How Much Alcohol Is Safe for Expectant Mothers?

A woman who abuses alcohol before and during pregnancy is also at risk for compromised parenting after her child is born. We need a better definition of what kind of drinking actually is a problem in pregnancy. It’s not that problem drinking shouldn’t raise red flags—it’s how we interpret and respond to those flags that matter. The times before, during and after pregnancy are all critical periods for maternal alcohol consumption awareness, reduction, and ideally abstinence. Knowing that fetal alcohol exposure is the most common nongenetic cause of cognitive impairment, it is critical to identify maternal alcohol consumption early as a primary target to prevent downstream FASD. Therefore, innovative research studies are vital to better understand the mechanism of alcohol on pregnancy to then target the development of therapeutic strategies to mitigate its adverse effects and improve maternal and fetal outcomes.

NEURODEVELOPMENTAL EFFECTS

Some women may have been reassured by a study that was published in October 2010 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Get helpful tips and guidance for everything from fighting inflammation to finding the best diets for weight loss…from exercises to build a stronger core to advice on treating cataracts. PLUS, the latest news on medical advances and breakthroughs from Harvard Medical School experts. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at /us). Scientific American maintains a strict policy of editorial independence in reporting developments in science to our readers.

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First, by telling women that any amount of alcohol exposure, no matter how minimal, is dangerous, we unnecessarily escalate the fear and anxiety that already plague the modern experience of pregnancy. It is probably not uncommon for women to drink occasionally before they realize they are pregnant—and fear about that potential exposure may overshadow women’s initial joy about the pregnancy. Some women may even contemplate terminating a wanted pregnancy because they had a drink or two before realizing they were pregnant.

• Fact – The same amount of alcohol is found in a standard serving of beer, wine, or hard liquor.
• It offers current information and opinions related to women’s health.
• They didn’t find a strong correlation between drinking early in pregnancy and an increased likelihood of these complications, so some people take this to mean it’s A-OK.
• Could a glass of wine with dinner or a happy hour cocktail really cause brain damage in their future child?

NEUROBEHAVIORAL DISORDER ASSOCIATED WITH PRENATAL ALCOHOL EXPOSURE (ND-PAE)

Truly specific research around drinking alcohol in very early pregnancy is pretty tricky. That’s because it would be unethical to put together a study and actually request that any segment of the pregnant population do something (drink alcohol) known to cause harm even some of the time. Whatever the risks, many moms-to-be are choosing not to totally give up alcohol. A recent CDC study found that about one in eight pregnant women in the U.S. report drinking at least one alcoholic beverage in the past month. About half of all women of childbearing age drink alcohol—ranging  from sporadic drinking to binge drinking.

• This latest CDC warning reflects the increasingly fear-based approach to managing the uncertainty of pregnancy; it’s a flashback to the idea that women could unwittingly harm their unborn children.
• Because brain growth takes place throughout pregnancy, stopping alcohol use will improve the baby’s health and well-being.
• Fact – There are different opinions about this, which can be confusing.
• Researchers who knew nothing about the maternal consumption of alcohol during the pregnancy examined the 5-year-old children of those pregnancies.

However, in some instances, the effects of heavy drinking on your baby cannot be reversed. While you may have heard that an occasional glass of wine is okay, the truth is that there’s no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth and your baby having a low birthweight. There is no evidence that FAS occurs in babies born to women who drink occasionally or moderately during pregnancy. Women have been told not to drink during pregnancy for decades; last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended that advice to all women who were at risk for experiencing a pregnancy.

• But the risk of harming the baby is “likely to be low if you have drunk only small amounts of alcohol before you knew you were pregnant or during pregnancy”, the Department of Health says.
• Alcohol exposure during pregnancy results in impaired growth, stillbirth, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
• Or maybe you weren’t trying to get pregnant at all, and it came as a surprise when you realized that your period was over a week late.

Can Alcohol Affect Breastfeeding?

If you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant and cannot stop drinking, get help! Contact your healthcare provider, local Alcoholics Anonymous, or local alcohol treatment center. “Helping women to drink less or no alcohol during their pregnancy will reduce the number of children and young people affected by FASD.” Fact – Even if you dump milk after drinking, alcohol still remains in your blood for a period of time, depending how much you had to drink. The only way to get rid of alcohol from your system is to wait for your body to break it down and get rid of it.

Adverse Maternal Outcomes From Alcohol Consumption

From the What to Expect editorial team and Heidi Murkoff, author of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. What to Expect follows strict reporting guidelines and uses only credible sources, such as peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions and highly respected health organizations. Learn how we keep our content accurate and up-to-date by reading our medical review and editorial policy.

Second, we run the risk of inducing message fatigue in women—when people are bombarded with endless health warnings, they may disengage or disregard all of them—especially when such messages are not grounded in evidence. We saw this reaction in the backlash to the CDC’s recent warning—which was widely criticized, parodied, and pilloried on social media. It is this small group of women who are truly alcohol during pregnancy at risk of adverse outcomes and who most need treatment and help. Universal strategies, whether in the form of warning labels or point-of-purchase signs or public health recommendations, are powerless to help anyone, pregnant or not, who suffers the disease of chronic alcoholism.

How much alcohol will harm the fetus?

There is no known safe amount of alcohol use during your pregnancy or when you are trying to get pregnant. Fact – The same amount of alcohol is found in a standard serving of beer, wine, or hard liquor. A standard serving is considered to be 12 ounces of beer, 4-5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of hard liquor. Because there is no amount of alcohol that has been proven to be safe in pregnancy, it is recommended that women do not drink any alcoholic beverages at any time in their pregnancy.