Drinking When Pregnant

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Drinking Alcohol During Pregnancy

There are still a large number of women who drink during their pregnancy. Drinking during pregnancy can cause long term harm to your baby and the more you drink, the greater the risk.

When you drink, alcohol passes from your blood through the placenta and to your baby.

A baby’s liver is one of the last organs to develop and doesn’t mature until the later stages of pregnancy.

Your baby cannot process alcohol as well as you can, and too much exposure to alcohol can seriously affect their development.

Drinking alcohol, especially in the first three months of pregnancy, increases the risk of miscarriage, premature birth and your baby having a low birth weight.

Drinking after the first three months of your pregnancy could affect your baby after they’re born.

The risks are greater the more you drink.

The effects include learning difficulties and behavioural problems.

Drinking heavily throughout pregnancy can cause your baby to develop a serious condition called foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS).

Children with FAS have:

  • Poor growth
  • Facial abnormalities
  • Learning and behavioural problems

Drinking less heavily, and even drinking heavily on single occasions, may be associated with lesser forms of FAS. The risk is likely to be greater the more you drink.


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Abbeycare Pricing Bot

Last Updated: January 18, 2023

About the author

Peter Szczepanski

Peter has been on the GPhC register for 29 years. He holds a Clinical Diploma in Advanced Clinical Practice and he is a Clinical Lead in Alcohol and Substance Misuse for Abbeycare Gloucester and works as the Clinical Lead in Alcohol and Substance Use in Worcestershire. Peter also co-authored the new 6th edition of Drugs In Use by Linda Dodds, writing Chapter 15 on Alcohol Related Liver Disease. Find Peter on Respiratory Academy, Aston University graduates, University of Birmingham, Q, Pharmaceutical Journal, the Dudley Pharmaceutical Committee, Dudley Council, Twitter, and LinkedIn.