Mothers’ alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy is linked to changes in children’s face shapes ScienceDaily

Growth and central nervous system problems (e.g., low birthweight, behavioral problems) can occur from alcohol use anytime during pregnancy. The baby’s brain is developing throughout pregnancy and can be affected by exposure to alcohol at any time. “Pregnant women should strictly avoid alcohol consumption,” Dr. Kienast said.

Despite numerous quantitative studies on alcohol consumption, there are surprisingly few qualitative studies that have explored this topic. However, these women also described how “the social expectation of drinking alcohol” in Australian society made it difficult to remain abstinent, particularly before they told others that they were pregnant [11], p71. Women and healthcare professionals believed that drinking alcohol at a low level/in moderation/occasionally is acceptable. However, they felt that drinking to excess and becoming intoxicated in general, and particularly when around their child(ren), could result in negative consequences. With reference to breastfeeding, most women chose not to consume alcohol, with some believing a limited amount was acceptable.

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Women’s doctors, who were not generally described as advocating abstinence, were important mediators of women’s drinking practices and the emotional dimensions of this. We found no evidence that practitioners provoked anxiety by engaging in conservations with women about the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. According to women’s reports, alcohol use stopped or decreased in order to fulfil parental responsibilities, such as breastfeeding, co-sleeping, looking after the child/children, and modelling appropriate health behaviours.

• “Seventeen of 24 mothers drank alcohol relatively infrequently, with average alcohol consumption of less than one alcoholic drink per week,” Dr. Kienast said.
• The focus group and interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim.
• A study was conducted on the relationship between alcohol drinking by women while pregnant and early age leukemia in children.
• In both years, approximately 14-15% of pregnant women reported consuming alcohol and 6% reported binge drinking.

And mothers and pregnant women began to wonder and worry whether and how much they might have unwittingly damaged their children. Now is a good time to review the evidence base for the recommendation that women should not drink at all if they are or might become pregnant. The women in our study were aware of social expectations that they cease consumption of alcohol during pregnancy [26] and some responded by abstaining.

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Nevertheless, alcohol may also be used to cope with a life transition that can potentially be extremely stressful [12]. The participants of this study described motherhood as stressful and challenging with potential negative emotions and mental struggles which may exacerbate alcohol use rather than reduce it. This type of drinking to cope in the home poses its own risks, such as developing conditioned tolerance to the effects of alcohol consumed in a familiar environment where one feels less intoxicated, increasing the tendency to drink more [57]. Those who chose to avoid alcohol focused on the social norms dictating that mothers shouldn’t drink due to parental responsibilities [12]. In contrast, those who used alcohol to cope are strongly influenced by the narrative, widely endorsed in social and the general media, that drinking to cope with the stresses of motherhood is acceptable, common, and funny.

It can sometimes be difficult to diagnose a person with FASD because of the variety of symptoms and spectrum of severity. Also, not all people who drink while pregnant feel comfortable talking to their healthcare provider. This means that some people with mild symptoms of FASD might never be diagnosed. For example, this 2014 study looked at 1,303 pregnant women in the United Kingdom and their alcohol consumption before pregnancy and during all three trimesters.

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These should include the unique potential risks regarding maternal drinking, and the harm attributable to non-clinically dependent alcohol use. The maternal participants in this study were middle-class, therefore, research is needed to capture the views and experiences of women of all socioeconomic backgrounds. 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. 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.

• How clear is the medical evidence supporting strict abstinence from alcohol during pregnancy?
• In addition, make sure you get regular prenatal checkups and discuss your alcohol use with your health care provider.
• We saw this reaction in the backlash to the CDC’s recent warning—which was widely criticized, parodied, and pilloried on social media.
• Indeed, women today, as in the past, are made to feel responsible for everything that happens before, during, and after pregnancy and birth.

The frequency of alcohol consumption during pregnancy differs among various studies and countries, revealing differences in culture and communal approaches towards drinking. Most women are found to abstain from drinking alcohol as soon as they become aware of their pregnancy, or after they have started to plan for one. Drinking alcohol while pregnant is a leading cause of birth defects in a baby. Alcohol is broken down more slowly in the baby’s developing body than it is in an adult’s body. The risk for miscarriage and stillbirth also goes up if the pregnant person drinks alcohol. The women in this study were pregnant at the cusp of a change to guidelines from guidelines recommending low alcohol consumption to guidelines recommending abstinence.

But this study only looked at short-term outcomes (not long-term effects that might not show up until childhood) and not fetal alcohol syndrome disorders (FASDs). Here, both women professed that consuming a small amount of alcohol was a low risk activity, however, only one chose to drink. Participant 35 highlighted both “not wanting to worry” and the lack of importance she placed on consuming alcohol as reasons motivating abstinence.

Women who struggle to control their drinking may be unprepared for pregnancy and parenting in all kinds of ways. Women who cannot control their drinking and in particular women who binge drink may face increased risk for FAS or alcohol-affected births. As the CDC points out in its bulletin, doctors should screen all women carefully for evidence of alcohol abuse—and should refer women to appropriate care (CDC, 2016a). Moreover, we know that maternal health https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and well-being are the best guarantors of fetal health and well-being. Finally, it is not just the teratogenic potential of alcohol that ought to trigger a heightened level of care for women who struggle to manage their drinking; heavy drinking threatens the health of future mothers and their future children in multiple ways. A woman who abuses alcohol before and during pregnancy is also at risk for compromised parenting after her child is born.

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A 2012 Danish study, for example, found that low to moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy did not affect executive functioning among 5-year-olds. Executive functioning is a catchall term that describes the ability to perform activities such as planning, organizing, strategizing, remembering details, and managing time. This recommendation immediately caused a great deal of consternation—and generated considerable anxiety, concern, criticism, and even derision (Kukla, 2016; Macmillen, 2016; Petri, 2016; Skenazy, is it safe to drink alcohol while pregnant 2016). Women who had consumed alcohol between the time they conceived and the time they realized they were pregnant began to wonder if they had unwittingly harmed their future baby. Could a glass of wine with dinner or a happy hour cocktail really cause brain damage in their future child? Social media lit up with questions, complaints, and even parodies of this new addition to the long list of things women should or should not do when they are pregnant—or even “pre-pregnant” in the language of one CDC official.

• Women and healthcare professionals agreed that drinking in moderation is acceptable once the baby has been born, but that excessive drinking can carry significant risks.
• From conception and to the third week, the most susceptible systems and organs are the brain, spinal cord, and heart.
• Don’t hesitate to ask for advice, especially if you think you might have difficulty stopping your use of alcohol.
• If you or the doctor thinks there could be a problem, ask the doctor for a referral to a specialist (someone who knows about FASDs), such as a developmental pediatrician, child psychologist, or clinical geneticist.
• However, some mothers did recognise that development of problematic drinking could occur.