Motherhood and Pregnancy: Should Expectant Mothers Drink Alcohol While Pregnant?

Currently there is much debate concerning whether expecting mothers should be allowed to indulge in a glass of wine on occasion. The traditional opinion is that alcohol is completely detrimental to the life of the fetus, and mothers should not drink alcoholic beverages under any circumstances.  Clearly, binge drinking poses the most danger to the fetus because it is exposed to highly concentrated levels of alcohol at one period in time. Even a glass of wine a day can result in “spontaneous abortions and to reduced alertness, less vigorous body activity, more tremors, and slower learning in newborns compared with babies of women who do not drink” (Bukatko & Daehler, 2012, p. 125).  These complications in newborns can lead to learning disabilities and behavior problems over time. This means that a child will have poorer performance in school compared to classmates whose mothers did not consume alcohol while pregnant. It is less known however if a small amount of alcohol once a week or month has measurable long term affects on the child. The Center For Disease Control has found that since 2002, pregnant women have been increasingly indulging in a glass of wine or two “every now and then” (Drexler, 2012).  Recently a study was published by the “International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reporting that consuming up to nine drinks in one week, and even as many as five in one sitting, did not have any significant negative cognitive effect on kids five years later” (Drexler, 2012).

This research conflicts with Bukatko & Daehler’s (2012) findings that “limited alcohol consumption” has a negative affect on the fetus and can lead to more issues in the future.  Pregnant women have two different sources telling them what is right and what is wrong, making it difficult to decide what is right to do. Drexler (2012) equates moderate drinking during pregnancy to eating moderate amounts of raw fish and caffeine, which are seen as far more acceptable to society. She suggests that it is society who presses women to not drink and not science. While it is still common practice by medical professionals to recommend complete abstinence from drinking during pregnancy, some suggest that a glass of wine here and there is completely safe. A South African study notes that alcohol consumption alone is not the only risk in giving birth to a child with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Maternal risk factors include age, body mass index, and socioeconomic status all play a factor in a child developing fetal alcohol syndrome (May et al., 2011). In example, lighter shorter women with a lower BMI will be more likely to give birth to a child with fetal alcohol syndrome than a taller heavier woman who consumed the same amount of alcohol (May, et al., 2011). For these reasons, it would be unwise for women to consume any amount of alcohol for the exact amounts that may affect one woman’s child may not hurt the other. Because there is no certainty, it is safer to be cautious and not indulge in drinking any alcohol.

            Personally, I feel that no matter the research, it is safer for the mother and child to not consume alcohol at all during pregnancy. Since there is a greater risk in spontaneous abortions and the child being born with neurological and cognitive differences when alcohol is consumed, it is unwise to consume at all (Bukatko & Daehler, 2012). Today people are very concerned with having a child who does not have any genetic disorders such as Down syndrome, and will test in-utero to see if their child has any genetic or chromosomal abnormalities. We try so hard to prevent these genetic conditions, yet some pregnant women take the risk of drinking alcohol very well knowing that there is a chance it could harm her baby or child. I would not condemn a woman for having a glass of wine once or twice during her pregnancy, but I do not think doctors should be suggesting that it is ok to do until scientific studies make more progress in figuring out the amount of alcohol that is dangerous to a certain woman of a certain body type. Further, some women may be more susceptible to abuse once they have that one drink; it can be hard to stop drinking once a person starts. If there is any chance that alcohol could be abused, it is not wise to have any at all. In the end, it is only about 10 months that a woman must give up drinking alcohol, which is a small sacrifice for the return of a healthy baby. 

Here is an interesting link to a NPR story concerning drinking while pregnant. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/04/17/177644483/study-finds-no-harm-in-occasional-drink-during-pregnancy

Questions:

What are your opinions on drinking while pregnant?

Do you think doctors should have a universal recommendation for pregnant women?

If you saw a pregnant woman indulging in a glass of wine, would you say anything to her?

By Julia Paglierani

References

Bukatko, D., & Daehler, M. (2012). Child development: A thematic approach (6 ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

           

Drexler, P. (2012, February 25). A loaded question: On drinking when pregnant.  Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/our-gender-ourselves/201211/loaded-question-drinking-while-pregnant

           

May, P., Tabachnick, B., Gossange, J. P., Kalberg, W., Marais, A.-S., Robinson, L., . . . Hoyme, H. E. (2011). Maternal risk factors predicting child physical characteristics and dysmorphology in fetal alcohol syndrome and partial fetal alcohol syndrome. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 119(1-2), 18-27.