Drinking alcohol during pregnancy

In modern society, alcohol abuse has always been considered to be a typical male behaviour assigning to women a lower and restrained consumption.
However, at today people drink alcohol for a variety of reasons, the “fashion” of drinking, the need to use it as a mean to reduce and bear stress, emotional upset and daily problems and these factors may lead women too to drink excessive quantities of alcohol even when they are young and during their fertile age.

The risk of prenatal damages due to alcohol consumption has not to be ignored and it has always been a difficult issue. Indeed, alcohol consumption during pregnancy (both on a regular basis both occasionally) may lead to severely harm the foetus potentially causing life altering birth defects. Heavy alcohol drinking can also lead to miscarriage, premature delivery, or stillbirth.

Alcohol effects on a foetus

When you drink, the alcohol quickly travels through your bloodstream, crosses the placenta, and reaches your baby. Your baby breaks down alcohol more slowly than you do so it is more exposed to its harmful effects. In other words, when you consume alcohol, so does your baby.
Among the more common foetal damages the alcohol can cause include:

- Fasd - Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: is the term experts use to describe the range of problems related to alcohol exposure during pregnancy. The most severe result of alcohol use is foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), a lifelong condition characterized by poor growth (in the womb, after birth, or both), abnormal facial features (microcephaly, micro ophthalmia, hypoplasia) and damage to the central nervous system.

- Arns - Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder: a less severe syndrome than Fas that hits the babies whose mothers drink moderately. The consequences may range from behavioural and intellectual disorders (minor intelligence quotient and motor or memory impairment) or may trigger autistic behaviours.

Factors that raise the risk

It is important to understand that not all the foetal exposures to alcohol necessarily lead to harm severely baby’s health even though the possibilities are very high. Indeed, the risk to give birth to a baby affected by the above-mentioned pathologies can considerably raise because of the following factors:

- the alcohol quantity taken during pregnancy
- if the consumption was chronic or occasional
- the interaction with other substances like medicines, hard drugs or smoking
- genetic predisposition
- living conditions
- nourishing

Prevention and treatment

Permanent damages to foetus caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy can be avoided with a careful prevention.
Indeed, expecting mothers and their partners should be properly informed about the risks for the baby caused by alcohol and they should also be aware that the current scientific knowledge do not define the quantity of alcohol proven to be safe without laying baby’s health open to risks. Moreover, mother should know that even after childbirth she will face new difficulties renouncing for example to natural breastfeeding and applying to artificial milk.

In case the mother-to-be has overindulged in alcohol consumption during pregnancy, doctor’s intervention can be fundamental as he can motivate her to give up drinking or advice her to refer to an alcohol addiction treatment centre.
Indeed, a timely treatment can help the foetus develop healthy even though it was already exposed to a great quantities of alcohol.