Pregnant Women and Alcohol

Do you think that pregnancy and alcohol do not go together? Unfortunately, one third of Australian women drink…

 

 

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A telephone survey, which included 1103 Australian women aged between 18 and 45, showed that 34% of them consumed alcohol in their last pregnancy. 32% of them said they would drink alcohol while planning pregnancy and during the pregnancy itself. And this is despite the fact that 93% of them know about the harmful effects of alcohol for the foetus.

 

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Paediatrician Elizabeth Elliott emphasises that the excessive consumption of alcohol in the early stages of pregnancy significantly increases the possibility of defects in the unborn child, and alcohol consumption in the last months of pregnancy has an effect on the child’s brain: “…large amounts of alcohol frequently, and particularly early in the pregnancy, is likely to cause the worst outcomes.”

 

The level of alcohol in the mother’s blood is the same as in the foetus. And the mother’s immune system has already been developed, while the child’s one is only starting to develop.

 

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Elizabeth Elliott adds that half of pregnancies are unplanned, and because many women do not know they are pregnant, they consume alcohol without any reservations.

 

Unfortunately, in Australia nobody says anything if a pregnant woman is drunk. In the USA, on the other hand, it often happens that when people see a pregnant woman drink, they come up to her and tell her to stop drinking.

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