems can occur later in childhood. The research conducted collected data of pregnant mothers who are drinking one to two alcohols a week and now have a five-year-old child.
Further study will be conducted to see whether cognitive and behavioral problems could occur later in the child.
