The Effects Of Light Drinking During Pregnancy May Not Show Up Until Late Childhood

This latest study on the effects of light drinking during pregnancy is the sixth study published just in the journal BJOG. There are over 100 studies of the effects of light drinking by expectant mothers that report a variety of results.

• The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children tracked 10,558 children to age 11. The study did not find a "dose-dependent" relationship between drinking during pregnancy and the children's mental development at age 11, but noted that children of mothers who drank any amount of alcohol at all were more likely to report behavioral problems in their children at age 11. Because the findings did not support a distinction between heavy drinking and light drinking, the researchers ignored them.

• A smaller study of women in Cape Town, South Africa led by researchers from Children's Hospital Boston in the United States found that a combination of iron-deficiency anemia and heavy drinking during pregnancy led to developmental delays that could not be alleviated by iron supplementation and making sure the child had food security after birth. The effects of the combination of iron-deficiency anemia and alcohol abuse were clearly visible at the child's ninth birthday.
• Studies of 11,513 British children in the UK Millennium Cohort Study even found that children of women who had consumed up to two alcoholic drinks a week during pregnancy had higher test scores at the age of 5. Girls had higher scores on tests of vocabulary and pattern construction, and boys had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, pattern construction, and picture similarity.
• Dutch scientists examining 7,333 women during pregnancy in the Generation R Study found no consistent pattern in the development of the fetus based on the drinking habits of the mother.

So should mother emulate the example of American MTV's Snooki Polizzi, who got drunk on a dare after her pregnancy test came out positive? Or should they give up drinking for the rest of their reproductive lives just in case they drink during the first few days or pregnancy, before the pregnancy is normally detectible?

The answer seems to be that there is no consistent pattern of damage to the unborn child based on the mother's drinking during pregnancy. However, there are probably other factors that interact with alcohol consumption that make a difference to the child that scientists simply have not identified. Until scientists have a better understanding of the issues of alcohol and fetal development, abstinence is still a good idea.