Drinking alcohol while pregnant (2024)

FAQs

Drinking alcohol while pregnant? ›

Alcohol use during pregnancy can cause birth defects and developmental disabilities collectively known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

Drinking alcohol during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth and your baby having a low birthweight. It can also affect your baby after they're born. Drinking during pregnancy can cause your baby to develop a serious life-long condition called foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

Possible side effects of drinking at 3 to 4 weeks pregnant

There are a couple big concerns with drinking early in pregnancy: miscarriage and fetal alcohol syndrome disorders. It's an incredibly difficult reality that miscarriages are as common as they are.

Drinking during pregnancy quickly became taboo in the United States after 1981, when the Surgeon General began warning women about the dangers of alcohol.

Heavy drinking – drinking daily or binge drinking – carries the greatest risk to your developing baby, but even one or two drinks a week may still cause damage to your developing baby.

National health organizations advise abstaining from alcohol

The AAP reaffirmed their recommendation that no amount of alcohol should be consumed during any trimester of pregnancy with a video series in 2019.

Background: Frequent alcohol use during the first 8 weeks of pregnancy can result in spontaneous abortion and dysmorphologic changes in the developing organ systems of the embryo, including the heart, kidneys, and brain.

If you find yourself wondering what happens if you drank alcohol before knowing you were pregnant, take a deep breath. First and foremost, it's crucial not to panic. It's unlikely that the alcohol you consumed before knowing you were pregnant has harmed your unborn child.

Can you drink during the two-week wait? Generally, you should avoid drinking alcohol during the two-week wait. The first few weeks after conceiving can be very critical, and it is better to be safe than sorry. However, you should not blame yourself if you have had a drink or two before you knew you were pregnant.

Some women will decide to avoid alcohol entirely while they are pregnant. Some women will feel comfortable drinking occasionally—and they should feel reassured that there is no evidence that drinking moderately poses any risk of adverse outcome.

Is it bad if you drank the first month of pregnancy? ›

A: There is no known safe amount of alcohol use during your pregnancy or when you are trying to get pregnant. There is also no safe time for alcohol use during pregnancy. Alcohol can cause problems for your baby throughout your pregnancy, including before you know you are pregnant.

Women should avoid drinking red wine during pregnancy. There is no safe level of alcohol consumption at this time. Although some women who drink when pregnant go on to have healthy babies, others who drink just a small amount may experience pregnancy complications that can affect the fetus.

Drinking alcohol and pregnancy do not go together. Your body will likely attempt to reject alcohol, and drinking at any stage of pregnancy can cause irreversible damage.

It can affect the normal development of vital organs and functions, including the brain, liver, bones and hormones. Beginning to drink before age 14 is associated with increased health risks, including alcohol-related injuries, involvement in violence, and suicidal thoughts and attempts.

Once again, here comes a book “Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong—And What You Really Need to Know” where the author Dr. Emily Oster, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, reassures pregnant women that drinking just one alcoholic drink a day during pregnancy is safe.