Study finds drinking alcohol while pregnant ‘common’ — so is it bad for you?

Is drinking while pregnant safe? Source: ThinkStock

DRINKING alcohol while pregnant is very common, and it’s women who smoke who are much more likely to indulge.

According to a new study, 20 to 80 per cent of expectant mothers across all social groups questioned in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom reported drinking while pregnant.

The research, published in the online journal BMJ Open, analysed data from three studies that had assessed the amount and type of alcohol drunk before and during pregnancy.

It involved 17,244 women who delivered live babies in the four countries.

The prevalence of drinking alcohol ranged from 40 to 80 per cent in Australasia and the UK, and from 20 to 80 per cent in Ireland. The strongest and most consistent predictor of a heightened risk of drinking alcohol during pregnancy was smoking, with smokers being 17 to 50 per cent more likely to do so.

Most clinical and government guidelines advise women to stop drinking during pregnancy, the authors wrote.

They found a lower risk of drinking while pregnant in those with a higher level of education, those who had other children, and those who were overweight or obese. And they found most of those who did drink did so at very low levels. Some researchdoes suggest that “it won’t harm your baby if you have the equivalent of a small glass of wine, once or twice a week.”

But seeing as the risks of light drinking were not fully known, the researchers said the widespread consumption of even low levels during pregnancy was a significant public health concern.

Drinkwise Australia say that “It’s not known how much alcohol is safe to drink when you’re pregnant. However, it is known that the risk of damage to your baby increases the more you drink and that binge drinking is especially harmful.” They cite Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, attention and learning difficulties and damage to the unborn child’s central nervous system as “potential adverse effects” of drinking alcohol while pregnant.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the UK recommend avoiding alcohol in your first trimester, because of the heightened risk of miscarriage and premature birth.

The researchers were from the University of Adelaide, University of Auckland, Liggins Institute and the University of Cambridge.

Research is revealing how everything from our risk of disease to our personality could be shaped by a mysterious world we have all experienced, yet none of us can remember - the womb.