Pregnant? Use Caution!

Posted by Brenda Lane Dec 1, 2006

Not long ago, I was visiting an expectant mother who admitted to me that she had regularly consumed glasses of wine with her dinner during her pregnancy. She rationalized that European women drink throughout their pregnancies and that she felt after the first trimester, it would be relatively safe.

The reality is that we truly do not know how alcohol can affect babies at every stage of pregnancy. There are many unknowns, except in the cases of true fetal alcohol syndrome, which can only be diagnosed after the baby is born.

The fact is that the baby's blood alcohol level will match the mother's blood alcohol level. If she is drunk during pregnancy, the baby is drunk. The same is true while breastfeeding. In fact, it can take up to 12 hours for a breastfeeding mother, after she drinks a beverage with a high alcohol content, to completely process the alcohol Read more in the Drinking while pregnant? article.

I am writing a new series on Pregnancy Week by Week (which should be ready in early 2007!) and it occurred to me that those early weeks are so crucial to protect the growing baby from any harmful substance including smoking, x-rays, caffeine, etc. All of these drugs cross the placenta. Not to mention that the baby continues to grow new cells even in the last trimester. Did you know that the fastest brain cell growth occurs in the last three months of pregnancy? One can only wonder how alcohol or other drugs might affect the baby's brain.

One study showed that if a mother uses narcotics during labor, it increases her child's risk of having substance abuse issues later in life. We can only speculate that early exposure to drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, etc.. could potentially have the same effect??

What do you think about the Top Things to Avoid? Anything you would add to the list or want more information on? Share them on the discussion forum.

Be sure to stay posted later this week for the last article on this series on hair treatments and what you should do during your pregnancy to reduce exposure to chemicals.

Have a great weekend! And those who are in the Midwest or upper Northeast in the US, hopefully you are dealing with the snow and ice without too much trouble.

Warmly,

Brenda