The CDC explains that during pregnancy, alcohol in the blood passes to the fetus through the umbilical cord, crossing the placenta. Other leading experts, such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, also recommend avoiding alcohol completely during pregnancy. However, they should not worry unnecessarily, as the risks of their baby being affected are likely to be low. Most women give up alcohol once they know they’re pregnant or when they’re planning to become pregnant. Yvonne Kelly, PhD, senior lecturer in the department of epidemiology and public health, University College London. Ultimately, it’s up to each mom-to-be to consult with their doctor and decide if they’ll have the occasional small drink.
Interventions for Women to Stop Drinking
Like the CDC in the United States, the NHS in the United Kingdom says that if you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant, avoid alcohol. Whatever the case, you’re now worried and want to know what damage, if any, drinking in very early pregnancy can do. Maybe you’ve even known for a couple weeks that you’re pregnant, but you went ahead and toasted the bride and groom at a recent wedding because your friend told you small amounts of alcohol so early in pregnancy don’t do any harm.
Proven risks of any alcohol consumption in pregnancy
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Can other factors influence the chance of FASD?
There are a variety of treatments available for pregnant women, including behavioral treatment and mutual-support groups. Visit the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator® to learn more about evidence-based treatments for alcohol-related problems. During the 3 months before pregnancy combined, 39.7% of women reported they drank any alcohol and 13.7% binge drank. During each of the individual 3 months before pregnancy, 32.3–33.1% of women reported drinking any alcohol and 10.6–10.8% reported binge drinking (Fig. 1). The fact that the percent of women who drank alcohol during the 3 months before pregnancy combined is higher than for each of the months separately indicates that some women drank during one or two of the months but not all three.
- The National Maternal and Infant Health Survey (NMIHS) was conducted by mail, telephone, or in-person with a nationally representative sample of women who had a live birth, fetal death, or infant death during 1988 17.
- Being able to speak honestly about your health and the health of your baby during pregnancy is crucial to having a healthy, happy nine months.
- It’s known that alcohol travels to the fetus through the placenta, but it’s less clear what effect alcohol has on an embryo at the beginning of pregnancy, before the placenta is formed.
- Acamprosate, which is believed to exert its action through modulation of glutamate neurotransmission thereby reducing post-acute withdrawal symptoms and consequently helping to maintain sobriety,54 is also a category C medication.
- A small number of studies assessed children exposed in the womb to up to six drinks over a week (with some non-drinking days) at any stage of pregnancy.
- Copyright 2025 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
- Here are some questions you may have about alcohol and drinking while you are pregnant.
- Cohort studies select a population of people with similar exposures and track them in time to determine who, of the exposed, develop a condition of interest.
- Therefore, innovative research studies are vital to betterunderstand the mechanism of alcohol on pregnancy to then target the development oftherapeutic strategies to mitigate its adverse effects and improve maternal andfetal outcomes.
- The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), an on-going mail survey of U.S. women who recently had a live birth, asks about alcohol use during the 3 months before conception and during the last 3 months of pregnancy 15.
So if you drank alcohol before you realized you were pregnant, the important thing is that you stop now. It’s an incredibly difficult reality that miscarriages are as common as they are. And even if you do everything by the book, the highest risk of miscarriage is in the first trimester — and it often happens due to issues outside of your control (like chromosomal abnormalities). It might be accurate to look at all the information out there and say that very light drinking in very early pregnancy doesn’t always (or often) cause problems — but it could. And different people define “light” differently, adding to the confusion. So following CDC and NHS guidelines of no alcohol at any point is the safest option and the one that we recommend.
The risks of drinking while pregnant
- During the pandemic, people in the U.S. purchased markedly higher amounts of alcohol.
- For binge drinking during pregnancy, the pattern was reversed, with the highest level of binge drinking reported among women aged 20–24 (10.3%) and the lowest level among women 35 and older (6.6%).
- Prenatal alcohol exposure and central nervous system (CNS) involvement are factors common to the disorders encompassing FASD.
- If you drank alcohol before you realized you’re pregnant, definitely don’t panic.
On the other hand, case-control studies start by identifying affected individuals (cases) and alcoholism symptoms compare their potential exposures with those of similarly matched unaffected individuals (controls). Because early diagnosis may help lessen the risk of some challenges for children with fetal alcohol syndrome, let your child’s healthcare professional know if you drank alcohol while you were pregnant. We know of many harmful effects that drinking during pregnancy can have on a developing baby, and some of these may be caused by even a small amount of alcohol during pregnancy. Fetal exposure to alcohol is one of the main preventable causes of birth defects and developmental problems in this country. Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorder or fetal alcohol syndrome, a severe, irreversible developmental condition.
Health Conditions
They were unable to tell any difference between children whose mothers drank low to moderate amounts of alcohol and those who abstained completely during pregnancy. 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. CDC works with partners across the country to address alcohol and other substance use during alcohol during pregnancy pregnancy and FASDs. They collaborate to provide training to healthcare professionals and disseminate updated information.
While not drinking any alcohol during pregnancy is the safest choice, small amounts of alcohol early in pregnancy may be less risky to the mother’s health and the health of their babies than previously believed. Minimal alcohol use during the first trimester doesn’t appear to increase the risk for high blood pressure complications, or premature birth or low birth weights. That’s the findings of a study previously published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
- Program near you.FASD Family Navigator A program of FASD United (formerly NOFAS), the Family Navigator provides expert, confidential support and referrals to individuals living with FASDs and their family members and caregivers.
- In both years, approximately 14-15% of pregnant women reported consuming alcohol and 6% reported binge drinking.
- Despite therecommendation to abstain, almost half of the women consume alcohol in pregnancyin the United States.
- Sexually active women of childbearing ages who drink alcohol should be advised to use reliable methods to prevent pregnancy, plan their pregnancies, and stop drinking before becoming pregnant.
Tips for quitting drinking during pregnancy
In fact, most women reduce their alcohol consumption or stop drinking altogether during pregnancy (Armstrong, 2003). Third, we should be mindful of the fact that women today often experience pregnancy and birth in an atmosphere of fear and anxiety. It’s easy to understand why pregnancy generates so much anxiety—women are deeply invested in giving birth to healthy children but fearful that something, anything, or everything they do or don’t do during pregnancy will affect their future child. Indeed, women today, as in the past, are made to feel responsible for everything that happens before, during, and after pregnancy and birth.
